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A labor of love

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       2007 Record: 1-10                             2009 Record: 7-3

Football has been a labor of love for 11 Western Hills seniors, a labor that has seen the Wolverine senior class improve from 1-10 their sophomore year to consecutive winning seasons the past two years, and a love that began for many of them years ago in the Frankfort Youth Football League. 

WHHS will host a first-round playoff game Friday against Shawnee with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. 

The Wolverines have already posted the best record in school history, taking a 7-3 mark into Friday’s game. 

“Justin Wright and Justen Perry, Cody Hecker and Dylan Curry, and Bubba Weber and I have played together for nine or 10 years,” William Riddle said. 

“That makes it really special,” he added. “We win games together, we lose games together. It’s brought us together as a team, and we’re a brotherhood. We’ll always remember this, and we’ll always have each other.” 

But things didn’t look so rosy three years ago when the seniors first started playing for Western Hills. 

“It was really rough,” Andrew Hewitt said of his freshman season, when WHHS went 3-7. “There were hardly any fans.” 

That proved to be a rude awakening for some of the freshmen. 

“That first year we went 3-7,” Wright said. “That’s not what I expected. You’re supposed to do better when you’re in high school. Then the next year we went 1-9, but my junior year we started to turn it around.” 

“My freshman year was coach (Don) Miller’s first year, and I knew we’d be in for a rocky season,” Weber said, “but he told us he’d work hard and he’d stay for four years, that we wouldn’t have another coach.” 

That stability has been a big factor in the Wolverines’ improvement. Prior to Miller’s arrival, Western Hills had had two different coaches in the previous three seasons. 

“My freshman year we didn’t have many seniors,” said Curry, who moved into the starting quarterback role midway through his freshman season. “My freshman and sophomore years we’d come into practice and you could see in some faces that they didn’t believe, they didn’t trust the program. Now everyone on the team has the attitude that we can win. 

“They’re behind coach Miller 100 percent,” Curry added, “and they should be. He’s done a great job, and in four years he’s led us to something great.” 

The Wolverines went 1-10 two years ago, then bounced back to go 6-4 in the regular season last year. They lost their first-round playoff game to Elizabethtown to finish 6-5. This year they’re 7-3, posting the first back-to-back winning seasons in WHHS history. 

“We’re more confident,” Perry said. “Last year we had a good senior class that started us off on the right road, and we had a good group of juniors, who are seniors now. 

“After my sophomore year I was a little frustrated,” he added, “but I stuck with it and that turned out to be a good decision.” 

That’s a sentiment echoed by Bryan Lenox. 

“We’ve gotten better and grown as a team,” he said. “All the seniors who’ve been here since the beginning, we stuck with it and have just grown.” 

Curry, Hewitt, Lenox, Perry, Riddle, Weber and Wright are all four-year members of the football team, and Hecker joined the team as a sophomore. 

Alex Evans and Isiah Walker, both transfers, are in their first year on the team, and Desiree Riley joined the team around midseason as a kicker. 

“I try extremely hard to be a team leader,” Hecker said. “This year I try to help the underclassmen. I push them in practice, but if you aren’t pushed you don’t get better.” 

That leadership includes making sure everyone feels they’re a part of the team. 

“I’ve been playing since I could walk,” Hecker said. “Dylan and I, and William Riddle, started off playing for the Cowboys. All of us have been good friends since the beginning of high school, and most of us before that. 

“We make sure the new guys feel welcome, and that helps a lot,” he added. “I think it would be hard to play with teammates you don’t really like.” 

Walker moved from Winchester and is in his second year at WHHS. He played football at Clark Middle and George Rogers Clark High School, but this is his first season with the Wolverines. 

“I think I was a little big-headed,” Walker said. “Where I came from I was probably a little better than some people, but I took the road the coaches gave me. 

“I knew the school’s history (in football) hadn’t been the best in the world,” he added, “but I wanted to be part of helping it grow any way possible, any way I could help.” 

Riley, who’s been playing on the WHHS girls soccer team since her freshman year, joined the football team as a kicker about midway through this season. 

“I thought football looked like fun to play,” she said, “but I didn’t think I’d actually join the team and play football.” 

Riley kicked off in a varsity game for the first time last week. 

Evans, a transfer from Woodford County, also wanted to be part of something special, even if it meant playing organized football for the first time in his life as a senior. 

“Coach Miller was pretty persuasive,” he said. “He said they were going to go far, that they had a great year last year. I decided to give it a shot. 

“It’s been rough being my first year,” Evans added, “but it’s great because everyone’s been very welcoming, and they took me in.” 

Next up is Friday’s playoff game, the first one the senior class has played at home. 

“It’s awesome,” Hewitt said. “We had to go forever last year to get to Elizabethtown. This year we’ll get to look up and see our fans. We know our fans will be there to cheer us on.” 

“Our first two playoff games have been away,” Hecker said. “It’s good that this time we’ll be playing under our own lights, in front of our fans. All the students from Western Hills will be there, and that gives us extra incentive.” 

So does the fact the season hangs in the balance. 

“I can’t wait,” Curry said about Friday’s game. “The freshmen don’t know about the playoff atmosphere, how every game your season is on the line. 

“The seniors are playing every game till the end,” he added. “We don’t want it to end, and we’re giving it all we’ve got.”