Preseason football Top 10: Unity's winning culture known throughout state

TOLONO — The first official day of football practice had just wrapped up Monday evening, and Unity coach Scott Hamilton had some good news waiting for him as he walked off Hicks Field.

Even as he contemplates whether this fall is his last leading the Rockets.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the state football finals this year, the IHSA is recognizing the top-50 programs of the last half century, and the countdown began on Tuesday.

Coming in at No. 50 to kick off the celebration was none other than the Unity Rockets.

“Wow, that’s pretty awesome,” Hamilton said after hearing the news. “The tradition for football was here long before I got here. Once I move on, hopefully, it’ll continue to get even better. It’s nice to have that recognition across the state, and it’s nice that people think highly of what you do and what your school does.”

The Rockets have compiled a record of 375-158 during the last 50 years, with Hamilton leading the way for the last 30.

Hamilton’s winning percentage is just north of .800, and his teams have brought six state runner-up trophies back to represent the communities of Tolono, Philo, Pestoum, Sadorus and Sidney that make up the Unity school district.

Hamilton has said for several years that the success of the Unity football program starts with high-level administration. School board members, superintendents and principals have done a lot to support student-athletes through the years, and that support comes from all throughout the communities that make up the Rockets.

Just as important, Hamilton said, has been the stability of the coaching staff. Hamilton is going into his 31st year, and assistant coach Dave Fink has been alongside him the whole time. Most of his other coaches, many of whom once played for him, have been on the sideline for 10-15 years. That familiarity is “the last piece to the puzzle that makes it different,” Hamilton said.

“If you ask the players from 1994, they’ll tell you I’ve mellowed out a lot,” Hamilton said with a laugh. “It’s different when you’re trying to build a tradition and start something. Here we are on day one. Day one in 1994, I probably grinded the heck out of kids because that’s what you were supposed to do. Now, I understand that this is a long season, and we’ve got to have our guys fresh and playing well in November. It’s not all about being at your best on Aug. 30.”

He hasn’t completely changed, and junior quarterback Dane Eisenmenger learned that the hard way during preseason camp two years ago.

“We ran a levels play to the outside. There’s a go route to the outside receiver, and I threw it to him, which was not part of the play at all,” Eisenmenger said. “He caught it and scored a touchdown, and we were all going crazy, and coach screamed at me. He was not happy.”

But it’s the standard of sustained success the Rockets have established during the course of Hamilton’s tenure that has them in a solid spot entering another season.

Unity checks in as the No. 3 team in The News-Gazette’s 2024 preseason Top 10, which, by the Rockets’ standards, is a little low.

The expectations are so high that their 9-3 campaign last year in which they made the Class 3A state quarterfinals was a borderline disappointment. The Rockets have made the playoffs in all but two years of Hamilton’s tenure after having only made the playoffs a total of three times before then. The first time was in 2018, when they were one win shy of qualifying, and the second came during the pandemic-affected season in the spring of 2021 when the IHSA did not hold playoffs. Unity went 5-0 that abbreviated season, though.

All that success, and they’re still chasing that elusive first state championship. It’s an unspoken thing in Tolono. Everyone knows the elephant in the room, “that we can’t win the big game,” Hamilton said, but the kids don’t need the reminder. They know the history, they see where the bar is set and they all want to be part of the group that makes Unity history.

“I don’t ever talk to our kids about expectations,” Hamilton said. “We don’t talk about winning a conference championship, we don’t talk about going to the playoffs, we don’t talk about winning a state title. We try to come every day and focus on getting better. What do we need to do to get better today? What do we need to do to be ready for Week 1? That’s where our focus is. If I come out here and start talking about winning a state championship, all you find out is you’re sitting somewhere watching a state championship game that you’re not playing in.”

The current players know all about it, and they experienced the culture long before playing their first snap of high school football. Eisenmenger has been on the Unity sideline since sixth grade, when his dad joined the coaching staff.

“It’s been awesome,” Eisenmenger said. “It’s helped me get better. I’ve been around it for so long that I felt comfortable going into my first week last year because I’d been waiting to do it since I was 7 years old.”

Others remember playing pickup games right next to Hicks Field while the Rockets were grinding out another win. Senior running back Garrett Richardson said he’d watch Marshawn Lynch highlights beforehand and try to replicate them on Friday nights.

“Everybody played behind the end zone and wouldn’t pay attention to the game at all,” senior defensive back Ryan Rink said. “I had no idea if we won or not. If somebody scored a touchdown, everybody would stop the game and wait for them to kick the extra point. Whoever caught it was the coolest kid for the night. My sixth-grade year, I was a ball boy, and being on the sideline was so much better because I was paying attention, learning stuff and talking to the players. It was just a great experience leading into high school.”

If the hype surrounding this year’s junior class is any indication, the next two seasons might be Unity’s best chance to win a title yet.

Many of those juniors got valuable playing time last year as sophomores, which reminded Eisenmenger of the sophomore class from 2020 that came back from the pandemic and made it to the state championship game in the fall of 2021.

“That’s what everybody’s been saying,” Eisenmenger said. “We’ve been working hard in the weight room and on the field so we can prove to everybody that that label is true. It’s always been fun winning growing up, so we hope it translates to the varsity level.”

And the seniors are using that as motivation to go out with a bang.

“They’re all right,” Richardson said of the junior class with a laugh. “I mess with them all the time, but it’s fun working with them. They all have the winning mindset when it comes to sports, and they grasp it all. They work hard at it, and when they put their mind to it, they’ll come out perfectly fine.”

Back to Hamilton’s future, though.

He said Tuesday this is his last year as the Unity athletic director and as an administrator in the district. But he said he’s still deciding about his future coaching football, and added he’s going to try not to worry about that decision until after Christmas.

In the meantime, the Rockets will look to continue their winning ways, with their Week 1 matchup at Prairie Central scheduled for 7 p.m. on Aug. 30 to kick off another rugged Illini Prairie Conference slate.

The Rockets’ lone nonconference game of the season, a Week 4 home game against Belleville Althoff, won’t be easy, either. Althoff reached the Class 1A state quarterfinals a year ago.

“I’ve loved every minute of it,” Hamilton said. “There are days I think I’ll do this for another year, two years, three years, four years. Then, there are days I think it’s time to pass this on to somebody else. Right now, it’s pretty emotional, and I’m all geeked up for the season. And I don’t want to make a decision in November because you’re tired and probably upset that the season’s over. Hopefully, we can have a great season, and we’ll worry about that one down the road.”