Easterday hopes to keep ball rolling at Carlinville
April 16th, 2008, 1:47 pm · Post a Comment · posted by sporter
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By STEVE PORTER
Chad Easterday’s first job as the new head football coach at Carlinville High is much like previous coaches armed for the task:
Keep the football rolling in the right direction.
The Cavaliers’ success in football is well-documented, including 22 playoff berths since 1974 and a pair of second-place state finishes. They were IHSA runners-up in both 1978 and 1993 under Andy Easton.
Don Borgini guided them to a 58-25 record the past eight seasons and seven playoff berths, but in late February, Borgini opted to return to Gillespie, his hometown.
You can’t fault somebody for wanting to go home again. Not all of us can do that.
Nevertheless, Borgini faces a massive rebuilding job there, though he has been successful wherever he has coached. And since Gillespie is bound for the restructured Prairie State Conference in 2009, there’s reason to belive the Miners will turn on the light.
Easterday, meanwhile, wants to keep the lights burning brightly at Carlinville and make sure its tradition glows in the dark.
“Carlinville has great tradition and I’m looking forward to being a part of that,” he said Tuesday.
Easterday, 34, knows a thing or two about the school’s sports history. He has coached in the Carlinville system the past 10 years and most recently was their head basketball coach.
That’s a duty he is yielding to take charge of football, which is going to require all of his attention. Carlinville basketball, 10-16 last year, will be assigned to someone else.
More alterations are on the way. Carlinville’s a member of the six-school South Central Conference West and things are about to change in the two-division league. Come 2009, there will be one division of 10 schools meaning that the Cavaliers will also have to battle with Greenville, Hillsboro, Litchfield, Vandalia and Pana for a conference championship.
It’s a new day dawning and Easterday is ready for the challenge. If he keeps the ball moving toward the goal line, he will meet it.
