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Dec. 24—Why Ryan Jefferson is the Coach of the Year
Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond didn’t take a step back following the graduation of current Illinois running back Kaden Feagin. Rather, the Knights improved upon 2022’s 8-3 mark and claimed their first undefeated regular season since 2004, when it competed as Arthur-Lovington. Jefferson’s Knights won the 10-team Lincoln Prairie Conference championship thanks in part by dual-threat quarterback Jayce Parsons, who rushed for 1,167 yards, threw for 650 yards and combined for 26 touchdowns. Tailback Landon Waldrop added 821 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 91 carries, and the Knights’ defense held strong since only two of the Knights’ nine wins were within one score. The season ended on a disappointing note with a 21-14 loss to Quincy Notre Dame in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs, but Jefferson and his family — wife Lori, 6-year-old son Clay, 4-year-old son Coby and 2-year-old daughter Millie — dropped by The News-Gazette’s office in Champaign to talk about the special season:
What was this season like for you?
➜ Ryan: “We came in here a couple of months ago talking about what the season is going to be like. Back then I was thinking I was pretty confident and I think our players were too, but of course there was a lot of doubt. So we went into that Argenta-Oreana game in the opening week really expecting to kind of go out and shock peopleand hopefully prove something right off the bat.
“And sure enough, there was bad weather that night. So the game got called, and it was a long night. Our bus ended up not starting, we drove our trailer up with equipment and some kids needed stuff off that as soon as it started pouring, so there’s just so many things that went wrong. We didn’t even end up getting home till probably 11:30 p.m. and then we had to turn…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-area-football-coach-alahs-155000032.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2023-12-24 15:50:00
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