Brooke’s first winning season since 2015 one to remember

Bruins will return a lot of starters with sights set on playoff return next

WELLSBURG -- The Brooke football team was a youthful bunch, and the Bruins took a big step forward this season as the team looks to once again establish itself as a program to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Brooke trailed Preston, 7-0, at halftime Friday night, however, the Bruins scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to rally for a 14-7 victory on Paul “Bud” Billiard Field inside Brooke Memorial Stadium.

“I think it was gutsy,” Brooke (5-4) head coach Mac McLean said about his team’s performance against the Knights. “It is not something you think about until the season is over, but I think we trailed in every game we won this season. That is gutsy. It was what I expected from our team. We have been down before, and we have come back to win. That is just what we do.”

The victory gave Brooke its first winning record since 2015.

“It was a big win for the program,” McLean said. “We finished above .500. It makes what happened last week more painful. We would still be practicing and getting ready for a game if we had won one more game. We would have been able to keep playing. This will motivate us as we go into the offseason.”

The Bruins ended up finishing in 19th place in the West Virginia Class AAA playoff rankings this season.

“I could not ask for a better group of seniors to lead the young guys we had,” McLean said. “Luke Secrist, Jacob Donley and Daniel Rawson are outstanding athletes, outstanding kids and outstanding mentors and leaders to all of our young guys. They did a lot for our program. Hopefully, they will be remembered as the group that got this program going in the right direction.”

Some of the seniors were vocal leaders, while others led by example.

“I would say we had a combination of both,” McLean said. “Luke Secrist was a vocal leader, while Jacob Donley and Daniel Rawson led by example.”

As a result of losing so few seniors from this year’s team, Brooke will return the majority of its roster from this season, including many starters on both sides of the ball.

“Our young kids progressed throughout the season,” McLean said. “The thing is we want them to not only progress from freshmen to sophomores, but we want them to continue to progress in the future. We don’t want them to become complacent. We are going to have a lot of sophomores. We are going to have a lot of starters returning. We cannot afford them to be satisfied just because they are starters. We need them to continue to improve in the next few seasons.”

The Bruins will be getting an influx of talent next season as the Brooke Middle School football team won the Pac 8 championship this season.

“I was just at their banquet the other night, and there are 20 8th graders, and the 8th graders just won the PAC 8 championship,” McLean said. “Hopefully, we can keep those kids coming out and we can keep them eligible. We would like to get 20 kids in every class playing football. We want to keep getting kids to come out. Two of our classes will have 20 kids in them, and we would definitely like to have all four that way in the future.”

Brooke suffered a big loss long before the season began when legendary head coach Paul “Bud” Billiard died at the age of 79 back on Jan. 5.

“We named the field after him, and we wore a tribute to him on our helmets all season,” McLean said. “It was a huge loss for the whole community. I know he has a close-knit family, and they are still dealing with the loss. We know he is the one who built this place, and we will always remember and honor Coach Billiard.”

The 2021 season has come to a close, but McLean and coaches throughout the Ohio Valley are looking forward to next season.

“I just want to tell all the other head coaches out there to enjoy the holidays,” McLean said. “Everybody is going to be getting back to it soon. Kids are going to be in the weight room after Christmas or even before Christmas. I just hope everyone enjoys this time before we all start to get ready for next season.”