Lincoln-Way West running back Joey Campagna is the 2023 Herald-News Football Offensive Player of the Year

The monster performances started to pile up for Lincoln-Way West senior running back Joey Campagna until they became routine.

When Campagna ran for 284 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 7 win over Bradley-Bourbonnais, it kicked off a huge stretch run that included a dominant postseason.

In three playoff games, the senior ran for 653 yards.

“After that game against Bradley, it was like, “Whoa, that’s unreal,’ Campagna said. “After a while, it was just like, “OK, nice.’ Then it was kind of just a standard at that point. If I didn’t get it, I was disappointed. If I was under 150 yards, I wasn’t satisfied. I had to keep going hard.”

Campagna ran hard all season on his way to 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground. He helped the Warriors finish 9-3 and reach the Class 7A quarterfinals after a disappointing 3-6 season in 2022.

That all helped Campagna earn the title of 2023 Herald-News Football Offensive Player of the Year.

“Looking back on the season, it feels great,” Campagna said. “It was a really fun season, probably the most fun I’ve had my whole career. It’s sad to think back on it now and know that it’s already over.

“It’s crazy how fast it went. All those stories you hear about how high school goes fast, I never believed them until now.”

Campagna spent much of the regular season sharing the backfield with sophomore Jahan Abubaker. But when Abubaker went down with an ankle injury in Week 9, knocking him out of the postseason, Campagna knew he was going to have to carry the load even more.

Lincoln-Way West coach Luke Lokanc had full confidence that Campagna would be ready for it.

“Football is a long season, especially at that position,” Lokanc said. “We were fortunate to have a couple guys who could carry the ball for us. When Jahan got hurt, going into the postseason, we knew Joey wasn’t going to back down just because of his character and we knew he was going to take this team as far as he could.

“He also did great things during the season with Jahan, working with him and coaching him. Jahan is going to be even better the next couple years because of what he learned from Joey, for sure.”

Campagna’s masterpiece performance came in a second-round playoff win at Collinsville, when he ran for 291 yards and five touchdowns on 23 carries.

“That was a great win for us,” Campagna said. “To go all the way down there and play that well was exciting. My offensive line and receivers were blocking so well and opening up huge holes for me the whole game.”

Making Campagna’s monster performances even more impressive is the fact that he was doing it while battling injuries to both shoulders and a thumb.

“Week 4 against Lincoln-Way Central, my left shoulder popped out and dislocated during the game,” Campagna said. “Then the next week against Bolingbrook, I landed on my right [shoulder]. It didn’t dislocate, but it shifted, and it hurt to move it. Week 8 against [Homewood-Flossmoor], something else happened to my left shoulder, and I couldn’t raise it.

“Against Bradley, I stiff-armed a guy and my hand slipped off and it jammed my thumb into the ground. That’s why I was in the club or brace thing because of the thumb.”

Lokanc knew none of that was going to keep Campagna off the field.

“I think what makes him so tough is he was fighting through that adversity through injuries, but the thing that was pushing him was he’s such a great teammate,” Lokanc said. “He didn’t want to let his teammates down. He was going to do whatever he could to be on the field. It was all for the love of his teammates.”

Campagna is in the process of figuring out his next chapter and said he has been talking to several college coaches. Lokanc certainly will advocate for him to get as many offers as possible.

“I tell a lot of these coaches that the first day he’s going to make the locker room better because he’s a great person,” Lokanc said. “That’s always huge. Then his toughness and skill level is a great combination for him as a college running back. It’s just going to take the right spot, and Joey’s will come.”

As he moves on from Lincoln-Way West, Campagna hopes his legacy revolves around his strong will.

“I hope it’s the toughness aspect that is remembered about me,” he said. “One of my teammates, Nathan Elstner hurt his ankle in one of the games, and he told me, ‘I have to play next week. You set a standard for the team.’ I hope that gets relayed through the years, and hopefully the kids can take on to that.”

Campagna’s journey to become a breakout star as a senior is one Lokanc thinks all future Warriors can look to for inspiration.

“Doing the small things right will lead to huge gains in the future,” Lokanc said. “That’s what Joey did for four years. He did the unnoticeable things. He never missed a workout, he got extra work in. He had that first-in-last-out mentality that a lot people don’t see.

“He showed that it will pay off in the long run.”