West Carroll’s hopes are high with move to 8-man, new coach

Abelardo Sustaita’s move to West Carroll seems like a case of perfect timing.

He hopes success follows him.

Sustaita, hired as West Carroll’s head football coach just after Christmas, previously coached the receivers and defensive backs – and JV team – for the Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio co-op. That program in November won the Illinois 8-Man Football Association state championship to cap a perfect season. It has reached the state championship game the past two seasons.

As luck would have it, West Carroll this fall is moving to the eight-man game after an 0-9 season in 2023 in the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, generally considered one of the most difficult small-school leagues in Illinois.

“I remembered the transition we had at Amboy. It’s different,” Sustaita said. “I think these kids can be successful.”

That’s a big statement for a program that has struggled mightily in recent seasons. West Carroll is winless the past three seasons it fielded a football team, with its last win coming in 2019 – also the program’s last playoff appearance.

But Sustaita, who moved to Illinois from Texas in 2019 and has experience coaching bigger schools in Texas, is looking to change that vibe. He said that this summer he had 15-17 kids in the weight room in the morning and another 15-17 in the evening.

“The first thing is just that energy. When I got here the energy was so down. I’m an energy guy, and I’m telling the kids they’re going to win,” Sustaita said. “When I was at Amboy, I was a physical education teacher and worked with weightlifting and did a lot of weightlifting with the boys, and that’s something we did over here. When I walked around school I could see the talent. The numbers didn’t match the other schools. Maybe that’s why they struggled.”

From Sustaita’s experience, the bigger adjustment with the move to eight-man is more with the coaching staff than the kids. He was fortunate enough to retain former head coach Mike Bicksler as the team’s defensive coordinator among other coaches staying on.

“The kids have picked it up pretty quick,” Sustaita said. “We are starting to come together, the players and coaches, trying to figure out what I want to create as an identity. We are not bringing Amboy here, not to say that I didn’t learn things there. We’re trying to create something here.”

Sustaita is expecting a little over 30 kids out for football, freshman through senior class. Junior Winter Harrington will be the team’s quarterback. Senior Aden Wiest is an offensive lineman who missed last season with an injury. Senior Conner Townsend is a fullback/linebacker, and Sustaita likes the aggressiveness of sophomore linebacker Aden Buchholz.

West Carroll receives its introduction to the eight-man game with the home opener Aug. 30 against River Ridge.

“The excitement has been there with the parents, the community – we’re going to look different, we have new uniforms,” Sustaita said. “Weightlifting last summer ... they were lucky to get five to six kids out. This year we we had 15-17 in the morning and 15-17 in the evening. We did an eight-man week camp for the middle school, got coaches set up. In a couple years we will have the experience all the way down to the sixth grade. Even with the coaches I was surprised that they were very open coming in. We’ve been lucky. We understand that changes have been made. We’re ready for the kids to win.”

Schedule: Aug. 30 vs. River Ridge; Sept. 6 at Hiawatha; Sept. 13 vs. Ashton-Franklin Center; Sept. 20 at Alden-Hebron; Sept. 27 vs. Milledgeville; Oct. 4 at Rockford Christian Life; Oct. 12 at Orangeville; Oct. 18 vs. Polo; Oct. 25 at South Beloit.