Over the past decade, Fulton’s presence in the playoffs has been a given.

From 2014-2023, only once have the Steamers been on the outside looking in. That was in 2015 when Fulton went 4-5 to come up just short of extending its season to a 10th week.

A run of seven consecutive playoff appearances came to a halt last year. Three losses in its first four games, followed by back-to-back losses to start October added up to a 4-5 finish.

“All five of our losses were to teams that ended up in the playoffs,” Fulton coach Patrick Lower said. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t play well enough through to have a Week 10.”

With a new season on the horizon, Lower hopes Fulton can mark its fifth year as members of the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference by beginning a new run.

“Towards the end of last season, we were playing our best football,” said Lower, who begins his 19th season at the Steamers helm just five wins shy of the 100-win mark. “It just didn’t work out that we were as sharp as we needed to be, and in the NUIC, that’s not going to get it done.

“Walking off the field at 2-5 (after a 60-36 loss to eventual Class 3A quarterfinalist Durand-Pecatonica in Week 7), we as coaches told ourselves that for these last two weeks, we had to get the guys ready to go, even though there wasn’t going to be a Week 10. I’m proud of the way our guys bounced back.”

Finishing with wins over Knoxville and longtime rival Morrison, the latter a 41-7 decision in the teams’ first Wooden Shoe Bowl meeting since the COVID-shortened 2020-21 spring campaign, was an ideal way to salvage a playoff-less season as Fulton placed sixth in the nine-team NUIC with a 3-5 mark.

“There was all kinds of pride for Week 9, playing for the Wooden Shoe,” Lower said. “We didn’t have an issue getting the guys up and ready to go for that one.”

Looking ahead, the Steamers will have some key holes to fill in their bid to get back on the right side of .500 and into the playoff picture.

Among their losses to graduation were a pair of first-team All-NUIC standouts in quarterback Dom Kramer and lineman Josiah Heald and all-conference second-team linebacker Skylier Crooks.

However, Fulton does return an important player in senior Braedon Meyers, who stepped in under center for an injured Kramer in the final third of the season and threw for more than 600 yards and 11 touchdowns in a 2-1 closing stretch.

Joining Meyers, an All-NUIC first-team selection, will be senior lineman and honorable mention pick Mason Kuebel. Kuebel and classmate Jonah Lutz will join Meyers in the offensive backfield, with Lower also looking to senior linemen Wyatt Becker and Kody Schipper and senior wide receiver/defensive back Landen Leu as key contributors.

“Going into last year, we were somewhat young with some veterans, and we’re that way again this year,” Lower said. “One of the things we always talk about is leaving the field at the end of practice better than when we walked on it at the start.

“We don’t talk much about last year, but it’s in both of our heads, the coaches as well as the seniors. They don’t want to be the group to not make the playoffs in their junior and senior year.”

A charter member of the Three Rivers Conference, Fulton will kick off its fifth season of NUIC football Aug. 29, traveling to Eastland-Pearl City before its home opener the following week against Du-Pec.

“I think it’s been a good move for us,” Lower said. “Du-Pec is a solid 3A team, but it always starts with Lena-Winslow, which has been the cream of the crop in 1A the last 15 to 20 years. We’re hoping to be right in there with those teams.”