Coal City –
Team: Independence
2024 Recap
Starting the season in Class AAA, Independence was one of the schools dropped to Class AA by a Board of Review ruling. From there the Patriots rolled to a 6-3 regular season finish, winning a pair of playoff games before losing the semifinal round at Roane County.
The Patriots graduated all-state lineman Jarius Workman and receiver Dalton Adkins following the season.
2025 Outlook
Starting a young group of offensive lineman the Patriots learned on the job last year and gained valuable experience while battling through injuries. That group provided well for what became a stacked offense as quarterback Brock Green and running back Sylas Nelson, both returning this season, earned first team all-state honors.
Green threw for over 2,000 yards last season while Nelson rushed for over 1,800 yards. Completing the trio is Christian Linksweiler who hauled in 33 passes for 785 yards and six scores, earning second team all-state honors at receiver.
Also back is all-state offensive lineman Alex Blankenship who missed the second half of the season with a hand injury after earning first team honors as a sophomore in 2023.
With a more seasoned group, Independence head coach John H. Lilly anticipates being able to run his tempo offense that the 2021-23 teams ran so well.
“I think mentally we’re there,” Lilly said. “You ask your quarterback to do a lot of stuff when you run that. We do want to get the ball off quickly. We had to back off that last year because we had a freshman QB and two freshman linemen and a sophomore starting on the line. It was just too overwhelming and we weren’t in shape and to run that you have to be in shape. The goal for us this year is be able to play a lot of people and be in shape but in turn they have to do their part and be in shape and do what they’re supposed to.”
On defense the Patriots are just as stacked with players such as Nelson and Linksweiler manning the secondary alongside Kaden Bradbury. Roaming around the first two levels of the defense are all-staters Isaiah Conley and Landon Riddle as well as linebacker Landon Phalin.
With all of those returners, the Patriots enter the season as the favorite to win the Class AA state championship but the path there won’t be easy. Independence opens up with Class AAA state runner-up Herbert Hoover and faces several other playoffs teams from a year ago such as Scott, Bluefield, Nicholas County, Westside and Class AAA semifinalist Princeton.
The toughest task will be making the postseason.
“It’s been a teachable moment on practicing to a certain level,” Lilly said. “If you’re going to have an expectation level in the game, you have to have that expectation level in practice. It’s been a lot of tough love on making sure you don’t read your press clippings and rat poison. There’s a lot of teams that come in as the preseason No. 1 or 2 and they don’t even make the playoffs. You gotta do what you gotta do. We have to focus on us and not worry about what everyone else is doing. If we get to the playoffs we’ll b a tough out but we’ve got to get there and that schedule is a good one. It’s a challenging one.”
Independence will kick off its season Aug. 28 when it hosts Herbert Hoover.
| 1 | 08/28/25 | 7:00PM | H – | HERBERT HOOVER | – | |||
| 2 | 09/05/25 | 7:00PM | H – | MARTINS FERRY,OH H.S. | – | |||
| 3 | 09/12/25 | 7:00PM | A – | WARREN LOCAL,OH H.S. | – | |||
| 4 | 09/19/25 | 7:00PM | A – | SCOTT | – | |||
| 5 | 09/26/25 | 7:00PM | H – | BLUEFIELD | – | |||
| 6 | 10/10/25 | 7:00PM | H – | WESTSIDE | – | |||
| 7 | 10/17/25 | 7:00PM | A – | BARNESVILLE, OH H.S. | – | |||
| 8 | 10/24/25 | 7:00PM | A – | PRINCETON SENIOR | – | |||
| 9 | 10/31/25 | 7:00PM | H – | NICHOLAS COUNTY | – | |||
| 10 | 11/07/25 | 7:00PM | A – | SUMMERS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL | – |
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