The Athletics Department at West Chicago Community High School welcomed three new coaches to its football program over the summer of 2022.

WCCHS revamped its entire coaching line-up, recruiting Head Coach Adam Chavez, who brings 22 years of experience to the job. Chavez has coached in four different states: Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, and Florida. Chavez is also a teacher at WEGO, and can be found teaching driver’s education this year, though his area of expertise is Special Education.

“He is a really good coach, we are blessed to have him. He brings more discipline and seriousness into the practices compared to last year,” said senior and football team captain Alexis Correa.

In addition to Chavez, the Wildcats brought in new assistant coaches, Joe Drusynski and Malko Odishoo (known as Coach D and Coach O). The new additions bring high-level coaching and experience to WEGO, and will hopefully help the Wildcats perform at their peak.

“Coach D is, by far, one of the best strength and conditioning coaches, and defensive coaches. If we didn’t have him, I feel like we would still be at the bottom of where West Chicago football was,” said senior and captain Alan Cuautle.

With the changes to the coaching program, the Wildcats look forward to improving their winning streak this season. The team lost to the Elgin Maroons, 20 to 48, on Friday, but played a solid game Homecoming weekend, nearly defeating Fenton. Ultimately, WEGO ended the game with a score of 26 to 27.

“We lost a tough game [at Fenton], but the kids are improving. We’re getting better, we’re seeing improvement every week, and we’re excited about our last couple games that we have,” said Chavez.

Although the captains admitted the season has not started the way they would like, as the team lost its first four games, both the players and coaches believe, with weekly improvement, they can turn the season around, starting with the game at Streamwood on Sept. 30, at 7:00 p.m.

The football team is eager to play with the new styles the coaching staff has brought in, which includes different plays the Wildcats can add to their arsenal. Chavez also explained that the coaching staff is working to help the team, as a whole, be more disciplined in practices and games, but also in the classroom. This newly instilled discipline will not only help the players during the remainder of their high school career, but also in whatever path they decide to choose in life, said Chavez.