They’re going to the playoffs.
Brodie Curry took time to savor that fact while walking onto Aurora Central Catholic’s practice field each day this week as the Chargers prepared for a 10th game for the first time since 2016.
Given his family ties with the program — his grandfather, Mike, coached the team from 1987 to 2009, with his dad and two uncles playing for their dad — it’s been even more special for Curry.
“Since he’s touched the field, Brodie has been a pretty special player, even as a freshman playing linebacker,” said Christian Rago, who is in his fourth year as ACC’s coach, starting with this senior class. “Offensively, I’ve moved Brodie all over the place.
“He’s found a home at tight end and is comfortable there, but he played a little quarterback last year, tailback and he’ll even step in at fullback. We’ve needed him to do just about everything.”
With only 20-something players in the program, Curry’s situation probably isn’t all that unusual.
An inside linebacker and the team’s leading tackler, he also punts and kicks sometimes, seldom leaving the field for the Chargers (7-2).
Ninth-seeded ACC opens the Class 3A playoffs at 1 p.m. Saturday against eighth-seeded Rauner (7-2) of the Chicago Public League at Hanson Stadium.
“I’m proud of the guys for what we started as freshmen,” Curry said.
That team went 2-7 and followed with back-to-back 3-6 seasons.
“The negativity going around the school was something,” Curry said. “When you mentioned ACC football it was always, ‘Oh, they’re not very good.’
“It’s really special for my senior year being able to play a Week 10 and kind of changing the mindset of everybody and how they view us.”
That has been the goal, and making the playoffs again is a start. Curry and senior quarterback Grant Bohr, his classmate and cousin, have heard plenty about ACC’s football history.
Curry’s uncle, Joe, is the head coach at the University of St. Francis in Joliet and his older brother, Tom, is one of his assistants. Until a few years ago, Mike also was an assistant for St. Francis after retiring from teaching.
Brodie Curry’s dad, Billy, a deputy sergeant with the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, also is a varsity assistant coach for ACC in baseball, his son’s main sport. Brodie, who lives in Yorkville, played first base his first two years on varsity and moved to right field this past season.
He doesn’t think he will play either sport beyond high school, planning to move into the trades, possibly with the operator’s union. Football is more like 1A to him than second, however.
Curry has had a hand in 85 tackles this season, nine for loss, with one interception and two forced fumbles. Offensively, he’s had five receptions for 64 yards and four touchdowns.
“I like defense more,” he said. “I don’t get the ball much since we’re more of a run-heavy team.”
His grandfather, whose 1994 team reached the state semifinals, still keeps an eye on ACC.
“My grandpa is still down there on the sideline,” Brodie said. “He’s at every home game here, waiting on the track for you, there to shake your hand and tell you how proud he is of you.
“He’ll be standing on the sideline yelling at players down at the other end of the field, thinking they can hear him. We do sometimes. There’s no filter.”
Brodie said he believes the program’s culture is changing.
“In past years, we’d get down or give up a big play and the whole mentality on the sideline went downhill,” Curry said. “We finally figured a way to change it this year.
“Everybody has more of a positive mindset. If something bad happens, it’s a one-time thing, you move on to the next play.”