TOLONO, Ill. (WCIA) — After an ineligible man downfield call took a last-second go-ahead touchdown off the board and ended Unity football’s 2024 playoff run just one game away from playing for a state title, a large group of seniors is working towards redemption this season.

Unity boasts a squad with 24 seniors in 2025 at the start of a new era for the program, as Tony Reetz enters his first season head coach.

While the way last season came to a close was a tough pill to swallow, it’s given this team extra motivation to prepare for this fall.

“I think any time your season ends, it’s hard,” Reetz said. “To end the way it did is maybe a little bit harder than most, but that’s what fuels the guys in the off-season. I think that a lot of them feel like they have a lot to prove still.”

Senior defensive back and wide receiver Tre Hoggard remembers the sting of that loss all too well, but he’s hoping to build on a big 2024 season alongside third-year starting QB Dane Eisenmenger.

“We’ve all played with each other for all these years, and now we’re seniors, so I think it’s going to be really good and really interesting to see how well we mesh after a play like that happened,” Hoggard said.

The Rockets open the season at home against Rantoul on August 29 at 7:00 pm.