TOLONO, Ill. (WCIA) — After an ineligible man downfield call nullified a last-second go-ahead touchdown and ended Unity football’s 2024 playoff journey just one game shy of competing for a state title, a motivated group of seniors is striving for 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 tough,” Reetz said. “To end the way it did is perhaps a bit tougher than most, but that’s what drives the guys in the off-season. I believe many of them feel like they still have much to prove.”

Senior defensive back and wide receiver Tre Hoggard recalls the pain of that loss all too vividly, but he’s aiming to build on a strong 2024 season with third-year starting QB Dane Eisenmenger.

“We’ve all played together for so many years, and now as seniors, I think it’s going to be really good and quite interesting to see how well we mesh after an incident like that,” Hoggard said.

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