Lorton excited about opportunity

JERSEYVILLE - One year after being dealt the biggest professional disappointment of his young coaching career, Nate Lorton sees an opportunity to produce his greatest success.

Lorton was a player on Calhoun Warriors football teams that claimed back-to-back Class 1A state championships in 1992-93. And after spending the past six seasons as an assistant coach with the Jersey Panthers, Lorton is now preparing to take over as head football coach at Sullivan.

It is the light at the end of a tunnel gone black last year when Lorton was passed over for the head coach's job at Jersey, where he believed he had paid his dues in five seasons as an assistant under Chris Skinner.

But when Skinner resigned, Jersey opted for the experience of East Alton-Wood River's Gary Carter.

"It was difficult for me because I wanted that job more than anything in the world," Lorton said. "But I had a great support system around me with all my friends here in Jerseyville. And Gary Carter came in, what a great guy he is, and helped pick me up when I was down and get me back on my feet."

Lorton remained on staff, taking over the Panthers freshman team and finishing 7-2 in 2007. "That kind of rejuvenated me," Lorton said.

Jersey was the only head coach's position Lorton had ever pursued. And the rejection stung. But healing came with the offer from Sullivan.

"I kind of put all my eggs in one basket and it didn't work out," Lorton said of waiting for the job at Jersey. "But this opportunity with Sullivan came along and I think it's a real good one."

A formidable task waits at the school of 350 students. Sullivan, whose co-op agreement with Okaw Valley High in Bethany pushes its football enrollment to 510 and a spot in Class 3A, is coming off a 0-9 season.

Since earning its last playoff berth in 2001, the Redskins have posted an 8-46 record over the past six seasons. That is the same record Calhoun put up in the six seasons preceding Ric Johns' arrival in Hardin.

And Lorton, who counts Johns among his greatest influences, is hoping to create an environment in Sullivan like the one he relished while first learning the game in Calhoun.

"As far as wins and losses, there are definite similarities," Lorton said of Hardin and Sullivan, a town of about 4,300 located southeast of Decatur. "And the personalities and make-up of the kids, there's similarities there, also. We're talking about small-town, rural kids who are just looking for an opportunity to be successful.

"I want those kids at Sullivan to have the same experiences I had when I was growing up over in Calhoun. From grade school age on up, all we wanted to do was play Calhoun Warrior football. To me and my friends at that time, there was nothing better than football.
Everybody was excited about it and I want to bring that same kind of excitement to Sullivan and the Redskins program."

Lorton, who turns 32 in April, and his wife Laura hope to move their family of four children to Sullivan in late May or early June. "My wife and I are both from small communities and we're both elated about the opportunity," Nate Lorton said of Laura, a native of Carthage.
After graduation from Illinois College in Jacksonvile, Lorton spent one season as an assistant at Jacksonville High. He began teaching in Jerseyville in 2000 before joining the football staff two years later.

It is the memories and knowledge gleaned as a player at Calhoun provided the foundation for the coach that takes over at Sullivan. But in addition to Calhoun coaches Johns and Kirk Brandenburg, Lorton credits time spent working with Skinner and Carter at Jersey for better preparing him for the challenges that will come in August.

"Obviously, Ric Johns and coach Brandenburg are up there at the top of the list," Lorton said. "As far as X's and O's, we'll be running the same offense they did. ... As far as broadening my offensive philosophy, Chris Skinner has brought a new page to my passing attack and that's helped me out quite a bit. And working with Gary, picking up some of the things he does day in and day out and in the off-season, I've added some of his stuff to my portfolio, as well."

Sullivan competes in the six-team Black Division of the Okaw Valley Conference, which also includes Decatur St. Teresa, Tolono Unity, Monticello, Clinton and Shelbyville. With Unity and St. Teresa as the headliners, Lorton calls the Okaw Valley Black "probably the toughest conference in the state of Illinois, at that level."