Trey Seifrid doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, but maybe, just maybe, this is the year.
A running back in his fourth varsity season for Aurora Central Catholic, Seifrid has come a long way in a high school career that happens to coincide with the tenure of coach Christian Rago.
“When I was a freshman, I was a smaller, scrawnier guy,” Seifrid said. “And now, I’m the strongest player on the team because I’m very dedicated to it. I love lifting weights.”
It definitely shows.
The 5-foot-8 Seifrid, who also runs track, is a chiseled 192 pounds.
“Trey lives in the weight room,” Rago said. “Sophomore year, he really committed himself to it.”
After emerging as the team’s featured back last season by rushing for 747 yards and 10 touchdowns, Seifrid also has moved into the starting lineup on defense this year at linebacker.
“It’s a lot harder starting both ways but definitely a lot more fun,” Seifrid said. “I like being out there with my boys on both sides of the ball.”
He lifts four times a week in the offseason and also works with a personal trainer in Oswego’s Hector Mendoza Jr., who has helped him improve his speed as well.
The payoff? Seifrid has totaled 250 yards and four TDs on 26 carries with one catch for 13 yards for ACC (2-0), which won 36-0 over St. Edward and then 26-20 over Christ the King, avenging a 16-6 setback from a year ago.
On defense, he has 13 tackles and a sack and returned a fumble for a TD.
There are no delusions of grandeur, but with a 1 p.m. Saturday game at Walther Lutheran — a team the Chargers beat 60-7 a year ago — it’s tempting to imagine what a 3-0 start might mean.
Well, at least for the players.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think it’s been a long time, maybe in the five to 10-year range,” Seifert said of the team’s last playoff appearance, which came in 2016. “A lot of my friends doubt us and don’t think we can make it this year, but all the guys on our team have our eyes set on one goal, to make the playoffs.
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“I think it’s very possible.”
Rago, of course, takes the traditional coaching view.
“We try to look at it one week at a time and don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said. “Walther Christian is the only thing on my mind.”
Small steps are wise given the program he took over and guided to records of 2-7, 3-6 and 3-6 the past three seasons.
Smaller and scrawnier, indeed.
After a final season in the disbanding Metro Suburban Blue in 2022, the school’s administration decided to play an independent football schedule starting in 2023, when ACC joined the Catholic League in other sports, with the feeling that declining numbers in football made it unsafe to play in one of the premier conferences in the state.
Mounting injuries actually paved the way for Seifrid to start the final four games as a freshman.
“My first carry was for about 40 yards but it got called back,” he said. “I think that’s when coach thought, ‘We’re going to give him a shot next week, too.” That’s what got me the spot.
“Our numbers haven’t grown much, but definitely the attitude of the players and us coming together as a team have.”
Seifrid, who aspires to play in college, has an offer from NCAA Division III Lake Forest and interest from a number of other programs,
He believes ACC’s new triple-option offense, triggered by talented veteran quarterback Grant Bohr, is allowing a group of talented runners that include juniors Aidan Crisci and Kyle Stanislo and senior Brodie Curry to use their speed to an advantage.
“It’s a lot simpler on the offensive line and our heads and stuff,” Seifrid said. “We just run the handful of plays that we do and we get ′em right. That’s how we get yards.”