Neuqua Valley’s Pierce Stevens had a surprising yet simple answer to a common question.
What, he was asked, is his biggest strength on the football field?
“I just love the sport,” Stevens said. “I just love flying around, love hearing the crowd cheering. It’s amazing.”
Stevens heard a lot of cheers on Friday, and many of them were for him. The 6-foot, 190-pound junior linebacker had one of his team’s three interceptions and also scored on a 4-yard run as the Wildcats beat rival Waubonsie Valley 21-13 in a season opener in Aurora.
“Pierce is just our emotional leader,” Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus said. “On defense, he’s all over the place. He plays a little offense too.”
It didn’t take long for Stevens to make an impact against Waubonsie Valley. He ended the Warriors’ first possession by making a diving interception of a deflected pass at their 41-yard line.
On the ensuing play, senior running back Andrew Barkley gained 36 yards to give the Wildcats a first down at the 5. But it was Stevens who had his number called on the next two plays.
Stevens gained a yard on his first attempt before bulling his way into the end zone. It was the first offensive touchdown of his varsity career. He scored a defensive touchdown last season.
“It felt amazing,” Stevens said. “The interception kind of landed in my arms. I was just doing my job like the coaches coach me up on how to do. And then the touchdown, we practiced that at practice, and it worked how it works.”
Things have a way of working out no matter where Stevens plays. In his second varsity season, Stevens is best known for his defense, but the Wildcats also use him in the backfield in certain offensive sets. He carried five times for 17 yards against Waubonsie Valley.
Senior cornerback Colton Maita, who was playing defense for the first time, followed Stevens’ feat by making a diving interception off a deflected pass on Waubonsie Valley’s next drive.
The Wildcats capitalized on that in similar fashion, with Barkley scoring three plays later on a 16-yard run.
“He’s been a huge leader both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball,” Maita said of Stevens. “He brings it. He’s one of the guys that gives 110% effort every single day.”
That effort is rubbing off on the Wildcats.
“He’s a leader in the locker room, and I think everyone really looks up to him,” Maita said. “He brought me under his wing, gave me a ton of help and just really prepared me for this game as well.”
Stevens got regular action as a sophomore but at a different position. He has become a full-time starter at linebacker.
“He was playing free safety, and it’s not his natural position, so we moved him down to linebacker,” Ellinghaus said. “He’s just much more natural at linebacker, so he feels at home at linebacker, and he does such a great job there.”
Defense appears to be a strength for the Wildcats, who are getting great leadership from Stevens, Maita and senior safety Andrew Hoffmann.
“All three of those guys, they’re like coaches on the field,” Ellinghaus said. “They really are. They do such a great job of communicating on our defense.”
Stevens is the only junior in that trio. So what makes him such a good leader?
“I think the two big things are energy and just hits,” he said. “You’ve got to feed off of each other’s energy, and when I get a big hit, then my teammate gets a bit hit. Then I feed off that and get another big hit. You repel off each other.”
The Wildcats were able to repel some adversity, which is something they had difficulty doing last season. They committed 10 penalties for 89 yards; struggled to move the ball, especially through the air; and were outgained 269-234. Yet Neuqua Valley is halfway to its 2024 win total.
“Coaches said at the beginning of the game it doesn’t matter how you take on the adversity, it matters how you respond to it,” Stevens said. “We definitely responded to it.
“We kept our foot on their neck, and we just kept going. Everyone on the defense picked each other up. All of my teammates would hype me up, so credit to them.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
