ROCHELLE — There are some days when Kevin Crandall feels like he’s worked at Rochelle Township High School forever, but there are other days when he feels like he just walked through the door.

Crandall’s 24^th and final season as head coach of the Hubs varsity football team ended this past Saturday after Rochelle’s 14-9 loss to the Morris Redskins in the IHSA Class 4A Quarterfinals. Crandall, who holds a 160-96 record at RTHS, will walk away from his coaching and athletic director duties after the 2017-18 school year.

“It goes quick,” Crandall said. “It’s been a great 24 years here and I’ve made a lot of friends. I’m proud of the program that we’re leaving behind for the next group of coaches. I think our program is really well respected throughout the state.”

But even though his last season at the helm was cut short, Crandall said he believes the Hubs (8-4, 3-1 NIB-12 West) performed as well as they possibly could. Rochelle’s postseason run included a 69-0 win over Chicago (Agricultural Science) and an upset of top-ranked Johnsburg 35-16.

“I thought that, by the end of the year, we had gotten just about as much out of this group as we could,” Crandall said. “They exhausted their abilities and we played really, really hard as a group. We played much better as a group than we did individually.”

The Hubs averaged exactly 35 points per game this season, topping 40 points five times. Seniors Alex Harvey and Ehren Metzger carried the load on the ground behind offensive linemen James Kerfin, Kyle Eyster, Bazil Bennett, DiQuan Ishmon and William Jandak.

Harvey leading Rochelle with 1,325 net rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Metzger rushed for 1,233 yards and a team-high 18 touchdowns while adding 256 receiving yards and four touchdown receptions.

“They would be the first to credit the offensive with a lot of their success,” Crandall said. “Those two guys gave us a good 1-2 punch… We had a lot of weapons on offense but typically our fullback and wingback are going to carry the ball a majority of the time.”

Juniors Eddie Villalobos and Brandon Johnson combined for 560 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground at the tailback spot. Senior Noah Mershon improved his passing statistics greatly from 2016, upping his completion percentage from 33.9 to 46.8 percent. Mershon totaled eight touchdown passes to five interceptions and rushed for two more touchdowns.

“I think he’s progressively gotten better,” Crandall said of Mershon. “It’s difficult when we’re only throwing the ball 5 or 6 times a game and you’re expected to make all of those plays. Every throw is important.”

The Rochelle defense held opponents to an average of 16.4 points per game. The Hubs totaled 12 sacks, intercepted eight passes and recovered seven fumbles this fall. Kerfin led Rochelle with a team-high four sacks, and Metzger picked off three passes while Villalobos and senior Brendon Danekas each added two interceptions.

Villalobos totaled 74 tackles to lead the defense, with Harvey adding 62. Eight players finished with at least 30 tackles after only three did so last season. Those players include Brandon Johnson (48), Bennett (35), Danekas (32), senior A.J. Saleh (32), senior Sam Johnson (32) and Eyster (30).

“I couldn’t be prouder of those guys,” Crandall said. “I thought they improved tremendously, especially when you look at the Johnsburg win… We ask our kids to maximize their potential and get better every week, and as a group they certainly did that.”

Rochelle was 4-3 after it’s 41-6 loss at Sterling on Friday, Oct. 6, but the Hubs rallied for a season-high four-game win streak that including victories over LaSalle-Peru and Sycamore, who each topped Rochelle in 2016. Crandall’s 31-year coaching career, which includes two seasons at Bethany (9-10) and five seasons at Villa Grove (32-21), ends with an all-time record of 201-127.

“When I first entered education, I wanted to be someone who does things the right way,” Crandall said. “Somebody who does it with class and who is honest with people. Not everybody agrees with what you do, but I’d really be disappointed if somebody came back and said that I was dishonest or that I hadn’t done things with integrity.”