When is good enough not good enough?
Ask Craig Buzea. In 2010 he took over a Homewood-Flossmoor program that went 1-8 in 2009 and had won a playoff game in just one of the previous five seasons. Expectations were presumably low for a program with potential but dealing with the rigors of a talented conference and, if they could get there, a daunting 8A playoff schedule.
Buzea trudged on nonetheless, having left the state of Indiana after tallying 118 wins in 16 seasons with Michigan City and Porter high schools. He had won before - including a state final runner-up in 1994 - and knew what it took to replicate that success in Homewood. That first season with the Vikings, Buzea's team went 10-3. The next four seasons they won eight, seven, nine and 11 games, respectively, transforming a culture in five short years that has the rest of Illinois envious of the product Homewood-Flossmoor puts on the field every Friday night.
Buzea told CSN on the Vikings' first day of camp this summer that even in Year 1, his expectations were to win a state championship. Teams goals don't change because of outside factors, whether it be schedule, experts' power rankings, newspaper clippings, or opponent, he said. It was pretty simple. Control what you can control. Self-motivation was easy for those first few Buzea-led teams; the underdog label creates easy self-motivation, and statements can be made week in and week out.
But what does a team do when it's unanimously ranked No. 1 in the state, 32nd in the country and has outscored its opponents 274-50 in five games?
Buzea let his 2015 Vikings team know during halftime of last week's road tilt against Lockport.
The Vikings led 28-0 and were cruising to a fifth straight victory and a 2-0 start in conference play. But the scoreboard didn't tell the story for Buzea. His team had come out lackadaisical, perhaps with the memory of last year's 68-21 win over the Porters fresh in their mind.
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Wide receiver Kendric Pryor dropped a pass on the team's first possession, which ended in a turnover on downs. A pair of penalties had initially halted a drive that wound up in a 37-yard highlight-reel touchdown from from Devonte Harley-Hampton. The defense stopped the Porters three straight times at the goal line early in the first half, but it was the the only positive from of a long, 82-yard drive that kept the Vikings offense on the sideline much of the first quarter.
More than that, Buzea let his team know the energy simply wasn't there. Before the game he had relayed to his team that, regardless of how well the Vikings play the rest of the year, they have a maximum of 10 games remaining, playoffs included. There was little cheering on the sideline, no enthusiasm in the huddle and a sense of complacency taking over the team.
"What I'm watching," Buzea sharply told his team in the locker room, "is not Viking football. From the sense of passion, excitement, wanting your brother to do well and being excited for him. I don't see any of it.
"I'm disappointed in the way we're acting on the sidelines, disappointed with our enthusiasm. That's got to stop.
"This is as disappointed as I've ever been in a 28-0 lead. Change it, make a difference, and play like a Viking!"
The Vikings responded to their coach's message. Quarterback Bryce Gray found Pryor for a 78-yard touchdown on the second play of the third quarter, the defense locked down and pitched their second straight shutout and the noise on the sideline picked up considerably. It was a stark difference from the first half - 28-point lead notwithstanding - and hopefully kickstarted the Vikings from believing that winning will come easy week in and week out.
"I think our guys just have to find out at some point, like, (the opponent) gets coached, too. And they want to win, too," Buzea said after the game. "Our guys have to realize they're going to come out and play and you're not just going to run over everyone like they think you should."
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The Vikings aren't in a bad spot, and they're certainly not in trouble. A mature group of senior leaders will have the Vikings ready when it comes time to play the tougher portion of their schedule. And they showed they're more than capable of doing just that earlier in the year, walking into No. 5 Stevenson's house and earning a 43-29 victory in a game Buzea admitted saw his group "focused" with "totally different" enthusiasm.
But Buzea and the Vikings also know that habits formed in September and October make all the difference in November. The Vikings' first five opponents have combined for a 7-18 record. The remaining four opponents on their regular season schedule, however, have gone 13-7. Two of those opponents, No. 13 Lincoln-Way East and Bolingbrook, could provide the stiffest tests of the year - the former beat the Vikings, 43-40 last season.
"I think we know if we want to get to where we want to be we can't do that anymore, Gray said of the Vikings' sluggish start. "And we'll learn from it. We'll get back to practice, execute, have a good week, come back next week and fire from the first minute of the game."
When Buzea's Vikings played as underdogs and unknowns five years ago, they played every game like it. Now HF's head coach is imploring his 2015 team, the unquestioned favorites in 8A, to do the same. The Vikings' mantra this season is B.E.S.T., Bring it Every Single Time. That means bringing it whether the score is 0-0 or 28-0. It means relishing the opportunity to have a bullseye on their collective backs each Friday night. Those steep expectations come with a price, and avoiding complacency so they're ready for the big stage is something they're working toward.
"Our expectations are so high and I think we still haven't lived up to the expectations we know we can reach," linebacker and leading tackler Percy Walters said. "Once we get better, there's no stopping us."