By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Ross Hutson and the Illini West football team had just been stunned on its own field in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

Instead of harping on the 28-0 loss to a Savanna West Carroll team that barely made the postseason, which had to sting, Hutson showed his maturity, class and work ethic with his next move.

"He made sure he went through each of us coaches and thanked them for their time and basically said, 'I've learned more from you than any other coach. And I thank you and I can't wait to play next year,'" first-year defensive coordinator Lyle Klein said. "What more can you ask for there? You just lost a game, you have a young man who's very unhappy. But all he can think about is thanking his coaches and thinking about his next year."

Hutson and the Chargers took a valuable lesson out of last season's playoff loss.

"That you have to be ready to play each and every game," Hutson said. "There's no team that's going to roll over for you."

Illini West (6-0) takes that mentality into Friday night's game at Pittsfield/Griggsville-Perry (6-0) in a West Prairie Trail Southwest game.

It's hard to tell the difference between Hutson in practice and Hutson during a game. It's also tough to tell from Hutson's play whether it's fourth-and-goal from a yard out or if the Chargers have a comfortable cushion.

"I go 100 percent all the time," Hutson said. "No matter if I'm tired I'm going to push myself because that makes me better, makes my team better and my teammates accept nothing less than that from me. And we accept nothing less than that from anyone on our team."

That attitude has been contagious.

"He's just as strong when he starts the game as he is when he ends it," Klein said. "And I think that's kind of been a trademark of this team so far."

The key to the Chargers' success has been a defense that works as one.

"It's almost like having 10 brothers out on the field playing with you -- you trust everybody out there," Hutson said. "It's just a great environment."

Hutson, who plays nose guard in Illini West's 5-2 set, leads the team in solo tackles with 12 through six games.

But linebacker Derek VanFleet (11 tackles), defensive tackle Kyle Hartzell (10) and defensive back Jesse Holtsclaw (10) are right behind him.

Illini West coach Jim Unruh said he's never seen the tackles this spread out.

"I think it's everybody knowing their assignments and taking care of their jobs and not trying to do too much," Unruh said. "Unselfish comes to mind. ... They know their responsibilities and they try to take care of them."

So far this season, the Chargers defense has bought into that philosophy.

The Chargers are giving up a little more than a touchdown (7.8 points) per game.

When defensive backs trust their teammates in front of them, it helps prevent them from biting on a play action pass.

"As I like to say all the time, 'Let the big dogs eat. Just stay back and leave them alone and take care of your responsibilities,'" Klein said. "We're a gap-control defense."

It's easy to see how hard Hutson works in the weight room. The 6-foot, 250-pound senior currently bench presses 530 pounds.

"In sixth grade my dad came home with some weights and told me to do it every day," Hutson said. "That's how I got started. ... It was more of, 'you'll appreciate it later if you put in the hard work now.'"

But strength isn't the only reason Hutson is second on the team with 32 total tackles. His football IQ and film study is something that might get overlooked.

"The minute he knew he was going to be a nose guard he wanted to watch film," Klein said. "... He's a great student of the game. He pays attention to formations and studies the scouting reports. This summer he wanted to watch a lot of film and wanted to see some of the former nose guards that played for us. All that kind of goes together."

-- mgoldberg@whig.com / 221-3367