WELLSBURG – Brooke High has a stellar gridiron tradition. Unfortunately for the Bruin faithful, most of the glory days are ancient history.

Bud Billiard led Brooke to state Class AAA championships in 1985, 1987 and 1990. Bud’s Bruins were also state runners-up in 1989 and 1992.

More recent times have seen Brooke finish second in 2009 and 2010 under the tutelage of Tommy Bruney.

The last few seasons have not been to the Brooke Nation’s liking. That was, however, until the 2015 campaign played out. Mac McLean, in his second year at the Green & Gold helm and former player for Billiard, has started to wake up the Bruin echoes.

The Super Six plays out in Wheeling this weekend without Brooke taking part. Nonetheless, Bruin fans are relishing a season which may prove the foundation for revisiting past glory.

“Heading into the season we had high expectations. We look at ourselves and not our schedule, which was a very formidable one,” McLean said. “We knew we had athletes; our big concern was our offensive line. We lost four of the five starters from last year.

“Once we settled on the five, they got better and better,” he added. “They had a steep learning curve. The line really stepped up and was a big key for us.”

Brooke’s season didn’t get out of the gates as McLean would have liked. The Bruins dropped their first two games, falling to Huntington, 17-13, and Morgantown, 27-14.

McLean’s troops, however, remained focused and committed. They regrouped to defeat University and Hurricane to even their mark at 2-2.

The season’s watershed moment for the Bruins came in game five at Wheeling Island Stadium. Brooke stunned many by defeating Wheeling Park, the lone loss for the Class AAA finalists.

“We have a lot of respect for Wheeling Park, but we knew that we could compete with Park. Our team was improving every week, and we were confident going in,” McLean said. “After winning that game, the confidence really began to flow through the program. The kids really bought into everything at that point.

“We followed that win by defeating a very good Indian Creek team which qualified for the Ohio playoffs,” he added. “After a loss to Steubenville, we finished strong with wins over Parkersburg South, Weir and John Marshall.”

That trio of campaign-ending wins propelled Brooke into the playoffs and a road rematch with Morgantown. Brooke’s season-long improvement was reflected in its playoff opener, avenging the earlier loss to the Mohigans by a 27-14 count.

The Bruins’ dream season ended a week later at the hands of No. 1-seeded Cabell-Midland, a game which was still up for grabs in the fourth quarter.

“Making the playoffs and gaining a measure of revenge against a conference foe will pay big dividends in the future for our program,” McLean said. “I was also proud of how our kids performed against Cabell-Midland. It was 9-7 in the fourth before they just wore us down.”

McLean did not become Brooke’s head coach until July of 2014. Getting such a late start, McLean was handcuffed time-wise to make an impactful change in his initial season, which ended with a 3-7 mark.

Now with his system fully in place and the players and staff already tasting success, McLean looks to keep the Bruins on the path of upward mobility.

“We are ecstatic about the season. My coaches and kids deserve all the credit. The program is turning around, but you cannot repair a program with just one good season,” McLean said. “We lose a lot of talented 12th graders. We want to take another step forward next year. We cannot be content.

“We must get the kids in the stands at games and at pep rallies into jerseys. We need to maintain strong middle school numbers,” he continued. “And with all good programs, the weight room is key.”

One factor working against Brooke football is simple math.

“We have 963 students in our high school. In its heyday, Brooke used to have about 2,000. Cabell-Midland has more than 1,900,” McLean noted. “We are ranked 28th size-wise out of 29 teams playing in Class AAA. We play five of the top 12 schools in terms of enrollment.”

Back in the Billiard era, Brooke’s football numbers reached triple digits. The Bruins would also oft-times field two separate frosh teams.

To no fault of McLean, Brooke is experiencing what most all Ohio Valley football teams are experiencing – a drop in participants. The Bruins had between 45-50 gridders in grades 9-12 this season.

“To compete with the Class AAA teams in the state, we realize we must get more players involved. It’s simple math,” McLean said. “Hopefully, what we accomplished this season will help make that happen.”

Kapral may be reached at bkapral@timesleaderonline.com.