PENINSULA -- Cam Hilling might not have scripted a better ending to his high school football career.

 

The Woodridge senior middle linebacker is savoring every moment of the school’s first foray into the OHSAA football playoffs. The Bulldogs (10-2) have won two tournament games and will meet Chagrin Falls (12-0) on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the Division IV, Region 13 championship at Twinsburg High School.

 

“It feels like this playoff run has brought the whole community together,” Cam said. “Because we don’t have a specific city, it really feels like everyone has come together as a community and everybody goes to the games. If you’ve never seen our student section, they are ridiculously crazy.” 

 

Hilling is a third generation football standout. His grandfather, Carl, played for Central High School and was the 1957 Akron Beacon Journal Player of the Year. His father, Chip, was captain of the 1982 St. Vincent-St. Mary state championship team and later played for Indiana University.

 

“It’s really special because football is such a huge part of our family,” Cam said. “We go to games all of the time together. Even my little sister, she’s a sophomore, and she’s on the dance team, she always says, ‘I wish I could play football,’ because it is the Hilling family thing. Everybody plays football, all of the cousins, everybody. For my grandpa, he’s still known for it today.”

 

This season is providing a thrilling cap to Cam’s four-year varsity career. His 23 tackles for loss are tops on the team and he ranks second in total tackles. He also plays some offensive guard, tight end, and fullback in certain formations. Cam started as a freshman and experienced some tough sledding at first, but always felt he had an edge because of his attention to detail learned from two of his biggest fans.

 

“My dad and grandpa were my coaches my whole life pretty much,” Cam said. “They both played linebacker and I’ve played linebacker, so they taught me all of the little things to look for. They taught me little tips and keys and tendencies of quarterbacks. What they taught me is to pay attention to the little things – pay attention to details.”

 

In 2006, Cam’s freshman year, Woodridge finished 3-7. The next year, the Bulldogs were 8-2 and placed 10th in Region 13, narrowly missing a playoff berth. They slipped back to 5-5 in 2008. This season, Woodridge lost in Week 3 to Chagrin Falls 32-26 and rallied for an 8-2 regular season and a No. 6 seed in the region playoffs.

 

“With two great players, my dad and my grandpa, there’s going to be a lot of advice given,” Cam said. “Some of it good and some of it more what they wanted to see. But especially my freshman year when we were struggling as a team, it got kind of difficult toward the middle of the season, and every game they came down to the fence or the sideline and they would cheer me up and tell me I played well. They said, ‘Things are going to change and that you’re going to break through eventually.’ And they were right. Even that season, we won our last three games (2006) and now here we are in the playoffs. They’ve really helped me a lot through the years.”

 

Ranked in the top quarter of his class with a 3.47 GPA, Cam has accepted the mantle that goes with being a Hilling and playing football. He learned at a young age there was a standard to live up to, and while he’s established his own identity, he also revels in the past successes of his dad and grandpa.

 

“With pee-wee football, I remember getting weighed, and I was standing there in just my jock and my underwear, because I was always real close to the weight limit, and the old man who was weighing me in asked, ‘You wouldn’t happen to be Carl Hilling’s grandson, would you?’ And I said, ‘Yes,” Cam recalled. “And he said, ‘Carl was the best player I’ve ever seen.’ And it kind of made me nervous because I was like, ‘Whoa. What if I don’t play well? This guy is going to think I’m not following the Hilling family tradition.’ There was a lot of pressure sometimes. But it’s all good now.”

 

Cam attended Fighting Irish football games from the time he was a young boy and says he felt some pressure to attend St. V-M after eighth grade.

 

“Growing up I went to every St. V game with my dad and all of his friends, and I thought it was just the coolest thing in the world,” Cam said. “For the longest time, I expected to go to St. V, and then the older I got, and going to Woodridge, and the closer I got with my friends, I knew that rather than continue my dad’s legacy, we wanted to start our own here at Woodridge. I wanted to do something that’s never been done. My parents understand now, and I still have a special place in my heart for St. V.”