Aiden Noto follows in older brother’s footsteps to lead Lincoln-Way Central: ‘I just want to be like him.’
· Yahoo Sports
Lincoln-Way Central’s Aiden Noto has had always good football role models. Last season, he had a pair of senior running backs to look up to in Luke Tingley and Justin Cobbs.
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But Noto’s lifelong mentor and source of inspiration has been his older brother, Anthony, who also starred at running back for the Knights and now plays for Illinois Wesleyan.
“That’s my big brother,” Noto said. “He shows me the way for everything. I just want to be like him.”
Now, Aiden Noto is getting his chance to follow in his brother’s footsteps and shine in the Knights’ backfield.
The senior running back did just that Saturday afternoon in New Lenox, rushing for 98 yards and a key late touchdown as Lincoln-Way Central held on for a 21-13 win over Lutheran North from Missouri.
Austin Buerck ran for 86 yards and two TDs on 13 carries for the Knights (3-1). Gavin Ciesiun completed 9 of 12 passes for 116 yards, while Alex Harper and Colin Slaney each had a sack to lead the defense.
Clinging to a 14-13 lead, the Knights went on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by Noto’s 10-yard TD run, giving them some breathing room with 5:25 left in the game.
Ciesiun knew Noto would be ready to come through with the game on the line.
“Aiden’s been working hard, for sure,” Ciesiun said. “He’s a little scrappy out there. He’s not the biggest running back, for sure, but he’s a hard worker and he’s not scared to go out there and run the ball hard.
“This is his last season, so he’s making the most of his opportunities, for sure.”
Jonathan Moore threw a 20-yard TD pass to Addison Reynolds and ran for a 9-yard TD for Lutheran North (0-3).
It’s these kinds of chances, meanwhile, that Noto has been building to be ready for since he started playing with the Junior Knights in third grade. There were countless days training with his brother.
“Anthony would always take me out to go to practice, go run running back drills with him, do whatever we could to get better,” Noto said.
Fast forward to high school, and Noto was patient while waiting for his turn. He studied Tingley and Cobbs closely last season.
“I learned a lot from them,” Noto said. “Two great dudes. I couldn’t ask for two better guys to show me the way.”
And now Noto is a senior who is showing a young Knights team how things are done.
In the second half Saturday, he was asked to be the workhorse after Buerck left the game with an apparent injury. But Noto was prepared.
“I’m always ready for whatever,” he said. “Anything they need me to do. Buerck’s my guy, so I just wanted to get that win for him.”
Noto is just 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, but he runs with the toughness of a wrestler. After all, he competed on the mats until giving up that sport after his freshman year.
“I love wrestling,” Noto said. “It definitely gave me that edge to battle on the football field. That’s what you need. It’s all about mentality.”
That kind of attitude feels familiar to Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Woodburn.
It runs in the family.
“Aiden has been good all year, popping into situations wherever we need him,” Woodburn said. “He got asked to carry the load (Saturday) and he did. He’s earned it. He works his butt off in the weight room. He’s a team player. He does whatever we ask him to do.
“That’s how those Notos are. That’s how those kids were raised and that’s how they play and I’m proud of them.”