J.D. Lorton is about to begin a new chapter of his life as the football coach at Granite City High, but he's also going back to his roots.

 Lorton won a state championship in 1992 as quarterback of the Hardin Calhoun Warriors, whose school colors were black and red. Now he takes over at Granite City with the same nickname, same colors and --hopefully -- a similar pattern of success.

 "We grew up as Warriors. We grew up bleeding black and red because that's what Calhoun was," said Lorton, hired Tuesday after spending the last two seasons as the head coach at Riverton High near Springfield. "I'm very excited about the opportunity.

 "Granite City has a strong wrestling program and a strong soccer program. There's no reason we cannot have a strong football program here."

 Lorton, 33, was 12-8 in two seasons at Riverton with two state playoff appearances. He was an assistant coach at Jacksonville, Jerseyville and Collinsville before getting his first head coaching job at Riverton.

 The Warriors were back in the state playoffs last fall for the first time since 1991. There's a renewed sense of hope, optimism and positive momentum that began during the tenure of former head coach Matt Martin.

 Martin resigned earlier this year and took a teaching and coaching position at Edwardsville High.

 "That was a huge step getting to the playoffs last year, a huge step for this program and this community," Lorton said. "We need to embrace that and the kids that I've talked to, you can see the fire in their eyes. They want to do that again."

 Granite City Superintendent Harry Briggs said Lorton was chosen from a pool of four finalists.

 "There were a number of excellent candidates for the job," Briggs said. "We like his energy. We like the fact that he took a program that was down and brought it up, brought their numbers up and made them a playoff contender.

 "He's coming into a program that's headed in the right direction."

 Lorton met with several players and came away impressed with their attitudes and desire to leave the lower reaches of the always-tough Southwestern Conference.

 "The one thing that stuck out was how the players carried themselves and how they acted," Lorton said. "That is a tribute to Coach Martin, Coach (Jim) Ulrich, Coach (Pat) Curry, the whole staff here at Granite City."

 Lorton was a quarterback in then-Calhoun coach Ric Johns' double-wing, triple-option offense.

 "That's what I grew up with," said Lorton, who has expanded that formation into a wide-open spread option offense. "The quarterback's got to make the right reads and you make the defense defend the whole field. That's what we're going to do.

 "We've had a lot of success (at Riverton). Kids really buy into it because a lot of people are involved, but it does take a lot of practice."

 Granite City's strength next season will be a defense that includes eight returning starters. The Warriors allowed only 12.5 points per game a year ago and Lorton is hoping for similar success.

 Riverton's football program was in a similar situation to Granite City of a few years ago.

 "We've had playoff teams both years and before I got there they had won five games in four years," Lorton said. "The kids really bought into what we were doing."

 First on Lorton's agenda is filling out his coaching staff and evaluating the players already in the program. From there, he wants to build football interest and bring more players out to build depth and talent.

 Lorton's job is not easy.

 The Southwestern Conference features a state championship contender each season and teams like East St. Louis and Edwardsville have enjoyed great success for a long time.

 The league also boasts numerous Division I prospects and the same is true for 2008, when East St. Louis stars Kraig Appleton and Terry Hawthorne will be two of the most sought after players in the Midwest.

 "I think this is the best football league in Southern Illinois," Lorton said. "There's no comparison. It has the best coaches, it has the best players and you have got to be not only prepared, but your student-athlete has to know what they're getting into when they get ready to battle on Friday nights."