Intercity football previews: Bloomington-Normal, Ill.
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Previewing the upcoming football season for Bloomington-Normal area schools.
School: Bloomington Central Catholic
Coaching Staff: Kevin Braucht, Bobby Crawford, Jeff Porter, Chris Highland, Kyle Myers, Matt Neff, Nick Sanchez, Tony Slaughter, Charlie Adelman, Zach Appio, Buddy Conklin, Austin Jordan.
Last Year: 7-4 overall, 5-3 in the Illini Prairie (third place). Lost in the second round of playoffs.
Returning Letterwinners: Colin Hayes, senior, QB/LB; Dominic McKibbin, senior, OL/DL; Jackson Metzdorf, senior, OL/DL; Will Adelman, senior, RB/LB; Bennett Summer, WR/DB, senior; Grayson McCardle, junior, OL/DL; Sam Keller, junior, RB/LB; TJ Larson, junior, WR/DB; Eli Rogucki, junior, TE/QB/LB; Ryan Petersen, junior, OL/DL.
Promising Newcomers: Jack Wisdom, senior, WR/LB; Connor Bowen, senior, WR/DB; Warren Tomczak, senior, K/P; Zander Welsh, senior, OL/DL; Amir Bryd, junior, WR/DB; Grayson Schnierle, junior, WR/DB; Brady Sears, junior, WR/DB; Cooper Stolfa, junior, TE/DL; Valshun Powe, sophomore, WR/QB/DB; Isaiah Whitaker, sophomore, WR/DB; Johntay Powe, sophomore, OL/DL; Kaden Lee, sophomore, RD/DB; Burke Blakney, sophomore, OL/DL.
“Our season will be a success if …:” We control what we can control and focus on the details rather than the result. Our toughest opponent is always ourselves. If we can continue to have a 1- 0 mindset each week, we should have a successful year.” — Kevin Braucht
Extra Point: The Saints have 62 players in the football program, the most in the last 10 years.
School: Bloomington High School
Coaching Staff: Scott Godfrey, David Godfrey, Niall Mulcahy, Nate Myers, Carson Leiner, Lamarreal Tyra, Eric Tapley, Ian Sweeney, Chip Mosely, James Haffner, Cory Evans, Chad Milliken, Tyler Kozlow, Logan Steidinger, Matt Adams
Last Year: year’s record (overall and conference): 3-6 overall, 3-5 Big 12 (sixth place)
Returning Letterwinners: Surya Singh, senior, DB/WR; Dayquan Vanleer, senior, DB/WR; Cameron Smith, senior, RB/LB; Michael Kimmell, junior, WR/LB/K; Garrick Dickerson, senior, WR; A.J. Codron, junior, QB; Andrew McCullough, senior, WR; Kenner Bye, junior, WR/LB; Robert Lanier, junior, RB/LB; Kyveon Chestnut, sophomore, RB/LB; Miguel Espindola, senior, OL/DL; Chet Swank, senior, OL; Gurvir Singh, senior, OL; Jalen Harris, senior, OL; Stephen Carr, senior, OL/DL; Justin Robinson, junior, OL/DL; Caiden Walls, junior, OL/DL.
Promising Newcomers: Trey’von Wiley, junior, WR/DB; Juan Rivera, junior, WR/DB; Keyontae Hamilton, sophomore, WR/DB; Jeremiah Pilant, junior, LB.
“Our season will be a success if …”: We learn from the mistakes that we made as a very young team last year. We have to have the ability to close out close games. Whether that be with our defense, offense or special teams, we have to be prepared to win close games with the amount of talented teams in the Big 12 Conference. Overall, we are going to be at our best when we are getting more people involved. I think we have some positions of depth this year. We have to realize we are a sum of all our parts, and we need to play team football.” — Coach Scott Godfrey
School: Normal Community High School
Coaching Staff: Jason Drengwitz, Chris Messina, Derek Logue, Jerrod Ingram, Lee McFarland, John Boenzi, Andrew Goodwin, Jake McKown, Chad Letterle, Dalton Tevis, Jackson Lester, Max Seibert, Brad Ruehrdanz, Dylan Logue, Tom Seibert.
Last Year: 7-4 overall, 6-2 Big 12 (fourth in Big 12).
Returning Letterwinners: Tyler Rustemeyer, senior, OL; Mac Brennan, senior, OL; Dexter Niekamp, senior, TE/DE; Alex Binion, senior, TE/DE; Cooper Caraway, senior, TE/LB; Brady Augstin, senior, QB/LB; Blake Potts, senior, RB/S; Kaden Hardeman, senior, WR/DB; Anton Cassell, senior, WR/DB; Aiden Boundy, senior, WR/DB; Leo Capparelli, senior, WR/DB; Tommy Davis, senior, RB/DB; Caden Maas, senior, TE/DL; Isaiah Grieff, senior, OL/DL; Kyle Beaty, junior, QB/DB; Marquan Gary, junior, WR/DB; AJ Montoya, junior, RB/DL; Cole Morstatter, senior, WR/DB; Lucas Drengwitz, senior, H/QB/DB.
Promising Newcomers: Calen Taylor, junior, RB/OLB; Jase Wilson, junior, WR/OLB; Craig Bennett, junior, RB/DB; Keegan Buckner, senior, WR/DB; Quinn Butler, senior, OL/LB; Reid Johnson, junior, OL/DL; Bradyn Mazanowski, junior, OL/DL; Gavin Schieler, junior, TE/DL; Will Castro, sophomore, K/P.
“Our season will be a success if …:” We are accountable every day/week of doing our job and doing it well, we are prepared every week by working hard & competing, we are invested / all in with both feet to whatever we are doing throughout the season, we are selfless by committing to making others around us better, and finally if we have great leadership both accountable & supportive leadership by our coaches & players. — Coach Jason Drengwitz
School: Normal West
Coaching staff: Nathan Fincham, Duane Thoennes, Kyrin Tucker, Robert Harris.
Last Year: 9-2 overall, 8-0 Big 12 Conference (conference champion)
Returning Letterwinners: Connal Anthony, senior, LB; Gavin Camp, senior, WR/DB; Jayme Weaver, senior, WR/DB; Sencerre Brown, senior, WR/DB; Lerenz Higgins, junior, RB/DL; Cole Hamel, senior, WR/DB; Adam Fuss, senior, WR/DB; Wade Logsdon-Davis, senior, QB; Johnny Freymann, senior, QB; Maddux Lawson, senior, WR/DB; Abram Rader, senior, WR/DB; Cooper Temples, junior, RB/WR/DB; Josiah Edmonson, senior, RB/DB; Todd Loveless, senior, WR/DB;
Hector Almanza, senior, LB; Lakin Moore, junior, LB; Gustav Schreiber, senior, RB/LB; Trey Frost, senior, RB/LB; Zeke Waters, senior, LB; Aiden Clinton, senior, OL/DL; Ty Upton, senior, OL/DL; Leo Phipps, senior, OL/DL; Ben Jorczak, senior, OL/DL; Matt Hanold, senior, OL/DL; Xavier Delgado, senior, OL/DL; Ethan Berck, senior, OL/DL; Ryan Barnette, senior, OL/DL; Charlee Wiesner, senior, OL/DL; Caleb Schultz, senior, WR/DB.
Promising Newcomers: Maliq Givens, sophomore, WR/DB; Jaxon Hill, junior, RB/DB; Johnny Freymann, senior, QB; Briar Leenerman, sophomore, RB/LB; Sawyer Filliman, junior, WR/DB; Torin Delaere, junior, WR/DB; Roman Flores, junior, WR/DB; Zyon Jackson, junior, LB; Jrue Mangruem, sophomore, QB; Zach Rumps, senior, K; Berlin Duvenhage, junior, WR/DB; Jayden Cross, junior, WR/DB; Terrell Jackson, junior, RB/WR/DB; Hector Almanza, senior, LB; Drew Hart, junior, LB; Brady Hart, junior, LB; Logan Alvarez, junior, WR/DB; Aashman Dhar, junior, LB; Lakin Moore, junior, LB; Gustav Schreiber, senior, RB/LB; Zeke Waters, senior, LB; Mark Kidwaro, junior, OL/DL; Grant DeJaynes, junior, OL/DL; Aiden Clinton, senior, OL/DL; Leo Phipps, senior, OL/DL; Matt Hanold, senior, OL/DL; Charlie Moore, junior, OL/DL; Rodas Alexander Jimenez, junior, OL/DL; Ethan Berck, senior, OL/DL; Cadence Duvall, junior, OL/DL; Kyle Thoennes, junior, OL/DL; Ryan Barnette, senior, OL/DL; Jacob Meyer, junior, OL/DL.
“Our season will be a success if…:” We take care of the football and force a lot of turnovers.” — Coach Nathan Fincham
School: University High School
Coaching Staff: Brody Walworth, Brody Ceh, Nick Cottone, Nathan Desmet, Jake Gates, Mason Kaufmann, Nate Logsdon, Alec Mudra, Chris Pedersen, Lance Tinsley, Mike Troll
Last Year: 3-6 overall, 3-6 (seventh in Central State Eight)
Returning Letterwinners: Mason Hooper, senior, WR; Joe Hunt, senior, OL; Caleb Rogers, senior, RB; Gavin Naffziger, senior, OL; Cameron Clifton, senior, LB; Gio Fayne, senior, CB; Martin Donahue, junior, LB; Drew Rader, junior, LB.
Promising Newcomers: Alek Weiland, junior, QB; Cole Matejka, junior, DL/OL; Josh Caraballo, junior, DB/RB; Demir Spaulding, junior, K/P/WR; Nick Felstead, senior, WR: Lawson Shickel, junior; AJ Holden, junior, WR/DB; Deegan Aeilts, junior, WR; Carson Stevens, junior; Cade Cunningham, sophomore, WR; John Burras, senior, TE/DE; Daken Davenport, junior; Landon Hinkle, junior, Cayden French, junior, G/TE; Clay Nord, junior, WR; Charlie Karun, junior, WR; Hagan Corry, sophomore, DT.
“Our season will be a success if…:” We had a bunch of this year’s juniors playing a ton of football for us last year, and I think we entered the off-season with a lot of momentum from last season. Their experience and continued mental and physical maturity should be major factors in our ability to turn a couple of last year’s close losses into this season’s wins.
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