By Ben Cox
This week, we will focus on the smaller schools in our area and Illinois College. Jacksonville will get its own preview next week when they start their conference schedule on the road at Decatur-Eisenhower on September 5. Their season begins at home versus Highland on August 30.
Players to watch
• Routt Catholic High School wide receiver/defensive back Samuel Long will be a senior this year. He will have to assert himself as the #1 target on the Rockets passing attack, which has been potent the last two years. Long has had to wait to shine for the upperclassmen to graduate. He had 33 catches for 328 yards with two touchdowns last season. He will need to triple that total to show the WIVC North that Routt’s pass attack is still nothing to be trifled with in 2025.
• Junior RCHS quarterback Evan Cors did not take a single snap in the last two seasons. He will have to replicate some of the magic that all-stater Kellen Creviston had last season. While Cors may not put up those kinds of numbers, he will certainly have some talented receivers like Long and senior back Dalton Brown to throw to. He will also have at least three running backs to hand off to who have some skill to spell the throwing game. How Cors handles the pressure as the playcaller will be the key determination of Routt’s season — and whether they return to the playoffs this year.
• Senior Triopia quarterback Grant Fricke is in a similar position to his archrival at Routt. He returns under center in a steep WIVC North schedule. Triopia has uncharacteristically had a rough couple of football years. The Trojans are a senior heavy squad. Fricke will need to find some help to pull the team out of the basement of the division.
• One such player that could help Fricke on both sides of the ball is running back and safety Bronc Bogner. Bogner has some talent handling the ball between the tackles, but where he really shined was on defense. Bogner led the Trojans in tackles last year and only saw two games get really out of hand. He’ll need to step up his offensive to make the Trojans a sleeper team this year.
• The other part of Triopia’s two-pronged backfield this year is senior Gameli White. White was second on the team last year in rushing yards but was the Trojans top scorer with 5 touchdowns. He’ll need to double or triple that to again make Triopia a team that could surprise prep football pundits.
• West Central senior quarterback Ryker Ford will be one of the area’s most exciting players to watch this year. Head coach Matt Coultas can literally throw out any formation and put Ford in the center of it and make something happen. While his passing game is likely the weakest part of his skills, he makes up for it with play calling and putting the ball forward between the tackles. He has an uphill battle in a WIVC South Division that has always been a traditional meatgrinder. This year is no different, but the Cougars should be in the hunt for a playoff spot come October if Ford is the key cog in the offense.
• The youngest player on this list surprised many last year as a key piece in the West Central offense. Sophomore back Beau Donovan will need to continue to step up his game this year as expectations will be high. He and fellow sophomore Eli Crain provided the Cougars a loaded backfield full of options. They along with the upperclassmen will have to continue to provide those multiple options to spell Ford on offense to keep them in games throughout the season. West Central particularly had a tough time stopping good offensive teams. Donovan and company will have to be the counterpunch in those types of slugfests. Besides Donovan and Crain, junior Anthony Hance will have to take a major leap forward as the team’s next best ball carrier as well.
Teams to watch
• Camp Point: The Panthers were bounced in the semifinals of the Class 1A state playoffs by Belleville Althoff Catholic, a team many argued should not have been in the class. The Crusaders won the state title against 1A powerhouse Lena Winslow. Subsequently, the Crusaders have been bounced back up to 3A for the 2025 season. Early preseason polls have Camp Point as the #2 team in Class 1A with Lena Winslow at the top. The only real question on the Panthers schedule is a Week 6 matchup with Brown County. My prediction is that they go 9-0 en route to a deep run in the playoffs even without the likes of an Elijah Gennenbacher.
• Brown County: I already mentioned them as a questionable win for Camp Point because they are just returning that many key pieces. Trey Fullerton and Vince Little will be names that will be all over the stat sheet for the Hornets. They lost in the second round of Class 1A to Casey-Westfield team after beating Greenfield-Northwestern in round one last year. The Hornets will have a test in week 1 with Carrollton and in week 9 against Calhoun. The remainder of their schedule besides Camp Point should make them a lock for the playoffs. My prediction is that they take at least one out of those three tough games to get to 6-3 and make the playoffs for a nice run this year.
• Calhoun: The Warriors were the only team that bottled up Camp Point last year. They beat them in Week 2, 14-13 and then fell to them in the state quarterfinals 16-7. No other teams in the season held them under 19 points – not even Belleville. It was impressive. The Warriors are on a similar trajectory as Brown County this season with a pair of divisional games that could decide their playoff seed. It would not surprise me to see the Warriors starting the season 5-0 before back-to-back divisional trap games at home versus Greenfield-Northwestern and Carrollton. However, there’s long-known magic in that holler in Hardin. I predict the Warriors will either go 7-2 or 8-1 depending upon injuries and the offense. They have a tough back half of their schedule but look for Calhoun to return to the postseason as the top team in a tough WIVC South.
• Carrollton: The Hawks are starting to get their mojo back after a few down seasons as Head Coach Rodney Flowers rebuilt the numbers and laid the foundation of his own system. Similar to Camp Point, Carrollton ran into the buzzsaw of Belleville Althoff Catholic in the second round of the playoffs. However, they were the only team in the playoffs last year to post more than 20 points against them. The Hawks lost some size but also have kept a lot of key pieces. Key tests will be in week 1 versus Brown County, week 3 against rival Greenfield-Northwestern and week 7 in Calhoun. Those outcomes will decide whether Carrollton is easily playoff bound or scrapping it out with division rival Greenfield-Northwestern and West Central. These four teams make it one of the hardest divisions across the state to predict. It also, historically, offered some of the best small school football in the state.
• Illinois College: The Illinois College Blueboys were picked on July 31 to finish tied for third in the Midwest Conference this year based on a coaches’ poll. IC is coming off an 8-2 overall record (7-2 in MWC). Head coach Ray DeFrisco is entering his 10th season and welcomes back a handful of all-conference selections.
The Blueboys open the season on Thursday, September 4, when they welcome Greenville to England Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The squad includes several area players whom many recognize including junior wide receiver Kyle Leonard, senior running back Tanner Spencer, senior linebacker Drake Stuart, sophomore long snapper Griffin Martin and senior wide receiver Ty Phillips. Monmouth was picked to win the conference with 78 points while Lake Forest was second with 75.
