With football practice starting this week and opening night barely two weeks away, let’s dive into some of the season’s more compelling storylines:
Can Loyola make history?
No team has won four straight titles in the state’s largest class since the IHSA playoffs debuted in 1974.
East St. Louis had the first big-school three-peat from 1983-85 in Class 6A and Maine South accomplished the feat from 2008-10 in 8A.
No one else did it until Loyola won 8A the past three years. The Ramblers started 1-2 last season with losses to East St. Louis and St. Francis, and had close calls in the playoffs against Marist and Lincoln-Way East. But no time has been better in November in recent years.
To keep the run going, the Ramblers will need big performances from a pair of sophomores already reeling in Power Four scholarship offers: quarterback Matthew Lee and receiver Jordan McKinley.
Will Mount Carmel and Nazareth four-peat?
Like Loyola, Mount Carmel and Nazareth also are chasing four-peats. Unlike the Ramblers, they’ll be doing so in larger classes.
The Loyola-Mount Carmel regular-season finale Oct. 24 in Wilmette might not be the teams’ only meeting this fall. Both will be in Class 8A along with some other heavyweight contenders, including Lincoln-Way East and 2024 runner-up York.
The Caravan, who have won the past three 7A championships, graduated one of the state’s most productive quarterbacks in Jack Elliott (now at Vanderbilt). But they have more top-end talent than any program in the state, led by three seniors: offensive lineman Claude Mpouma, a Nebraska commit; defensive lineman Braeden Jones (USC) and edge Joey Quinn (Vanderbilt).
Nazareth has won three straight titles in 5A and moves up to 6A, where the competition includes East St. Louis (three) and Cary-Grove (two), who have combined to win the past five championships.
Quarterback Logan Malachuk, who set the state’s career record for passing yardage, has graduated. But 14 starters return for the Roadrunners, led by receivers Jake Cestone and Trenton Walker.
More defending champs move up
Mount Carmel and Nazareth aren’t the only defending private-school champs stepping up in class.
Also making the jump are DePaul Prep all the way from 4A to 7A, Montini from 3A to 4A and Chicago Christian from 2A to 3A.
Jumping three classes as DePaul is doing is virtually unheard of. But the North Side school’s enrollment has been surging along with its football fortunes. The Rams will have plenty of new faces on both sides of the ball after graduating 17 starters.
Montini looks well-positioned for another deep playoff run with 13 starters back. The best of the bunch is junior quarterback Israel Abrams, a four-star prospect with 10 offers from Big Ten or SEC schools.
Chicago Christian will be even more inexperienced than DePaul Prep after graduating 20 of 22 starters. But second-year coach CJ Cesario has raised the bar at a program that never got past the quarterfinals before he arrived.
Who’ll be the Player of the Year?
The top candidates usually have big numbers and play for teams that make deep playoff runs.
Two senior quarterbacks who could fit that profile are a pair of Big Ten commits: Lincoln-Way East’s Jonas Williams (USC) and Fremd’s Johnny O’Brien (Northwestern). Williams had a staggering 8,859 passing yards and 112 touchdowns in his first three seasons as a starter, while O’Brien threw for 3,442 yards and 39 TDs last fall.
Another quarterback to watch is Maine South junior Jameson Purcell, an Indiana commit who passed for 2,572 yards and 30 TDs after taking over the starting job in Week 4 last year.
Two more players who could be in the mix are Warren running back Aaron Stewart, who ran for 2,475 yards last year, and Morgan Park receiver Nasir Rankin, who’s committed to Illinois for both football and basketball.