The IHSA plans to release 2022 high school football schedules this month. With that in mind and the calendar having flipped to July, preps coordinator Colin Likas provides updates on what some area teams are up to:
ALAH
KNIGHTS
Ryan Jefferson‘s Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond program is presently dealing with the tragedy of 2020 graduate Lucas Otto‘s death in an auto accident this week. On the field, do-it-all Illinois football commit Kaden Feagin will receive a fair chunk of the spotlight this fall as he tries to help the program to its third playoff berth in four years. He and his teammates will be involved in a 7-on-7 event with Auburn, Nokomis and Shelbyville on July 18, and they’re also slated to visit Robinson, along with Tri-County, for some 7-on-7 action.
Centennial
Chargers
Kyle Jackson‘s program qualified for the Class 6A playoffs last fall as a No. 14 seed, ultimately stunning third-seeded Chicago Kenwood in the first round with a road win. Will the Chargers build upon that with the return of key athletes such as Brandon Harvey, Jordan Griggs, Jemir Hall, Jack Barnhart, Jeremiah Young and Donovyn Chambers? A 7-on-7 with Monticello, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and St. Teresa on July 13, followed by another with Mahomet-Seymour on July 15, should offer assistance in that regard.
Champaign Central Maroons
Tim Turner is attempting to right the Maroons’ ship, as they’ve gone from finishing 6-4 in his first season in charge of Central in 2018 to missing the playoffs each of the last two possible years. Receiver/defensive back TJ Starks is Central’s lone returning All-Big 12 Conference athlete, so there are plenty of strides to be made when Turner and Co. participate in a camp at Illinois Wesleyan from July 20-22 in Bloomington, as well as when they compete in a July 27 7-on-7 also involving Monticello, Mahomet-Seymour and Salt Fork.
Fisher
Bunnies
Carrick MacDonald‘s first head-coaching job sees the 27-year-old Louisiana native take over a squad that finished with just one victory last season. The Bunnies’ roster was pretty young along the way, and good returning athletes such as Jaylin White and Aiden Cheek now will be asked to lead the way. Fisher will test itself this summer with a pair of 7-on-7s involving teams that qualified for the IHSA postseason last fall: Hoopeston Area on July 19 and Paxton-Buckley-Loda on July 26. The Cornjerkers also will participate in the latter event.
Monticello
Sages
Cully Welter never has let the athletes in his program shy away from a challenge, which is a big reason why they’ve qualified for the IHSA playoffs in all 12 possible seasons under Welter and won a Class 3A state title in 2018. So Spencer Mitze, Drew Sheppard, Evan Wassom and their teammates will be tested in 7-on-7s this summer. They’re going head-to-head with Mahomet-Seymour and Washington and also will mix it up with the likes of Centennial, Champaign Central, Charleston, Paxton-Buckley-Loda and St. Teresa.
Colin Likas is the preps coordinator at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at clikas@news-gazette.com, or on Twitter at @clikasNG.