By Bobby Narang
Several high school football teams are set to start a new era this season.
Two of the most successful lower-level teams, IC Catholic Prep and St. Francis, are teams shifting conferences. Both teams will have to deal with upgraded schedules, which feature several powerhouse, higher level, programs.
IC Catholic Prep, which won the Class 3A State championship last season, is seeking its fifth State championship since 2016, but must navigate a schedule that includes a move to the Chicago Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic Orange, which includes Nazareth, Fenwick, and St. Francis. The IC Knights will play Benet Academy, Marist, St. Francis, Loyola, De La Salle, and Fenwick.
IC Catholic head coach Bill Krefft said the senior class is ready for the challenge.
“We might be greatest football team in IC Catholic history. but we’re worried about making playoffs,” Krefft said. “The level of talent in our program is high, but, we’re worried about winning Summer camp days, and August days. We’ve not talked about the idea of winning football games. We have to compete every game due to the teams in our Conference. We’re excited for it. It’s one of those things we are embracing and it made us better already knowing what we have to go through and how explosive some of the program are. It speeded up our learning and development.”
The Knights bring back plenty of firepower on both sides of the ball, led by senior quarterback Dennis Mandela and senior two-way star KJ Parker, who committed to University of Iowa June 29.
- Meanwhile, St. Francis is joining the same E. Sub. Catholic Orange Conference with the Knights.
St. Francis football head coach Bob McMillen must adjust to not coaching his son, TJ McMillen. A four-year starting two-way lineman, TJ McMillen, a freshman lineman at University of Illinois, was a foundation player for the program.
“It’s going to be definitely different,” McMillen said. “I’ve been coaching TJ the last eight to nine years, and watched his growth and development, which was exciting. He worked his butt off to get to where he is today. It will be different not seeing him in the locker room. I’ll have to figure out who to yell at. It will be weird not seeing number 54 out there on the field, but I’m sure some of the schools are happy not to see TJ out there this season.”
Even without TJ McMillen, the Spartans are brimming with optimism due a solid group of returning players, including eight starters on offense. Senior quarterback Alessio Milivojevic, a Ball State University recruit, headlines the returnees.
“We’re excited about all the returnees, but we still have some holes to fill,” Bob McMillen said. “Alesio is very savvy and a great quarterback with a very high football IQ. He picked things up well, so it wasn’t reteaching the game, just reteaching verbiage, some concepts and doing a few different things. Dan put his tweaks into the offensive style of the ball. Alessio has a great mindset of what he can do on offense.”
Milivojevic, set to start his third year, had 13 offers before committing to Ball State. He completed 129 of 181 passes for 2,169 yards, with 30 touchdowns and five interceptions and ran for five scores to earn Metro Suburban Conference MVP honors last season.
“All throughout the offseason, I really emphasized on getting faster and being able to get out of the pocket more,” Milivojevic said. “I worked with my father, Hector, and my quarterback trainer, Greg Holcomb, and I feel I’ve improved tremendously.”