5 football storylines to watch in McHenry County in 2023

The high school football season gets under way Monday with the start of preseason practices. Until then, here are some storylines for the season to quench your early football thirst.

Bentancur’s quest for 200 receptions

Marian Central wide receiver Christian Bentancur’s numbers through three seasons, with 139 receptions and 30 touchdowns, are remarkable enough. Given that his freshman season was shortened to five games by the pandemic makes them even more so.

The IHSA website lists 10 players in state history who have 200 receptions for their career. Bentancur, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound Clemson commit, likely will join that group. He is a nightmare matchup for opponents and will be catching passes from Northern Iowa commit Cale McThenia. Also, the Hurricanes will have a more favorable schedule now in the new Chicagoland Christian Conference.

Johnsburg graduate C.J. Fiedorowicz is the highest-listed local player on the career reception list at 174, tied for 20th.

Marian will play in Class 2A, which makes a long playoff run a realistic possibility, giving Bentancur more chances to move past 200.

Bentancur also has 1,452 points in basketball, giving him a great shot at becoming the third area player to reach 2,000 career points. He would be the first athlete in IHSA history to have 200 football receptions and 2,000 points in basketball.

Who is favored in the Fox Valley Conference?

In most years, the answer would simply be Cary-Grove or Prairie Ridge, given that one or the other has played for every Class 6A state championship since 2016.

This year looks a little more wide open, although those perennial favorites should factor in again. Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South should have dynamic offenses, and Jacobs returns a lot of starters from its FVC tri-champion team.

C-G missed the playoffs after 17 consecutive appearances, but has a lot of players back and is hungry to start another postseason string.

Prairie Ridge, the Class 6A runner-up, saw IHSA season rushing record-holder Tyler Vasey (3,878 yards) graduate. But the Wolves’ strong tradition speaks for itself.

Huntley, which shared the title with Jacobs and Prairie Ridge, has been to the playoffs seven of the past eight seasons and could contend again.

Another interesting aspect will be how many playoff teams the FVC produces. Last season, it was down to four: the three tri-champs and South. This could be another year where there are three 5-4 teams that get in and the FVC is back to six playoff participants.

Which area teams have the best shot to play for a state title?

Marian Central won four Class 2A state championships in the 1980s, three under coach Don Penza and one with Steve Patton, who took over a few months after Penza died in 1989. Marian’s enrollment has dropped and the Hurricanes are not subject to the IHSA 1.65 multiplier for nonboundaried schools, so they are back in 2A.

With McThenia running the offense and Bentancur, Rylan Dolter and others catching passes, the Hurricanes will be tough to deal with in 2A.

Richmond-Burton is 54-4 in five seasons under coach Mike Noll, with a Class 4A state championship (2019), two semifinals appearances and one quarterfinal. The Rockets have some key players to replace, but are always a threat in the northern half of 4A.

In Class 6A, Crystal Lake Central’s Jason Penza is a dual-threat quarterback with great speed and a bunch of top-notch receivers, led by Northern Illinois commit George Dimopoulos.

Crystal Lake South returns quarterback Caden Casimino and wide receiver Michael Prokos to lead its high-powered offense. And C-G has a lot coming back to its triple-option offense, along with a great playoffs tradition.

Which quarterback will throw for the most yards?

Four of the top five passing yardage leaders return this season – Casimino, McThenia, Johnsburg’s A.J. Bravieri and Dundee-Crown’s Zach Randl – along with Penza, whose elbow injury limited him to 1 1/2 games at quarterback last season.

Casimino (2,658) and McThenia (2,554) went back and forth last season in the top two spots. Bravieri, a junior, was right behind them (2,537), and Randl (1,580) was fifth.

Casimino, McThenia and Penza all play in offenses that allow them to put up numbers. It might come down to whose team plays more games with a deep playoff run.

Which players will be among the area rushing leaders?

Nine of the top 12 rushers from last season have graduated, so the area rushing list will look much different this season.

Huntley’s Haiden Janke (1,430) was fifth, Hampshire’s Cole Klawikowski (1,261) was seventh, and Jacobs’ Joey Scrivani (845) was eighth last season. They are the top returning rushers.

Janke is a big back running behind a huge line. Klawikowski, a junior, is a strong runner, and Scrivani will benefit from the Golden Eagles’ run-heavy offense that produced the area’s Nos. 1 and 4 rushers (Ben Ludlum and Nasir Canty) in 2021 and No. 3 runner (Antonio Brown) last season.

There are positions in certain offenses that traditionally produce high-yardage rushers, such as fullback at R-B (Braxtin Nellessen) and C-G (likely Logan Abrams) and Prairie Ridge quarterback (Joey Vanderwiel).