Christian Bentancur and Cale McThenia: Marian Central’s dynamic duo

Back in the fall of 2020, a tall, athletic receiver from McHenry met a lanky quarterback from Wonder Lake when they became teammates in the St. Mary’s Fighting Irish football program.

Not surprisingly, the duo helped the Irish win their South Eastern Youth Football Alliance league championship that season. It was the start of a highly productive friendship and relationship.

Now, the receiver, Clemson signee Christian Bentancur, and the quarterback, Northern Iowa-bound Cale McThenia, are preparing for their senior year of playing football and basketball together at Marian Central. They seem ideal fits for one another and, by next year, will have played seven varsity seasons together.

“It’s crazy. In each sport, he complements me perfectly,” Bentancur said. “It’s really great to have somebody on the team to want to throw me the ball in football and then someone to kick out to when they help on defense for basketball.”

Bentancur, at 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, has the size and speed to get open against smaller defensive backs. In basketball, he is the inside threat, racking up 1,452 career points in his three-year career, most of them coming inside of 15 feet.

“We want to set the culture and set the standard and get Marian football back to where is used to be.”

—  Cale McThenia, Marian Central quartberback

McThenia (6-3, 205) is a dual-threat quarterback who threw for 2,554 yards and 26 touchdowns last season as the Hurricanes were 3-6. He scored 19.3 points a game in basketball, just behind Bentancur’s 21.2, and hit 83 3-pointers, second on the McHenry County area list. McThenia will join Bentancur in the 1,000-point club early next season, as he sits at 982.

“When you play with Christian, it’s easy because he takes up so much space,” McThenia said. “It’s easy to just move off of him. We do a really good job in both sports having chemistry and being able to move off of each other. Creates opportunities for both of us. In football, he’s able to get open whenever.”

The two help lead many of the Hurricanes’ offseason workout sessions. While Marian football coach Liam Kirwan opened the gym in mornings before school, he and his coaches cannot coach the players, just watch.

The Hurricanes get together on weekends, too.

“We throw when we don’t have school,” McThenia said. “We try to get four times a week in and do speed and agility and things like that too. Me and Christian, and all the guys, try to get everyone out there, even guys who aren’t three- or four-year varsity starters.”

Bentancur was up as a freshman for both basketball and football, which was played in the spring that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. McThenia played varsity basketball as a freshman, then joined varsity football as a sophomore, backing up quarterback Brendan Hernon and playing some safety and receiver.

“They’re definitely competitive, every bit of that definition,” said Kirwan, who took over the program last season. “Cale is always going to compete and Christian is always going to push Cale. That competitive nature is great that they build off of and the whole team builds off of that.

“I got to know Cale right away and built great relationships with both of them. Having those relationships, I can have an honest conversation. I can have those with them and they can have those with me.”

Marian played for years in the rugged East Suburban Catholic Conference, then in the CCL/ESCC off-shoot, which had four-team divisions and several crossover games. The Hurricanes have not made the playoffs since 2017. They played an independent schedule last season, but it was still loaded with tough teams.

The basketball situation was also rough, as the ESCC had larger schools, some of which were strong in basketball. Marian was 13-18 as an independent team and more competitive than in Bentancur and McThenia’s first two seasons.

This fall, the Hurricanes start in the new Chicagoland Christian Conference, which should provide a more equitable schedule with Aurora Christian, Bishop McNamara, Chicago Christian, Chicago Hope, Christ the King, St. Edward, Wheaton Academy and, for basketball only, Timothy Christian.

Bentancur and McThenia hope their teams will see a lot more success.

“For football, the main goal is to make the playoffs,” Bentancur said. “We haven’t made it for four or five years. We’ve been working hard all offseason. This summer’s going to be a good grind. In basketball, we want to get back on track with a new coach (Sean Stochl), and try to win more games.”

The Hurricanes, with an enrollment of 389 and not subjected to the IHSA’s 1.65 multiplier for nonboundaried schools, could land in Class 2A for football.

“It’s trying to get to the playoffs. Marian hasn’t been to the playoffs for some time,” McThenia said. “We want to set the culture and set the standard and get Marian football back to where is used to be.

“Everybody’s goal is a state championship, especially entering a new conference that’s more our size. That’s what coach Kirwan has been pushing for all year.”