MONTICELLO — Standing on the hot, sunny lawn late on a Saturday afternoon in August, Ike Young and Chris Jones spoke.
Young had just experienced his first game as the starting quarterback for the Monticello football team. Jones, the Sages’ quarterbacks coach, led Monticello to a 40-28 win in the season opener in which he led 34-0 late in the second quarter, making his appearance a very real possibility. I wondered how Young felt after visiting St. If the Spartans were up by at least 40 points, the second half would end with a running clock.
The first thing Young brought up in his postgame chat with Jones was the speed of the game. Young admitted it was fast. Maybe even faster than he expected going into the game.
But Jones, who also serves as the Monticello baseball coach for a program in which Young plays a vital role, made sure Young left his home field at Monticello that day with confidence despite the loss.
“I told him how many good things he did in that game and that he had a good starting point,” Jones said three months later, before Sages began his final week of football practice. He spoke while standing inside the Seavers Center on Monday afternoon. . “I knew he could get the job done.”
Did he ever? That’s because Monticello (11-2) will play Montini (11-2) for the Class 3A state championship on Friday at 4 p.m. at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal.
“If we were here for the first game of the season, we never would have thought this would happen,” Monticello coach Callie Welter said.
impressive numbers
But Young’s progression and playmaking are the main reasons the Sages are one win away from their second state championship. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior never leaves the field. When he’s not hitting shotgun starting Monticello’s spread offense, he roams the secondary as a free safety for the Sages, where he has 51 tackles.
However, what attracts the most attention is its offensive power. The numbers back it up. Young completed 252 of 363 pass attempts for 3,184 yards, 27 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Leveraging his skills from last season as a running back for the Sages, Young leads Monticello with 1,106 rushing yards on 205 carries and 22 touchdowns. That’s 4,290 yards of total offense and 49 total touchdowns.
And football isn’t even the sport he plays at the Division I level in college. Young signed in mid-November to play baseball at the University of Illinois, where he will pitch for the University of Illinois.
“This is what it’s like to have a Division I player,” Unity coach Scott Hamilton said after Young threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday’s state semifinal game against the Rockets. he said. “I know he’s not a Division I football player, but he’s a Division I athlete. He was in complete control there and was very calm.”
Words from Hamilton’s Hall of Fame coach that Jones and Welter have seen firsthand for some time.
“I’ll watch the movie on Monday,” Jones said. “I basically give him the quarterback’s notes about the previous game, and I’ll walk you through some of them. I have a script and I’ll give it to him. He’ll get through it. Usually this It’s just to remind him of some things that are going on, like new twists that we’ve put into that game, and if we have any doubts, we might tweak them during practice, but he’s very. He is sharp and understands things very well.”
learning from the past
Young started playing baseball at the age of six and soccer in the fifth grade. He played quarterback for the Sages as a freshman and briefly as a sophomore before converting to running back in 2023. Monticello had another DI talent last season with Luke Teschke filling in under center to fill the quarterback position. Teschke, currently a freshman pitcher on the Illinois State University baseball team, threw for 2,329 yards and 744 rushing yards with 35 total touchdowns last season, when the Sages finished 5-5 with a first-round playoff loss.
Given all the success Young has had this fall, has Welter ever wondered what Young could do if he started multiple seasons as Monticello’s quarterback?
“Honestly, this is not what we were able to get last year,” Welter said. “Any coach will tell you it’s better to have a quarterback for two or three years. As coaches, we always say, ‘We’ve got a quarterback for one more year,’ but they’re not good for us. It was good. Looking back at last year, Ike wasn’t physically the kid he is now. He grew a few inches. he became stronger. It looked like he could win at the beginning of last summer, but from there Luke dominated. ”
architecture by baseball
Young, who had 471 yards and three touchdowns a season ago and had 30 receptions for 409 yards and one touchdown catch, said he enjoyed playing running back as a junior. But he grew as a quarterback this fall.
It gave him even more confidence not only on the stage Friday night to compete in the state championship, but also in the spring when the successful Monticello baseball program begins its season under Coach Jones. The Sages finished last season 31-5, won the 2A regional title and advanced to the section championship game. Young was a big reason for that, with the right-hander posting a 5-1 record with a 2.16 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings.
form a strong bond
Over the past year, Young and Jones have had countless conversations and spent time together. Whether it has to do with football, baseball, or other life issues.
“As a freshman, I had no idea what he was like. He’s very detail-oriented, which is good, but it can also be a little frustrating,” Young said with a smile. “I know he’s doing what he’s doing to make me better. Our relationship is strong. I have full confidence in him and I’m grateful for everything he’s done.” Masu.”
Jones expressed similar sentiments about Young. Young has traded in his football cleats for basketball shoes and will soon join coach Kevin Roy’s program at Monticello.
“All of us on the coaching staff at Monticello want to get our kids involved in a variety of sports,” Jones said. “For Ike to step on the football field under the Friday night lights and in the postseason knowing his responsibilities and what he has to do is what makes him better. Bottom of the 7th inning, 2 outs. And when he’s on the mound and he has to get the last guy out or he’s at bat in that situation, I don’t know if he can recreate that by not being in that game.”
growth is evident
The next task for Young is to try to break through Montini’s defense, where the Broncos are currently on a nine-game winning streak and are averaging just 10.1 points per game.
But what he can apply on the mound this spring is a 93 mph four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, changeup or curveball.
He detailed the lessons he’s learned over the past three months since Monticello football’s unsuccessful start to the season.
“It’s been fun to see how far we’ve come from Week 1 against St. Joe to where we are now,” Young said. “It’s a dramatic change. We’re not the same team we were back then. The dedication of this senior group and the varsity team has been amazing.”
