Lowell senior Cameron Crago has a keen sense of the program’s history.
In fact, Crago is often trying to learn even more.
“He’s a student of the game,” Lowell coach Keith Kilmer said. “He’s a football junkie, like a Red Devil football junkie.
“I have just about every game posted on our website from 2003 all the way up. And this kid, every day he asks me a question about the ’09 or ’07 state championship games and the Griffith game in ’04. He wants to talk about those kids.”
Crago, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound defensive back/wide receiver, grew up with the Red Devils. His father, Nick, is a 1996 graduate who played on Lowell’s first regional championship team in 1994.
“Just hearing him talk about all of those games sparked my interest,” Crago said.
Crago was a ball boy from fourth grade through seventh grade, including when Lowell reached the Class 4A state championship game in 2017.
“That was awesome,” he said. “Seeing those teams go to regional, go to state, seeing the whole town get behind us on a playoff run, it was really special.”
Now Crago is one of those kids, a captain who has been instrumental in reestablishing the foundation for the Red Devils.
“To look back on what I was a part of when I was little and knowing that now I’m what I looked up to back then, it’s pretty crazy,” he said.
Crago, a former quarterback, has 27 tackles as a safety this season after Lowell (3-4, 2-2) secured a Northwest Crossroads Conference win against Kankakee Valley last week. He also has three catches for 31 yards.
Crago mostly played cornerback on defense over the years, even as recently as workouts over the summer, but he has liked being at safety.
“It’s just fun,” he said. “I’m a little more involved in the run game and the pass game. I can see the game a little better. It’s more enjoyable.”
Lowell’s rivalry game against Kankakee Valley marked Crago’s return to the field after he missed three games with a high right ankle sprain he suffered in Week 3. His absence was felt.
“He’s playing at about 85%, but you could just tell the difference, the confidence he brings to the other kids on the field, just him being out there,” Kilmer said. “The defense played outstanding, and a lot of it had to do with Cameron. He’s just out there directing traffic.
“You fight to the end. If you don’t win, you don’t win. But you have to at least fight, and that’s a big difference Crago makes when he’s back on the field. He’s going to play to the end of the game. He has that mentality, that leadership.”
Senior defensive back/wide receiver Gavin Cataldo, who is Crago’s cousin, agreed.
“He’s a hard worker, a leader,” Cataldo said. “He’s always putting in the work. He’s always picking others up around the team. He’s a great player.
“It definitely affected the team a lot when he was gone. It was big to have him back. It definitely helped us out a lot.”
The game against Kankakee Valley also was Crago’s first opportunity to play at Lowell’s shining, overhauled facility. He missed the first two home games against Hanover Central and Highland with his ankle injury, and the game against the Kougars was Lowell’s final one at home of the regular season.
“Playing on the field for the first time, playing with my family, it was great, especially playing in a game with a lot of history, playing for the Jug,” Crago said. “It was a great time, a great game to be back on the field.”
Kilmer joked about Crago perhaps not appreciating the new field as much as others, though.
“I’m glad he got to play on it,” Kilmer said. “But he’s one of those kids who wishes we were still on grass. He wants that old school. He wants to play in the mud. He’s like, ‘What did you do to the Inferno?’ No, but I’m glad he got to play Friday and make an impact in a game we really wanted to win.”
Crago has been making an impact throughout his career. As a sophomore, he earned starts at cornerback late in the season and saw some reps at receiver. Then he opened last season as the starting quarterback. But he suffered a concussion in Week 5, sat out the next game, and when he came back in Week 6, then-sophomore Brody Kalwinski had taken over at quarterback.
Crago, whose primary offensive position had been quarterback since fifth grade, shifted to cornerback and receiver.
“I was needed in other spots,” he said. “I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do.”
Crago finished his junior season with 186 yards passing, 75 yards rushing and 15 tackles as the Red Devils went 4-6, their first sub-.500 record since going 2-8 in 1998.
But Crago’s meaning to the program for which he has such a passion extends well beyond those numbers, according to Kilmer.
“This senior class is the COVID class,” Kilmer said. “They’ve had an interesting go of it. They came out of eighth grade and they didn’t have to do anything in the offseason because they couldn’t. Their freshman season, they didn’t quite understand what it took to be a Red Devil. We’ve lost quite a few of those kids — good athletes but kids who never quite bought in.
“Cameron is that senior who has bought in and brought his class together. We’ve had a tough go of it the last two years. But this year, it might not show record-wise, but it’s a better product on the field. They believe in what RDP is, they believe in what the culture is, and a lot of that has to do with Cameron. Cam’s been that leader who has really brought these guys back to trying to do what Red Devil football is.”
Local News
