ROCKTON — Hononegah was 11-1 overall a year ago and rolled through the NIC-10 season with a perfect 9-0 record with seven all-conference first-team selections led by Offensive MVP Cole Warren.
Only one of those All-NIC-10 players returns so it’s no wonder head coach Brian Zimmerman is particularly thankful this season to have those 25 summer contact days the IHSA grants in order to identify some able replacements.
“Last year we had a pretty good idea who was going to be our starting quarterback and returning linemen and receivers,” Zimmerman said. “When you graduate as many seniors as we did, you’re going to have a lot more question marks going into the season. That’s what we utilize this time for. We want to give them some practice time to go over some plays and see who is responding the best.”
First and foremost will be naming a quarterback to replace Warren, who was the heart of an explosive run-pass-option offense. A great decision-maker, he set a record for most yards passing in a season including playoffs (2,038) and best passing percentage in a season at 61 percent (131-214). He threw 28 touchdown passes and just four interceptions, plus he also ran 45 times for 287 yards and five additional TDs.
Zimmerman said there are three main candidates to replace Warren: seniors Tommy Castelli and Dom Kelly and junior Drew Shockley. Castelli saw some mop-up action last season for the Indians while Shockley is up from the sophomore team. Kelly is a transfer from Lake Mills High School.
In addition to the 16 or so contact days the Indians will use in July, the trio also had three nights of seven-on-seven action. Two were in a league at Beloit College and the other in a 16-team tournament at West Aurora. The Indians played four games there and went 2-2.
“I wish we’d had Dom all four years, but I like what I see right now,” Zimmerman said. “He has been playing very well and was our frontrunner. Unfortunately, doing some agility training indoors last week, he tweaked his ankle. We were worried about his Achilles, but it turned out to be just a big scare and he’s only going to miss about four days. We’ll work him back in.
“That gives our other two candidates an opportunity and they’re both getting reps and getting better.”
On offense, the Indians also must replace All-NIC-10 wide receiver Isaiah Houi as well as left tackle Isaak “Chuck” Smith and left guard Drake Broege. In qualifying for the IHSA playoffs for a 33rd time last season, the 2023 offense set records for most points in a half (56) against Rockford Auburn, most points in a season (394) and most points in a season including the playoffs (508). They set records for most touchdowns in a season (56) and in a season including the playoffs (72).
The line does return center Cale Walls and the Benson brothers: Jacob at 6-foot-5, 290, played right guard and Max, 6-2 and 305, played right tackle. They will both play the guard spots this season.
“We’re going to have those two big boys inside and our center (Walls) is a tough kid so that’s a nice start,” Zimmerman said.
Houi, who will play at Eastern Illinois University, had 39 receptions last season for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“We’re going to miss Houi, but we have Cole Schmall back and he’s an all-conference type receiver,” Zimmerman said. “We have some others, too, we have high expectations for. We have some solid running backs, so I’m not concerned about that. Brock Anderson has looked good and we have a sophomore, Brody Sendele, who will probably play some running back and some linebacker for us.”
The Indians will need to rebuild their defense, where Houi was a stellar defender in the secondary. The Indians lost two first-teamers — linemen Aundre Pilgrim and Michael Floryance — but do return First Team linebacker Kurt Smith for his senior year. He also will see some duty at running back.
It will be difficult to replace Pilgrim, who had six quarterback sacks, 15 tackles for losses and 42 tackles in all, and three-year starting noseguard Floryance, who tied up blockers to allow his teammates to pile up tackles. He had 22 himself.
The Indians will rely on Smith, who led them with 64 solos and 75 tackles in all a year ago. He had nine tackles for losses. He will also see some time at running back.
“We’ll see who steps up on defense,” Zimmerman said. “These days afford us the opportunity to try to figure that out.”
It helps to have plenty of candidates. Hononegah currently has 64 varsity players.
“We have quite a few to look at,” Zimmerman said. “We’re also in the mid-30s at both the sophomore and freshmen level. From what I understand our eighth grade group this year has a ton of kids so it sounds like next year we will have a lot of freshmen.”
Hononegah will begin official practices on Aug. 12. The Indians’ NIC-10 opener is Aug. 30 at Kelsey Field against Auburn.
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