TOLONO — Tony Reetz spent most of his Sunday filling out paperwork at Unity High School.
When the first-year Unity football coach wasn’t doing that, he was getting reports from his assistant coaches on preparations going into effect on how to game plan for Byron.
“That’s always the tough thing about the state title game,” said Reetz, a Unity assistant for 21 seasons prior to becoming the program’s head coach who will coach in his sixth state title game with the Rockets on Friday. “You play that semifinal game, and it’s always going to be an emotional game. Then, Sunday hits, and you have all this other stuff to do.”
Granted, Reetz admits the procrastination on the paperwork came with good intentions.
“We always say we’re not superstitious, we’re just a little stitious,” Reetz said with a laugh in a nod to Steve Carrell’s character, Michael Scott, uttering that line on “The Office.” “A lot of that administrative work I put off until Sunday because I felt it was bad juju to do it early. I was in at the school at 8 a.m. and I was here until after 3 p.m. and it was all administrative. I had not watched one snap of Byron. That was a rough thing to come to grips with because all you want to do is prep.”
The plan to defeat the Tigers has consumed most of Reetz and the Rockets’ attention the rest of the week.
Mainly because no team has done so this season. Byron (13-0) is vying for its third state title in the last five seasons when it meets Unity (12-1) at 4 p.m. Friday in the Class 3A state championship game at Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State University campus in Normal.
The first state title in this span came at the expense of Unity, with the Tigers winning 35-7 in 2021 in DeKalb. A second state title followed two years later, with Byron routing Mt. Carmel 69-7 in Normal.
All told, Byron is 65-5 this decade.
“It’s become the standard here at Byron, and it’s always their goal,” Byron coach Jeff Boyer said. “For them to reach the state championship again is quite an accomplishment. I know people just think it happens at Byron, but I try to remind them that this is special. It’s not something that happens every year. There’s a lot of weight lifted off your shoulder when you win that semifinal game and get to the state championship game.”
Unity understands the sentiment. The Rockets are 59-11 this decade, but Unity has never won a state title and is playing in its state title game since the loss to Byron four years ago.
On top of that, getting less than a week to prepare for what Byron brings to the field is another challenge. Byron relies on a powerful, run-based wing-T offense and an aggressive, physical defense.
Led by fullback and linebacker Caden Considine. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior has rushed for 1,657 yards and 31 touchdowns on just 135 carries — meaning he averages more than a first down every time he takes a handoff from quarterback Andrew Talbert. He also has registered 73 tackles, including nine for loss.
Boyer said FCS programs North Dakota State and Western Illinois have shown interest in Considine, with Iowa and Illinois getting in late with preferred walk-on opportunities. But Iowa is the likely leader given the family ties to the Hawkeyes. His dad, Sean, was an Iowa defensive back who was a fourth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005 and went on to play eight seasons in the NFL.
“There’s actually a debate happening among our staff is if he’s better at offense or defense because he’s really good at both,” Reetz said. “He’s a heck of a player. He was a heck of a player a couple years ago when we watched him in the state title game as a sophomore. He hasn’t slowed down one bit.”
Talbert is another capable athlete. The 5-9, 180-pound junior is only 18 of 36 for 336 passing yards and seven touchdowns, but he has rushed for 486 yards on 63 carries and eight touchdowns. Talbert committed in early October to play college baseball at North Carolina.
Another option in the backfield, senior Dawson Criddle, has also rushed for 713 yards on 73 carries and 10 touchdowns.
“Considine, is a dog, and we’ve got to get him to the ground,” said Caden Hensch, a Unity senior linebacker with 73 tackles this season. “Their offensive line flies off the ball, and they get to the next level very quickly. We just have to get all of the guys to get on the same page, whether it’s our linemen getting low and the linebackers getting downhill quickly.”
Fellow linebacker Keegan Germano leads the Rockets with 125 tackles, and the junior realizes the Rockets have had to get up to speed in a condensed time frame this week to try and limit the Tigers’ offense.
“Stopping their downhill attack is probably the biggest thing,” Germano said. “We have a lot of respect for their players and coaches from the culture they’ve built. The biggest challenge is how fast they go. The ball is handed off pretty much instantly, and their line is really good at getting to the second level quickly.”
Unity senior defensive end Coleton Langendorf has a team-high 12 sacks, but setting the edge and helping in run support might be his biggest contribution on Friday.
“It’s definitely hard to prepare for because we haven’t seen this type of offense before,” Langendorf said. “We just need to make sure our scout-team guys give us the best look possible.”
On the other side of the ball, Byron has limited its four playoff opponents to just 43 points. Or eight less than what Unity scored during its 51-44 state semifinal win against St. Joseph-Ogden last Saturday.
“Everybody talks about Considine, and he’s a beast,” Unity senior quarterback Dane Eisenmenger said. “Their other linebackers are good. Their defensive line is good. They face a lot of teams that run the same offense as them, so they know how to stop the run.”
A contrast of styles is about to take center stage in Normal on Friday. Will the Byron run game prevail? Or the Unity pass game? Stay tuned.
“There’s no doubt that when you play a team like Byron, you’re not going to bully them up front,” Reetz said. “We’re not going to be able to line up and run it down their throat the way we maybe have to some other teams. Just as uncomfortable as we may be trying to stop their run game, you’ve got to hope that they’re equally as uncomfortable trying to stop our pass game.”
