Football notes: WRs shine in early going; Wheaton Academy’s Johanik continues family tradition

It’s been a good first few weeks for wide receivers in the Fox Valley area.

Leading the way among receivers was Geneva standout Talyn Taylor. After putting up 74 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a quarter in Week 1, the Georgia commit followed up with a 175-yard showing where he found the end zone three times in the Vikings’ 41-7 victory over Lemont.

Also passing the 100-yard mark last week was Batavia’s Isaiah Brown, who finished the Bulldogs’ 42-14 victory over South Elgin with 110 receiving yards and two scores in the first half before being subbed out. It was only his second time hitting triple digits and having multiple touchdowns since transferring in from Yorkville, with his first coming in last season’s state quarterfinal game against Hononegah.

St. Charles North’s Keaton Reinke and St. Charles East’s Sheko Gjokaj both reached triple digits in their Week 1 contests, and Reinke still managed a solid week in the North Stars’ win against Crete-Monee. After starting off the game with a 78-yard kickoff return touchdown, the junior found the end zone on a 6-yard receiving touchdown, as well as a 35-yard passing touchdown to fellow receiver Braden Harms.

Kickers come up big

It was a good week for Burlington Central’s David McCoy and Kaneland’s Sam Bruno.

In their matchups against Dundee Crown and Wauconda, respectively, the two kickers ended up playing a crucial role in their team’s Week 2 victories.

McCoy’s game-winning kick came with three seconds left on the clock and the Rockets down by one. With the time winding down, the kicker nailed a 37-yard field goal to give the Rockets a 24-22 victory for their first win of the season.

“The pressure was on a little bit,” McCoy said Friday after the win. “I was pretty confident I could make the kick. I’m thanking my team for putting me in the position to finally do that.

“I make those kicks all the time, so I knew I just had to go out there and be confident.”

In the Knights’ case, it wasn’t just one kick that Bruno made that helped secure a 2-0 record. In fact, it was three.

After scoring on their first offensive drive, Bruno was the Knights’ only source of points for the rest of the game. His kicks of 26, 26 and 23 yards helped them to a 16-7 victory over Wauconda.

Marmion off to perfect start in new era

There were a lot of questions about how the Cadets would look entering the season.

The Cadets have put up two solid showings in their first two games under new coach Adam Guerra, who was a coach at St. Patrick from 2017 to 2021 before stepping away from coaching for a bit. After scoring 21 unanswered points for a 21-15 victory over Oak Forest in Week 1, the Cadets put the hurt on The Noble Academy, shutting them out in a 56-0 showing.

After relying on senior quarterback Kam Tolliver in Week 1 to bring them back, it was senior running back Sean Dahlman who jump started the offense early with a kickoff return touchdown on the first play of the game and a rushing touchdown on the Cadets’ first offensive play.

They also had two pick-sixes in the game from Michael Roche and Bryan Scales, who also caught the game-winning pass in Week 1.

With a senior-heavy roster performing to his expectations, it wouldn’t be surprising if Guerra can help the Cadets make some noise in conference play – and potentially in the playoffs, as well.

“I am proud of the hard work the team has put in,” Guerra said. “We have gotten better every week and are excited to start conference play this upcoming week against St. Viator. The senior leadership and contributions have been outstanding.”

DuKane teams off to a hot start

The DuKane Conference has been known as one of the premier football conferences across the state since its debut season in 2018. And this season is looking to be no exception.

With conference play starting Friday, the teams will be heading into their matchups with a combined 13-3 record, which is the best overall record heading into league play since 2021, when teams also were 13-3. The 2021 season also happened to be the only season where a team from the DuKane finished with a state championship after Wheaton North took home the Class 7A title.

Geneva and Lake Park won both of their games in blowout fashion. Batavia and St. Charles North had great offensive showings in Week 2 after close first games. Glenbard North has relied on good defensive showings. And Wheaton North has won both of its games on the last play.

And while Wheaton Warrenville South (1-1) and St. Charles East (0-2) don’t fall under that same category, all three losses came against teams who made it to at least the second round of the playoffs last season and have not lost by more than two touchdowns.

With all this being lined up, expect to see some great football games over the next seven weeks between these eight teams.

Another Johanik shines at Wheaton Academy

Wheaton Academy senior Jeremy Johanik understands the pressure of high expectations.

His father is the head coach at Wheaton Academy.

His two older brothers, Derek and Peter, both donned a Warriors’ jersey.

Jeremy Johanik, a two-way starter at center and defensive end, is a key cog in the Warriors’ quest to make another long playoff run this season. Wheaton Academy last season reached the Class 4A semifinals.

Jeremy Johanik said football is in his family’s blood.

Johanik started playing football when he was five years old but is now a senior leader. Peter Johanik is still making headlines on the field, recording two sacks in Wheaton College’s opener last week.

“It’s crazy looking up watching my brother Peter in his senior year when I was a freshman,” Jeremy said. “To think those guys are so big and I just worshiped them. It’s kind of crazy finally getting here and realizing that there’s a lot more responsibility on you in getting whole team together and culture wise.”

Jeremy Johanik said he takes pride in being a leader and also following in his brother’s footsteps. This marks the ninth consecutive season a Johanik has played center for the Warriors.

“My brother Peter has always been my role model,” Jeremy said. “I’ve always looked up to him and tried to follow in his footsteps, especially moving from the defensive line to linebacker which is exactly what he did. The biggest thing he taught me was to be hungry to hit somebody. When I was a scout offensive lineman in my freshman year, it was tough to block him because he hit so hard, but also his leadership was big. You could see how everybody looked up to him in so many ways.”

The good news for the younger Johanik – and his father – is he’s completely healthy this season. Jeremy Johanik said he played last season with two bad shoulders, causing him to resort to severe measures several times during games to stay on the field. Johanik underwent offseason surgery on both shoulders. In two games this season, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Johanik has 26 tackles and one forced fumble. As a junior, Johanik racked up 92 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions and recovered a fumble in 12 games.

“Last year I had upwards of 20 shoulder dislocations mid-game but now I’m playing more free and with a lot less pain,” Jeremy said. “My shoulders are now an afterthought.”

Jim Johanik said his son is part of an impressive group of players on his team with high expectations. The Warriors (1-1) defeated St. Charles East last week to carry some momentum into Friday’s home game against Chicago Christian.

“Jeremy is ahead of where Peter was at his age in terms of experience, football knowledge and physicality,” Jim Johanik said. “He’s the leader of the defense and the most physical kid on the field. We have an incredibly talented team but are still learning how to work together and jell together as a team. Our upside is tremendous, which puts the onus on our seniors to provide the necessary leadership. This is probably the most talented team we’ve had as a program on an individual talent level.”

Montini faces tough test Friday

Two games. Two shutouts.

At this point of the season, Montini is on a roll. The Broncos, a team full of seniors, crushed Hyde Park 49-0 and defeated Hillcrest 21-0 in a pair of tuneup games that helped build confidence for their arduous Chicago Catholic League White schedule. The Broncos have a formidable task at Marist on Friday.

“This is a great group of seniors and they have been awesome and are very excited,” Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. “They have worked very hard. Our goal was to be 2-0, so we can be ready to start the Catholic League slate this Friday. Obviously, right off the bat, we play a very storied team and a very good program in Marist.”

The RedHawks, coached by former York coach Mike Fitzgerald, defeated Morgan Park in their opener and narrowly beat Brother Rice 34-27 last week.

“I think number one we have to be able to put together some drives and we’ve got to be able to hold the ball and control the ball through our running and passing game,” Bukovsky said. “Defensively, they are very big up front and have very good athletes at the skill positions. It will be a great challenge. We have to play very sound fundamentally.”

Bukovsky said his defense is ready for the challenge of testing themselves against an elite offense.

“We basically have 10 starters back on defense, so we knew we had a chance to be a good team,” he said. “We knew to have week three circled. We also have to make some plays on special teams. Our defensive line has played very well. We have four guys really playing well in JC Hayes, Nicky Castaldo, Doug Mateo and Namari Anderson. It starts with those guys upfront. They deserve a lot of credit.”