Manteno hosts Peotone, Clifton Central and Momence for live scrimmages

As the final summer contact days start winding down with just over a week to go, a quartet of playoff football teams from a year ago got together Thursday night in Manteno.

Although heat and thunderstorms delayed them into the night, the Panthers hosted Peotone, Clifton Central and Momence for a night of 11-on-11 scrimmages between returning playoff teams.

It’s the second straight summer that the Panthers hosted the four scrimmages since the IHSA began allowing teams to participate in more scrimmage action than 7-on-7s last year. And while 7-on-7 does benefit teams with their pass offenses and defenses, as well as competitiveness, Manteno coach RJ Haines said it doesn’t compare with the valuable 11-on-11 reps kids can get now.

“It’s huge,” Haines said. “They need to get out there and experience these things at full speed. It’s hard to do it in practice, but against another team you get the speed and intensity of a game you can’t emulate in practice.”

Panthers look for repeat postseason bid behind returning QB Connor Harrod

An entire offensive and defensive line, led by current Illinois State freshman Cooper Monk, has graduated. So has Niko Akiyama and the 1,293 yards he ran for last year. But what hasn’t left Manteno is the culture and pride that the Class of 2025 helped bring back to a Panthers program that was 7-3 a year ago and made the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

“Last year kind of reset our tradition here,” Haines said. “I think the kids are feeling that. We switched out a lot of parts and are doing things a little bit different, everybody’s just kind of got to settle in and understand what we’re doing.”

A big reason for that excitement is senior quarterback Connor Harrod returning for his third season under center. After he threw for 1,660 yards and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore two years ago, Harrod threw for 677 yards and 13 touchdowns during a more run-heavy 2024 campaign in which he also ran for 451 yards and 12 scores.

“His best attribute is that Connor’s a football player,” Haines said. “He’s a tough kid. If he has to run straight ahead on fourth-and-1, he can get it for you, and he can make some big throws, too. … Just having that third-year senior quarterback in a game is invaluable. When we get in that first game and things get tense, guys are gonna look to him."

Harrod, who’s wrestled and played on the regional championship baseball team since last football season ended, said he’s noticed the game slow down as his career has matured. And with three of his classmates back at wide receiver – Dylan McIntyre, Tyler Buehler and Kaleb Jankuski – the chemistry he has with his pass-catchers is closer to midseason form than summer camp form.

“It’s definitely more comfortable to know they know what’s going on and they don’t need a reset at the start of summer,” Harrod said. “There’s a little rust, but you’ve got the plays and formations, so it’s nice, and it’s comfortable throwing to people I threw to last season and through JV.”

Blue Devils work on taking next step

Peotone is in the midst of its longest postseason streak in program history, appearing in the past five playoffs dating to before the COVID-19 pandemic. As head coach Apostolos “Tolly” Tsiamas looks to keep that streak rolling in his 11th year, his players are aiming on another program mark.

“We’ve talked the last few years about how they want to get to the quarterfinals,” Tsiamas said. “First things first, let’s win a playoff game and see what happens. But I like the fact that if we don’t make the playoffs, it’s a huge failure on our part.”

Chase Rivera inscribed his name all over the program’s individual rushing records last year, and with his graduation, a bevy of backs have stepped up to give Tsiamas plenty of options in his run-heavy approach. Senior Tucker Cain is back after going for over 800 yards a season ago, an example on and off the field Tsiamas wants this year’s junior-heavy team to follow.

“We really like our junior group, but we’re going to go as our seniors go,” Tsiamas said. “Tucker’s the guy who’s just a workhorse in the weight room, on the field he’s extremely coachable. He’ll be the leader on and off the field.”

He’s got plenty of juniors to share the backfield with, most notably Nick Cronin and Eli Chenoweth, but as the senior leader, Cain said he’s both taking in the summer moments a little bit more and also prioritizing that leadership role.

“It’s a little different,” Cain said. “I’m trying to step up and take the position of Chase, teach Nick and all the other running backs.”

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Peotone's John Meneses, right, chases down Momence's Erick Castillo as Castillo attempts to reach the ball over the goal line during scrimmage action at Manteno Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)