Dario Milivojevic doesn’t get off of the football field very often.

On offense, he’s a wide receiver, though he’s also stepped in for run plays or even at quarterback when necessary. And after every St. Francis touchdown, he’s on the field ready to hold the extra point for kicker Evan Kolinski.

On defense, he plays cornerback, tasked with locking down some of the top receiving talent in the state. And when the defense forces a fourth down, Milivojevic goes right back out to the field the punt. And even if the Spartans allow a score, he’s right back out on the field, ready to return the ensuing kickoff.

It’s a laundry list of roles the Southern Illinois commit has fulfilled for the Spartans, who will face Providence in the Class 5A state title game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Illinois State’s Hancock Stadium.

But is he tired of doing it?

“When it’s your senior season, you kind of have that drive that you want to do it all and leave it all out on the field and do everything you can to get to the state championship,” Milivojevic said. “And especially with this being our last game no matter what, that’s what I’ll be doing.”

It’s been that mantra the senior two-way player has put on all season, racking up nearly 1,000 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on offense while also making big plays on the defensive side to help him earn Class 5A All-State honors and helping the Spartans to their first state title game since 2008.

“He’s just been our Swiss army knife,” St. Francis coach Bob McMillen said. “He’s a guy that will go out there and do whatever he needs to for the team. And when he goes out and does it, he’s excels at a high rate.

“He’s turned into a different football player out there this season and we couldn’t be more proud of how he’s playing. We’re not having the success we’re having on the field if he’s not doing what he’s doing.”

Milivojevic, who’s been third on the team in receiving yards in back-to-back seasons, cited wanting to get on scholarship at Southern Illinois as a big factor for his growth as a football player from his junior to senior season. And it showed early, with him announcing his commitment back on June 27.

“It just made me feel like I could play more freely,” Milivojevic said. “If you’re having fun and playing freely, a lot more will come your way.”

He’s also been aided by some fellow standouts on the offense, like senior wide receivers Zach Washington and Tanner Glock, along with senior quarterback Brock Phillip, who’s the third starter under center Milivojevic has played with since being called up in his sophomore season.

“We just have weapons all over our offense,” Milivojevic said. “I think that makes it tough on defenses, and it also provides Brock with a lot of options all around the field.”

While his offensive production has been a main focal point to his play throughout the season, it was his defense that broke through in the Class 5A state semifinal against Belvidere North, with the senior forcing two of five turnovers on the game with an interception and a forced fumble.

“The forced fumble was his fault, he should’ve been covering the route of the guy that caught it,” McMillen said. “But that’s just a testament of what type of character and what type of player that Dario is. He knew he was in the wrong position, but he never gave up on the play and he made a play right before the guy scored. It’s just the type of thing that he’s done all year.”

The work he put in on the field has not gone unnoticed not just in the state, but to college coaches as well. On Nov. 6, Milivojevic announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he had received a preferred walk-on offer to play at the University of Missouri, his first offer from a Power 4 school.

“It makes you feel like you’ve made a lot of improvement from my junior year, which I personally think I have,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s also a bit of a curveball, especially since I’ve been committed all season. So it’s something that I have to really sit down and think about it so I can make the best decision about it.”

But for now his focus is on getting a state title, which would only be the second championship won by a Spartans’ boys team since the football program won it all back in 2008.

And it’ll be against an opponent the Spartans know well in Providence Catholic, a team St. Francis faced back in Week 5.

The good news? St. Francis won that game 47-35, with Milivojevic catching six passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns.

The bad news? The Spartans have lost three straight playoff games to CCL teams, which includes a 17-14 loss to the Celtics in the Class 4A semifinals in 2022. The other two were back-to-back losses to Nazareth in the Class 5A state semifinals.

“It’s never easy to beat a team twice in a season, that’s for sure,” McMillen said. “I don’t know how Providence is going to guard him. If you try to guard him one-on-one he’s going to make a big play and that’s something he did last time and he had a really good game. I don’t think they’re going to play him like that again, but I hope they do.”

But after finally getting past the semifinals this season, Milivojevic doesn’t see why they would stop now.

“We finally broke through the threshold of four straight years of going to the semifinals, but we’re not stopping here,” he said. “We have everything to put on the line here. We’re not settling for just breaking that threshold, and it would mean the world to go out and win it all.”