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Football: 2025 All-Interstate 8 Conference team announced

Morris’s Caeden Curran, Mick Smith earn Player of the Year honors; Kaneland’s Jack Buckley named Lineman of the Year

Morris' Caeden Curran (9) looks for more running room during the IHSA Class 4A semifinals football playoff game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 in Lombard.

Here are the Interstate 8 All-Conference football players for the 2025 season, as voted on by coaches of member schools.

Offensive Player of the Year: Caeden Curran, sr., RB/LB, Morris

Defensive Player of the Year: Mick Smith, jr., LB/RB, Morris

Lineman of the Year: Jake Buckley, sr., OL/DL, Kaneland

All-Conference

Kaneland: Brady Alstott, sr., DB, Brady Brown, sr., WR, Jake Buckley, sr., OL/DL, Jalen Carter, sr., QB, Carter Grabowski, sr., RB, Rogan O’Neil, jr., LB, Jack Parker, sr., LB

LaSalle-Peru: Nick Hachenberger, sr., LB, Jaron Morscheiser, jr., TE/LB, Marion Persich, so., QB, Ryland Rynkewicz, sr., DB/WR

Morris: Chace Bachert, sr., DE, Logan Conroy, jr., WR/DB, Caeden Curran, sr., RB/LB, Brogan Kjellesvik, jr., OL, Tamatoa Le’au, sr., OL/DL, Owen Olson, sr., LB, Eric Ramos, sr., OL, Mick Smith, jr., LB/RB, Logan Sparrow, sr., TE/DL, Aiden Swan, jr., OL, Brady Varner, sr., QB

Ottawa: Archer Cechowicz, sr., RB/DB, Joey Liebhart, sr., DB, Cooper Smith, sr., OL

Rochelle: Tyler Gensler, jr., RB/LB, Mark Green, sr., QB/DB, Dylan Manning, jr., RB/DB, Brode Metzger, sr., TE/LB, Markell Pogue, sr., OL/DL, Roman Villalobos, sr., RB/LB

Sycamore: Ben Anderson, jr., WR/DB, Cooper Bode, sr., RB/LB, Owen DePauw, sr., OL/DL, Griffin Larsen, sr., QB, Kevin Lee, sr., RB/LB, Vincent Pitstick, sr., TE/DL

Honorable Mentions

Kaneland: Jackson Little, sr., LB, Jackson Valentini, jr., OL, Reiss Thompson, jr., DL

LaSalle-Peru: Mason Morscheiser, jr., LB, Gus Konieczki, sr., OL, Regan Doerr, sr., DB

Morris: Brady Babington, jr., TE/DL, Brody Hibner, jr., OL, R.J. Kennedy, jr., WR

Ottawa: Evan Paris, sr., OL, Ethan Poutre, sr., FB/LB, Wes Weatherford, jr., RB/LB

Rochelle: Reece Harris, sr., LB, Keagan Albers, sr., DB, Warren Schweitzer, jr., TE

Sycamore: Maddox McRoberts, so., OL/LB, Will Rosenow, jr., OL/DL, Josiah Mitchell, sr., WR/DB

Russ Hodges

Russ started working with Shaw Media in August 2025 after over nine years as sports editor of the Rochelle News-Leader. Russ covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald and high school football for Friday Night Drive.