Why the Class 3A football state championship will come down to talent and experience

Williamsville is looking to become the first team from the 217 area code to hand Elmhurst IC Catholic a loss in the state championship game.

More importantly, a Bullets’ win would be the second state title in school history and just on the heels of Williamsville’s incredible 46-42 win over Byron in 2019.

No. 6-ranked Williamsville (12-1) meets five-time state football champion top-ranked Elmhurst IC Catholic (12-1) in its third state title game on Friday at 4 p.m. inside Champaign’s Memorial Stadium.

IHSA football: Williamsville vs. Elmhurst IC Catholic for the Class 3A championship

When the Bullets brought home their first state championship trophy, the current crop of seniors were freshmen. They had plenty of examples to guide their path through the future set by their then-senior teammates.

Eight freshmen dressed and had an up-close view of what it took. All eight are currently on the Bullets’ roster and are chief contributors.

“Places that get to practice in November, it’s so important not just for the weeks there but for the weeks in the future for your younger kids, whether they’re juniors playing a lot or freshmen witnessing how things go,” Williamsville coach Aaron Kunz said. “There's no doubt those kids as freshmen took so much in from that ‘19 experience. It’s definitely helped drive us this year. You’ll hear them say things that happened in ‘19 that I don’t even remember that obviously meant so much to them.”

But the Bullets will have to rely on more than just past experience to come home with a second state championship trophy.

IC Catholic played a bruising schedule. The Knights’ lone loss came in Week 2 to Joliet Catholic, the 2021 Class 4A state champions, in a tight 23-22 game. That was after opening the season with a 35-16 win over Lombard Montini. IC Catholic closed out the regular season with a 25-14 win over 4A semifinalist Wheaton St. Francis.

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“(St. Francis) was a great football team and made it to the semifinals … and made us a better football team,” IC Catholic coach Bill Krefft said. “Joliet Catholic taught us a lot of lessons, (West Chicago) Wheaton Academy taught us a lot of lessons, St. Francis taught us a lot of lessons and then it gave us some energy going into the playoffs to beat a great football team like that.”

Williamsville survived the cold, wind and Tolono Unity’s defense last week to pull out a 12-7 win over the Rockets in the 3A semifinals. IC Catholic blanked Byron 35-0 to get to the final game.

Krefft said his team’s biggest disadvantage will be on the roster with many two-way players.

“I believe that they are athletic, and I don’t see a lot of two-way guys. When you talk about what we’ve ran into, for the most part, the two-way play has been comparable,” Krefft said. “We have a lot of two-way guys. We really do only have 26 varsity players. Everyone else is JV and freshmen. We look like we’re 65 deep but really we’re only 26 deep.

“(Williamsville) having one-way players is a worry for us and their defense is fast. That comes into play with the way we’ll try to attack them and what we’re worried about with them. I think athletically, they’re one of the more gifted teams. Their secondary is strong, their linebackers are strong.”

While tempo may not favor either side — both teams push the pace and play no-huddle — Kunz said the Knights will easily be the toughest team the Bullets have played.

“They are the most physical group I’ve seen in a long time,” Kunz said. “They’re very physical up front, their receivers are physical, they get after it and they’ve got special athletes everywhere. Running back, they’re going to bring all kinds of kids in and they’re all fast and they’re all strong. We’re going to have to tackle and do our best job of tackling we’ve done all season.”

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Krefft profusely praised Williamsville’s offense.

“Every team is unique but (Williamsville) even more so,” said the 11-year coach. “They run power and their quarterback is really a great athlete and drives everything and is really explosive and they throw the ball really well.

“They’re more balanced than most of the teams we’ve seen. I think their scheme is great and I think their staff has done an awesome job with the schematic part of it. They put you in a lot of binds. It’s hard to get them on a short week; I wish we had more time. It’s very hard to have one less day.

“The idea of how many different things they do. They are exceptional in terms of coaching; we respect the heck out of them.”

IC Catholic has nearly split its 4,600 yards of offense down the middle between its passing game and its run game. But Krefft knows Williamsville also has a multidimensional offensive attack. The Knights’ defensive game plan will be to try to limit the Bullets’ big plays.

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“We’ll stay on top of everything (in defensive coverage),” Krefft said. “We’ll make them nickel-and-dime us to death and take stuff underneath.

“I think they’re going to take shots all game long. We’re very worried about their athletes. They have two really good receivers and a third that’s pretty good that they can go to at any time. Their quarterback (Jake Seman) is their guy.

“In the back end, we’re going to want to stay on top of stuff and dare them to take the underneath stuff and see if they’re going to be patient enough to do that and if we’re going to be able to tackle them in open space and make them execute.”

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football championships: Williamsville vs. IC Catholic preview