The seeds for Chicago Christian’s stunning rise to supremacy in football were planted beginning last year, at Maroa-Forsyth, which dominated the Knights 42-6 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
“That stuck in my craw,” lineman Brock Sperling said. “We were only down 14-6 at the half.”
More seeds were planted this year, beginning with a coaching change. Then during a resounding regular-season victory at 1A power Hope Academy, and again in the second round of the playoffs, when the Knights knocked off Tri-Valley on the road.
The harvest came the day after Thanksgiving in Normal, when the Knights, again squaring off with Maria-Forsyth, dealt them a 47-0 defeat to claim Chicago Christian’s first boys team championship since joining the IHSA.
The major difference between 2023 and 2024: The coach. When C.J. Cesario arrived at the Palos Heights school last January to run the football program and guide admissions, finally saying yes the fourth time the job was offered to him, he brought an unending bounty of confidence.
For taking what was a middling program and convincing the returning members of the team they could succeed beyond their dreams, Cesario is Southwest Regional Publishing’s Coach of the Year.
“Almost everyone on the team was here last year,” said quarterback-defensive back Christian Flutman, one of nine starters to go both ways. “He’s instilled confidence in us.”
Flutman remembered the 5-5 season of 2023 and the bitter finish. He wasn’t alone. Cesario, who had guided Mount Carmel’s sophomores in 2023, sensed potential.
“I heard about it from the parents and the people close to the program that these players could have a special year with the right kind of leadership,” Cesario said. “To me, a special year meant going further into the playoffs. But that was before I knew the character of these young men and what they were willing to do to maximize it.”
They were willing to do anything, including getting up before dawn in the dead of winter to work out. That was new for the Knights.
“We came together very early in the season,” Flutman said, referencing the workouts. It was, ‘If you don’t think we can go to state, just get out.’ We knew if we came together and played for each other, we could do things that were amazing.”
“We had these things called MoG sessions, which is Men of Grit,” Sperling said. “Show up at around 6 in the morning, lift before school, get a hard workout in.”
Why? Cesario said it was one of the tickets to success, but deflects the notion his words made the difference.
“I firmly believe it’s more about the Jims and the Joes than the Xs and Os,” Cesario said. “Always will be. Does it matter? Absolutely. Does culture and building a program matter? Absolutely. Does holding them accountable and challenging them to be strong, ambitious men matter? Absolutely. That’s what we do. We use football as the vehicle for that. They’ve said yes to the call every week.”
The roster grew from 27 to 35, some 23 percent of the school’s male population. Even with 13 departing seniors – every key player – it may grow again in the fall of 2025.
“We’re graduating a ton of people this year, but in the next five years Chicago Christian is going to be a household name,” Sperling said. “I promise you that right now. The whole narrative the past three years was, our football team’s not good enough, We leave the games at halftime. Now people are leaving at halftime because we’re blowing teams out. That turnaround is awesome.”
Even as he works toward 2025, there was a moment late in the title game where Cesario could take a breath and take it in.
“The last few minutes, I allowed myself to enjoy internally what was happening around me,” Cesario said. “I understood that we were going to win the football game. I looked in the stands more at the faces of the people, because that’s what this whole thing is all about. Our football team did not win a state championship, our community did. I’ve never seen so much pure joy in a body of people and I was just honored I got a front-row seat to see it.”
FINALLY. You are actually covering Chicago Christian. A school in your own town! If you keep it up, maybe I will have to renew my subscription.