When it comes to pass-and-catch duos, it’s hard to top what Crete-Monee has in rising seniors Derrin Couch and Dorian Patterson.
Both were Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 6A All-Staters last fall, Couch as a first-team quarterback and Patterson as an honorable mention receiver.
Their numbers were eye-popping, especially for a team that was long run-oriented.
Couch set program records for touchdown passes in a season (42) and in a game (eight), while finishing with 47 total TDs and 2,117 total yards. Patterson tied a program record with 21 TD catches, passed for three scores and averaged 18.4 yards per reception.
Both players are heading into their fourth season as teammates. Understandably, that makes for an elite connection.
“(Our) chemistry is real good,” Patterson said. “We’ve been quarterback and receiver since freshman year. I got moved up (to varsity) freshman year, sophomore year we really took off. …
“It’s just like (he’s) my brother. We just know where who’s gonna be at, where to put it at and we’re just gonna make plays.”
Couch feels the same way.
“Me and Dorian (have) a good chemistry,” Couch said. “I think we’re going to do really good this season because we just practice a lot, get a little offseason time (and) go out (and) do some field work together.”
No surprise, Crete coach John Konecki is glad to have Couch back to run the offense.
“The learning curve, it’s a lot less,” Knoecki said of having a veteran quarterback. “We’re not starting out at base zero — from where do we start, where’s the reads, what’s the cadence? Things that are simple as that. So you walk right in, you have a guy who already understands that, what is expected of him.”
In a recruiting environment that is more challenging for high-school prospects in the transfer portal era, Couch and Patterson are hoping to catch some recruiters’ eyes this season.
Couch, a 6-2, 190-pounder, has an offer from Division II Upper Iowa and is hoping for more.
“I would say it’s like an unknown process,” he said. “I don’t know what coaches are looking for, so I’m just sitting there waiting for a reach-out from a coach and seeing where their head is, telling them what type of leader I am.”
Patterson, who is 6-3 and 170 pounds, owns Division offers from Northern Illinois, New Mexico and Miami (Ohio), as well as interest from Michigan State, Nebraska, Illinois and Central Michigan.
What Patterson has heard from college programs has been encouraging. “They tell me, they’re gonna recruit me in my senior year,” he said.
While Couch and Patterson are hoping to improve their recruiting stock this fall, their bigger goals are team-oriented. The Warriors have reached the postseason every year since 2005 — apart from 2020, when the playoffs were canceled because of COVID — winning the Class 6A title in 2012 and finishing second in 2015 and 2018. Crete also made the semifinals in 2021 and the quarterfinals in 2022.
“This year we’re going for a state run,” Patterson said. “The team I have right now, we’ve got a brotherhood, we’ve got each other’s back, so we’re gonna try to make it all the way.”