By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
Chicago Christian has a new football coach, and he comes from one of the best high school football programs in Illinois.
CJ Cesario has been tabbed to head up the Knights program, replacing Dan Chiarito. In 2023, Cesario coached the sophomore team at Mount Carmel. The Caravan won back-to-back Class 7A state championships in 2022 and 2023.
Cesario is a Chicago native who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota as a wide receiver. He also coached at Chattanooga Christian School in Tennessee, and Ridgeland and Heritage high schools in Georgia.
“The roots of my upbringing drive my desire and heart for the urban community,” he stated in a press release.
Cesario will also be a member of the Admissions and Marketing team at Chicago Christian and Southwest Chicago Christian School.
“I am a firm believer that Coach Cesario is the right leader to propel our football program forward and he will be an important addition to our school as we broaden the reach of our recruitment efforts,” Chicago Christian Superintendent Mark Hamstra stated in a press release.
Another Super Bowl for Schofield?
In what has turned out to be a strange season, Michael Schofield could be on a second Super Bowl winning team.
Schofield, an Orland Park native and Sandburg graduate, won a Super Bowl with Denver in 2016 as a starting offensive lineman, is on Detroit’s practice squad. The Lions defeated Tampa Bay, 31-23, on Jan. 21 in the NFC divisional playoffs and are a victory away from reaching the Super Bowl.
Schofield opened the season as a free agent and was on the sidelines for the Sandburg football team as a volunteer assistant coach. After the high school season, he picked up a call from the Lions on Nov. 14 to join the team’s practice squad. On Nov. 22, he was promoted to the team ahead of a game against Green Bay, but didn’t play.
He went back to the practice squad and was cut on Dec. 21. He was brought back to the organization Dec. 29 and has been with the Lions since.
Schofield, 33, is one of just three current Lions who were alive in 1992 when the franchise last won a postseason game, prior to Detroit beating the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 14 in the NFC wild-card round.
Johnson helps sink ONU
Saint Xavier men’s basketball player Cedric Johnson has been putting up impressive numbers all season, and last weekend showed he is a clutch player as well.
The senior guard from Bellevue, Nebraska, hit a game-tying shot and a subsequent free throw with 0.3 seconds left to lift the host Cougars a 76-75 win over 22nd-ranked Olivet Nazarene in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference battle on Jan. 20.
The win snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Tigers and was the first victory over Olivet since 2018. It was the Cougars’ first win over the Tigers at the Shannon Center since November 10, 2012.
Johnson led SXU (12-6, 7-3) with 26 points and was 11-for-13 from the line. He also had a team-best seven rebounds, two assists and a steal while playing all 40 minutes.