Byron uses biggest blowout in IHSA state-final history to claim third championship
NORMAL — Just how good is this year's Byron football team?
The Tigers showed off in a big way during Friday's IHSA Class 3A state championship game, winning the program's third state title by wallopping another traditional power, Mt. Carmel, 69-7.
"All I can say is this group of kids is unbelieveable," Byron head coach Jeff Boyer said. "What a season that these guys just had. I mean first and foremost, state champs was the main goal. But then to kind of put an exclamation point on it here, that kind of proved that they are probably one of the best teams in Illinois history."
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The Tigers bounded out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and basically strolled home. They led 49-0 at halftime after rushing for 378 yards in the first two quarters alone. They broke the state scoring record on Brayden Knoll's 34-yard TD run to kickstart the second half.
"It was just business as usual," Boyer said.
He's right.
Byron not only followed up its 2021 state title with this dominant, undefeated run, but the Tigers capped it all off as the highest scoring team ever in the state of Illinois. Byron finished with 823 points on the season, surpassing Peoria's old record of 805 midway through the third quarter. The Tigers also eclipsed the touchdown record that Lena-Winslow set last year, finishing with 108.
And as it has done all season — except last week, when it had to hold off Lombard Montini 26-20 late — Byron just dominated. The 56-point margin of victory was the largest in IHSA championship game history, surpassing Stillman Valley's 52-point win in the 2009 title game.
"Early on we knew we had to keep the pedal to the medal, and that's what we did," said Caden Considine, who had 100 yards on 10 carries in the first quarter alone. "We broke their spirits, and the score says the rest."
The Tigers dominated in the backfield and on the line, averaging 10.8 yards per carry as a team without a single carry for a loss.
They were led by freshman quarterback Andrew Talbert (154 yards on five carries with three TDs) and Considine (17-153 and two TDs), the sophomore fullback. Junior halfback Knoll added 103 yards on six rushes with a pair of touchdowns.
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"Everything we do, all summer, all offseason, it's for games like this," junior lineman Nolan Brass said. "It's all for games like this, so we can just go out there and pound them."
And it wasn't just on offense.
Byron held all-state quarterback Blayne Sisson at bay all night, although he found a few more creases to run through late in the game against the Tigers' backups. He came in with 2,081 yards rushing and 36 TDs, and he had thrown for 1,762 yards and 15 touchdowns. On Friday, he had 149 yards rushing, but 123 of them came after Byron had built a four-touchdown lead. He was also 4 for 15 for 15 yards passing, his worst passing game of the postseason.
"No, they didn't do anything different, they're just a really, really, really good football team," said Sisson, who has a scholarship to play at the University of Illinois starting next year. "They were really prepared. They were ready for me. We played our hearts out, but it didn't matter."
Carter Groharing picked off a Sisson pass just two plays after the Tigers' breathtaking opening drive that netted a touchdown in just six plays and 2:44. Byron then methodically drove it down the field, using 12 plays to bump the lead again, and followed that with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery three plays later. Kye Aken picked off back-to-back Sisson passes to spark some more early scoring.
The game was practically over by mid-second quarter when Talbert scored his second TD — a 77-yard run in which he broke two tackles, hit the sideline and was gone.
That was the story for Byron: They were gone.
"This is just amazing. All those early mornings, in the offseason, all winter, now we see how it was all worth it," said Considine, who finished the season with 1,630 yards with 27 touchdowns. "And to be able send these seniors off with a state championship, like this, it's just incredible."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Byron steamrolls Mt. Carmel to claim another Illinois football title
