ST. CHARLES – Zach Mitchell wanted to be like his brother growing up.

His older brother, Jimmy, taught him how to grip and throw his first spiral well before both came through the quarterback ranks at St. Charles East.

Little did Jimmy Mitchell know that after watching his brother continue to improve his passing game, that Zach would take just a bit of a different path to success than he did before graduating East in 2014.

If you told his brother that Zach Mitchell would be the quarterback of a triple-option team at East and, in his final high school season, would lead the Saints to win their first 11 games, to a Class 8A quarterfinal appearance and be named the 2016 Kane County Chronicle Football Player of the Year, he would have had a hard time wrapping his mind around all of that.

"I never pictured East running that kind of offense, so you're always a little skeptical at first," said Jimmy Mitchell, who threw for over 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns as a Saint. "Every time anyone would give Zach a hard time about [the change in offenses], he'd get this look in his eye. He wasn't going to let outsider's opinions bother him and, to me, that was impressive. That's not easy to do, but Zach has this poise and leadership about him and got everyone on that team to feel the same way."

With each consecutive win, the confidence and belief continued to grow into something real for a Saints team that went 4-5 in the 2015 season in that very same offense.

After a win over St. Charles North in Week 4 (a battle of two 3-0 teams), then ending Batavia's 34-game Upstate Eight River win streak, and an unbeaten regular season and UER title, it seemed to be a belief with everyone around the program that Mitchell and the Saints were going to find a way to win each week.

"We were just that team that nobody respected all year and took that kind of personally," Zach Mitchell said. "But, at the same time, we just continued to do our thing. We just continued to prove people wrong. We bought into this program and truly believed throughout this season that we were one of the best teams in the state."

While rushing for 899 yards and 16 touchdowns this season, Zach Mitchell did something many quarterbacks of a triple-option struggle to do – throw the football effectively.

He finished the season completing 53 for 104 passes for 955 yards and 12 touchdowns. He nearly threw for 1,000 yards, despite throwing the ball less than nine times per game.

"I think that's something about his game that got overlooked much of the time," East coach Bryce Farquhar said. "Zach is a very special football player and an even better athlete. The way he was able to make plays with his feet to keep plays alive and find open receivers … there aren't many players around or that I have seen that can do some of the things he did this season."

Admittedly for Zach Mitchell, that success did not come overnight. Implementing a new offense was no easy task, and he remembered being completely lost at the beginning of the transition to the triple option.

But, he always wanted one thing, no matter what, when he steps onto a football field with his Saints.

"I remember being in a hallway at East and being taught the footwork. I had no idea what I was doing," Zach Mitchell said. "All of these weird steps and then getting out on the field [junior year] and not seeing the results was really tough. I believed coach [Farquhar] was going to put us in the best situation to be successful. Honestly, all I wanted to do was win. I didn't care if I put up the passing numbers that [Jimmy] did. I just wanted to win football games."

Win they did. The Saints finished the regular season 9-0 and cruised past Lockport 45-0 in the opening round of the 8A playoffs. Then, in a second-round game where many thought East's road would come to an end at New Trier, Mitchell ran for 205 yards to boost the Saints into the quarterfinals, where their season would come to an end in 10-6 loss to Palatine.

In every game that remained close down the stretch – despite the Saints setting school records for regular season points per game (41.5 per game, 374 total) – Zach Mitchell wanted the ball in his hands with the game on the line.

"That's a situation you dream of as a little kid in your backyard," he said. "That last second shot or last second play to win the game, you trust yourself to get it done. I liked being in those spots because I knew my team trusted me to get the job done. Every time I was out there, I just wanted to do whatever was going to help the team win."

None of the accolades Zach Mitchell received would have been possible, in his eyes, without the support from everyone around him.

From Jimmy's support while still teasing him saying "[Zach] knew better than to touch his older brother's passing records," from his outstanding defense than set a school record for fewest points allowed (125), and his backfield mates Justin Jett and Nick Garlisch, among others, making plays throughout the season, Zach Mitchell knows he couldn't have gotten to this point without some help.

"Honestly, any sort of recognition for me is for this team," Zach Mitchell said. "I mean, that defense deserves so much credit, giving us the chance to make those plays at the ends of games. We couldn't have done a lot of things we did this year without total team efforts. We became a family pretty fast and I we everything to that group of guys."

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ALL-AREA TEAM

Batavia: Dana Anderson, sr.; Evan Day, sr.; Andrew Heinz, jr.; Matt Huizinga, sr.; Michael Niemiec, jr; Reggie Phillips, jr.

Burlington Central: Ryan Doubek, jr.; Jimmy Fay, sr.; Erik Hansen, sr.; Dionte Pierre, sr.

Geneva: Lance Arni, sr.; Cole Campbell, so.; Noah Davison; sr.; Ian Hanson, jr.

Kaneland: Jack Douglas, jr.; Josh Marczuk, jr.; Matthew Payton, jr.; Matt Redman, sr.; Hunter Regelbrugge, sr.

Marmion: Nick Auriemma, sr.; Jett Haas, sr.; Wes Kramer, sr.; Nick Sevenich, sr.

St. Charles East: Nick Garlisch, jr.; Clayton Isbell, jr.; Justin Jett, so.; Sebastian Grohe, sr.; Zach Mitchell, sr.; Nico Piaskowy, jr.; Max Schumann, sr.; Logan Waxman, sr.

St. Charles North: Sam Ambrogio, sr.; Griffin Hammer, sr.; Isaac Hawn, sr.; Trey Kellogg, sr.; Eric Lins, sr.; Zach Mettetal, sr.; Lucas Segobiano, jr.; Jack Wolf, sr.

St. Francis: Greg Bogdanski, sr.; Nolan Pechan, sr.; Sam Sidari, jr.