With football teams around the state opening official practices for the 2025 season Monday, here are five storylines to watch in the NewsTribune/BCR area this fall.

Five new coaches take over

Five of the seven 11-man football teams in the NewsTribune/BCR area have new coaches this fall with JJ Raffelson taking over at La Salle-Peru, Jack Brady at St. Bede, Nick Sterling at Hall-Putnam County, Jim Eustice at Mendota and Pat Elder at Bureau Valley.

Raffelson, Brady and Sterling are all former assistants stepping into the head role, while Eustice and Elder are veteran head coaches.

Raffelson, an assistant for two years at L-P who played college football at Western Illinois, inherits a program that went 4-5 in 2023 and 3-6 last fall following three straight playoff appearances from 2019-21 and a 5-0 spring 2021 season under Jose Medina.

Brady takes over his alma mater after serving as an assistant under Eustice for nine years. The Bruins went 2-7 last fall following three straight playoff appearances in 2021-23 and a 5-1 spring 2021 campaign.

Sterling, who was an assistant last season at Hall, looks to return his alma mater to past glory as the Red Devils have just one postseason berth since 2019.

Eustice moves to Mendota after going 46-47 with four playoff appearances in 10 seasons at St. Bede. He takes over a Trojan program that is 25-88 under two different head coaches since 2011.

Elder has coached teams to 18 playoff appearances in 23 seasons as a head coach with stops at Sherrard, Richmond-Burton and Ridgewood. He led Ridgewood to 8-Man Association playoff berths in all three seasons he was there, including a state final loss to Amboy in 2023.

Marion Persich looks to take the next step

Not many quarterbacks are ready to step in as a varsity starter as a freshman, but Marion Persich made the transition from grade school to varsity look relatively easy last fall at L-P.

Persich, who is 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, completed 100-of-189 passes for 1,398 yards and nine touchdowns to nine interceptions while running for more than 300 yards and five TDs.

Over the summer, Persich attended camps at elite colleges, including Notre Dame, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa and Northwestern.

“He’s got the ability,” Raffelson said. “The kid can run. The kid can throw.

“When it comes to ability, there’s not going to be anybody in our conference who’s going to compete with him.”

Can Princeton get over quarterfinals hurdle?

For four years, Princeton has reached the Class 3A quarterfinals. All four years, the Tigers have lost.

The Tigers lost to IC Catholic in 2021 (31-7) and 2022 (27-20) and were knocked out by Montini Catholic in 2023 (27-9) and 2024 (24-7).

Princeton last won the Class 3A quarterfinals in 2019, defeating Paxton-Buckley-Loda 38-12 before falling to Byron 7-3 in the semifinals.

While the Tigers want to win the conference championship and get past the quarterfinal round, senior running back/linebacker Casey Etheridge said the Tigers’ ultimate goal is to win the state championship.

Can Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio three-peat?

Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio has been dominant over the past three seasons in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association, going 35-4.

The Clippers have won back-to-back I8FA state championships after losing in the title game in 2022. Last fall, Amboy beat Milledgeville 42-14 in the title game to repeat.

This season, the Clippers have a lot of holes to fill if they hope to extend their championship run as they graduated quarterback Eddie Jones, their top four running backs in Josh McKendry, Ed Fry, Brayden Klein and Quinn Leffelman - who all scored in the title game - and receiver Caleb Yanos among others.

Amboy opens its title defense with a championship game rematch with Milledgeville at 7 p.m. Aug. 29 in Amboy.

Casey Etheridge chasing record book

Princeton senior Casey Etheridge is on target to become the all-time leading rusher in Bureau County and set the record for career touchdowns rushing.

He has rushed for 3,807 yards (1,706 last year), looking to move up the ranks to top Ronde Worrells, who rushed for 4,387 yards for Princeton from 2017-21, and Todd Maynard, who totaled 4,001 yards for Bureau Valley from 2002-04.

Etheridge stands No. 2 all-time in rushing touchdowns with 56 behind Worrells at 72.