A football all-star and two for the hall
There’s no wrong time to talk about Illinois high school football.
To Vukasin Dejkovic, there’s not a wrong time to play the sport.
The Mid-Suburban East all-conference linebacker from Buffalo Grove is among several area boys chosen for the 2024 Illinois Coaches Association Shrine Football Game.
An all-star game, it will be played on June 15 at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity to play against other high-level athletes that I don’t usually get to play against in regular high school football,” said Dejkovic, who goes by “Vuk” as in “vook.”
The June date is fine with Dejkovic, who will be coming off his senior track season with the Bison -- the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder is a sprinter -- and doing the same off-season conditioning he normally would.
Dejkovic’s 4.0 grade-point average provides an inroad to football programs at places like Washington University and Carnegie Mellon. A prospective finance major, he’s attending a Carnegie Mellon camp on Dec. 29.
This fall Dejkovic made 109 tackles, 17 for loss, with 5 sacks.
“He was in the backfield all year,” said Buffalo Grove coach Jeff Vlk.
The last Bison to play in the Shrine Game was linebacker Sean Jacobs in 2019. He’s back coaching with Buffalo Grove.
“He said it’s a really fun time,” Dejkovic said. “You go down there, have a fun time with a bunch of guys. It’s good competition, just a really good atmosphere.”
He’s on the Blue squad with players including West Chicago running back Vince Muci, Glenbard East linebacker Blake Salvino, Lakes defensive lineman Drew Schmidt, Lake Zurich offensive lineman Trevor Schuetz, and Wheaton Academy kicker/punter Ethan Head and quarterback Brett Kasper. Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz is an assistant coach for the Blue.
The Red team offers St. Francis linebacker Dom Beres, West Aurora linebacker Luis Estrella, Burlington Central defensive lineman Porter Mihelich, Mundelein offensive lineman Brendan Raciak, and Jacobs linebacker Paulie Rudolph.
“I’m glad that I got selected for it, because it’ll be a really good opportunity to see where I stand against these other high-level athletes, and I hope that it’ll be really fun,” Dejkovic said.
Cream of the crop
In the 2006 football season, Glenbard West went 1-8.
Enter coach Chad Hetlet.
In 17 years since the Hilltoppers have gone 169-31 with playoff appearances every season save the 2020-21 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hetlet’s Hitters won the 2012 and 2015 Class 7A titles, were runner-up in 2009 and have reached the state semifinals eight times.
All reasons why Hetlet was among those announced Monday as a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
“I think it’s very humbling and I’m very honored to be selected. I think to me what it means is I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of really good football players and a lot of really outstanding coaches,” said Hetlet, 51, of Glen Ellyn.
“That’s not really a deflection statement, I’ve had some really, really good players who’ve bought into what we’re saying, and some really good coaches who’ve worked extremely hard.
“To maintain the level of success we’ve had from a program standpoint you have to have all those things in place along with great administration and families and the community. I think it’s a culmination of all those things,” he said.
Mentors, too. A Zion-Benton graduate who started coaching in 1994 at Libertyville, Hetlet thanked the “old-school mentality” of another hall of famer, Bob Bradshaw. Hetlet was an assistant to Bradshaw at Johnsburg from 1995-2002 before succeeding him as head coach for a season.
Bradshaw imprinted on Hetlet a physical philosophy the Hitters execute so well.
“We want to run the ball and we’ve got to stop the run,” said Hetlet, who credited “right-hand man” John Sigmund for being with him at Glenbard West all along as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Once he got the Hall of Fame news Hetlet sent a text message to another 2024 inductee -- his pal, Tim Racki.
Racki may be coming off his fifth state title at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park -- the first 5-loss team to win a title -- but he and his wife, Marsha, are long-time Carol Stream residents.
Racki, 55, is forever linked to the Driscoll Academy dynasty that won seven straight state titles from 2001-07. Racki won the first four and his brother-from-another-mother, Mike “Buzz” Burzawa, won the next three.
Racki’s nine state football championships tie him in Illinois history with Rochester’s Derek Leonard behind retired Mt. Carmel coach Frank Lenti’s 11 state titles. Racki is also a two-time runner-up at Nazareth.
A 1986 Driscoll graduate who is 226-80 in 26 seasons as head coach, Racki said he’s been “consumed by team success” throughout his playing and coaching career.
“I learned from Driscoll that once you get there -- not that it’s easy to get to the top -- getting to a title game does give guys the experience that they, too, could do it like their older teammates. The underclassmen believe that it’s attainable,” he said.
Racki, too, has his mentors. Retired Joliet Catholic coach Dan Sharp reached out to him at Driscoll and they’ve been friends ever since. Rod Molek, at Driscoll when Racki was a student, shifted to Glenbard West -- Molek introduced Racki and Hetlet -- and now is on his staff at Nazareth.
Racki called coaching a labor of love. On that note he stressed the sacrifices Marsha made caring for sons Jake and Nick while Tim was assembling his hall of fame career.
Perhaps similar to Chad Hetlet’s wife, Kathy, with their son, Maximus.
“I’ve been very blessed to be a part of so many great teams and my supportive family, so I want to dedicate it to my family,” Racki said. “But the reason I’m here is because of my teams and coaches.”
doberhelman@dailyherald.com