Vernon Hills isn't satisfied yet

Going to the state championship game tends to re-calibrate your program, and set future bars pretty high.

"We are certainly very motivated coming back," Vernon Hills coach Bill Bellecomo said. "We talk to the kids about 'So what? Now what? Do we just want to talk about last year? What are we going to be known for?'"

After finishing as the state runner-up in Class 5A last season, the Cougars believe anything is possible, but would like to finish the job and make that last step to a state title.

"Our guys know how hard it is to get there," Bellecomo said. "But they also know that they can get there and I think that has them really motivated. We want to win one now. Winning and going far in the playoffs kind of breeds that kind of excitement."

Vernon Hills, which was loaded last year with talented seniors, returns a total of just eight starters, but a few are very experienced.

Linebacker Max Lyle, who also played some receiver last season, and lineman Danny Lester are both three-year starters.

Kyle Fasbinder and Luke Perlin return as linebackers and Jake Morris is back in the secondary.

Offensively, center Max Xu started last year as a sophomore and anchors the offensive line. And Derek Jarrell and Jack Himel are currently in a competition for the starting quarterback spot.

Himel started four games last year while also playing cornerback while Jarrell was a wide receiver on the varsity last year as a sophomore.

Himel is more of a scrapppy runner with agility and quickness while Jarrell is a bigger pocket passer that has good accuracy.

"Right now, we've got a little bit of a quarterback competition. But we would really like to have a concrete starter by the start of the season," Bellecomo said at the beginning of official practices earlier this month. "I think they'd both like to be our quarterback, especially in our (spread, pass-oriented) offense. It's a great offense for quarterbacks. But I think they will each do whatever is best for our team. We're thinking whoever isn't our quarterback will make a great wide receiver for us."

Another impact player at receiver could be junior Mekhi McCarthy, who made the playoff roster last year as a sophomore and has made major strides since then.

"Mekhi is like 6-foot-3, 180 pounds and can jump out of the room," Bellecomo said of McCarthy. "He tore it up at some camps this summer, including one at (the University of) Minnesota. I think he saw the work that went into last year and he came in with the mindset that he was very hungry and he has just been so impressive so far.

"We are going to be an offensive-oriented team this year, as opposed to last year we were a little more defensive-oriented. A guy like Mekhi could be big for us."

With only 37 players on the varsity roster, Vernon Hills will also be counting on some sophomores, including Giovanni Zullo, Jake Newland, Cedric Bennett and Brad Gothelf, for contributions.