York’s Jimmy Conners is brought down by Loyola Academy’s Gavin King during the Class 8A state championship football game at Illinois State University in Normal.
Mark Busch/Shaw Local News Network
Editor’s note: Now that the 2024-25 high school sports year is over, it’s time to announce the top schools in the Herald Cup standings. We devised a points system based on team state finishes to measure which of the 80-plus high schools from the Daily Herald circulation area had the best athletic year. Last week we announced the top five small schools in the Herald Cup standings. This week we’re unveiling the top large schools, one per day, starting with No. 5 now through No. 1 on Friday.
There’s a theory about a high school football team’s level of success setting the tone for the entire school year.
At York High School, the entire fall season set the tone.
Both cross country teams and the girls tennis team posted top-five state finishes, leading up to the football team’s appearance in the state title game.
After more success in the spring, the Dukes finished fifth in the 2024-25 Herald Cup standings for large schools with 99 points that were calculated by weighing team finishes throughout the fall, winter and spring.
How they did it
The Dukes’ girls cross country team backed last season’s state title run with a second-place Class 3A finish in the fall. They fell one point short of a repeat. Freshman Karlin Janowski led the pack for York with a second-place individual finish.
The football team made history in November, beating Naperville Central 20-15 in the Class 8A semifinals to reach the first title game in program history. Unfortunately, the Dukes ran into a Loyola squad determined to win a third straight championship.
While the boys cross country team and girls tennis team finished in the top five at state, the boys and girls water polo teams reached the state semifinals. Girls soccer and girls lacrosse won sectional titles.
Who made it happen
Two-way senior lineman Joe Reiff, who’s headed to Notre Dame, was the big name on the Dukes’ football roster. But 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior quarterback Bruno Massel was the engine that made the team go.
Massel was the perfect dual threat in the backfield, rushing for 1,238 yards and 18 touchdowns while throwing for 1,542 yards and 11 scores.
Senior tennis player Lizzie Isyanov, after losing only six games in her first five matches at the state meet, battled Plainfield North senior Jessica Kovalcik in the final but ultimately fell 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.
Still, her effort helped the team finish fourth in the team standings.
Key stats
With a fifth-place finish in the 2022 state tennis meet, Isyanov became the program’s first medalist since 2000. Her second-place finish marked the first time in program history a tennis player reached the final.
The girls cross country team has finished first or second in Class 3A for four straight seasons.
York’s football team had reached the state semifinals four times — including the previous two seasons in 2022 and 2023 — before breaking through to the title game.
Key fact
All five postseason matches played by York’s girls soccer team were decided in a shutout. The Dukes outscored playoff opponents 14-0 before losing 1-0 in penalty kicks to Lane in the Class 3A supersectional.
They said it
“I just wish I could have been out there more.” — running back Jimmy Conners, who scored on a 74-yard first-quarter run in the state title football game but went down with a second-quarter foot injury.
“Our only goal was to beat our score from the last game. We did that and I am very proud of our girls on how far we have come.” — girls lacrosse player Bricelyn Daniel after a 16-8 supersectional loss to Loyola — a team the Dukes lost to 20-1 only three weeks earlier.
“I wore a brace for two months. Pretty tough.” — Isyanov, who missed her junior season because of a stress fracture in her back.