Mr. Jeff Christopherson

Sophomore QB Kyle Beaty was impressed with the Iron’s season overall, but “wished it had been longer.” Photo Courtesy of:

The Ironmen’s season concluded after a 32-31 loss to the Pekin Dragons in the second round of the 7A IHSA playoffs Friday, Nov. 4.
Pekin sealed the victory with an extra point from Mylee Hansen, the Dragon’s first female player in school history.
Community’s head coach wasn’t thinking about history, though, when Hansen lined up for the extra point try in the game’s final minutes. He was thinking about blocking.
“We had blocked [a kick] earlier,” Drengwitz said. “When it went through, I was thinking, ‘what do we need to do kick return-wise? What do we need to do offensively to try to get some position to kick?’”
The Iron were unable to score on their final possession—suffering their fourth loss of the season.
Three of those losses came in the Iron’s first four games, falling to 8A O’Fallon, Normal West and 6A State Runner-up Peoria High, the Iron rallied to finish the season with a 7-4 record.
Coach Jason Drengwitz didn’t see the team’s start as a negative.
“When you can start the season off against a really good opponent,” Drengwitz said, “you’re going to get a much better idea of where you’re at—offensively, defensively and [on] special teams. Good teams are going to expose your areas of weakness or areas of improvement.”
“In the long run,” Drengwitz said, the high-caliber competition “probably benefited” the team. “Anytime you have to face adversity like that, it’s going to make you better.”
The Iron faced further adversity when starting quarterback, senior Chase Wiese, was sidelined in week three after suffering a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the Ironmen’s 21-4 home loss to West
Sophomore quarterback Kyle Beaty would replace Wiese under center for the Iron, helping lead Community to six straight wins—and a playoff berth.
On the season, Beaty threw for a total of 20 touchdowns and 1,398 yards, completing 84 of his 135 attempts.
“I think we improved a lot over this season,” Beaty said. “Every game we battled.”
Next season, Beaty will battle without favorite targets —senior wide receivers Elliot Oliver and Cam Thierry.
The 6’7” Oliver led the Iron in touchdown catches, hauling in five; the University of Wisconsin-Platteville commit had 27 receptions for 322 yards this season.
Thierry led the Iron in net yards with 479, averaging 14.5 yards on his 33 receptions.
With the tandem of senior Chris Taylor and junior Tommy Davis in the backfield, the Iron rushed for 26 touchdowns this season.
Davis rushed for six scores, putting up 347 yards in 58 attempts, averaging six yards per carry.
Taylor recorded four touchdowns, tallying 278 yards on 40 attempts. The ISU commit averaged seven yards a carry.
Helping the Ironmen to turn around the season were Ryan Millmore and Cannon Mackey—two seniors starring at often under-appreciated positions.
Standout kicker Ryan Millmore, Drengwitz said, was “automatic [at] putting points on the board.” A kicker like Millmore was “a huge benefit” as “he has tremendous range.”
Millmore, also a nationally ranked punter, was a “huge weapon” for the Iron, allowing the team to “flip field” and “not allow returns.”
“He’s going to be some big shoes to fill,” Drengwitz said. “He was a huge asset in our program for four years.”
Millmore will join another program next season—the 6’3″ kicker is fielding multiple Division I offers from Iowa State, Air Force, Arkansas State and Illinois State.

6’4″, 280-pound All-State lineman Cannon Mackey “worked really hard,” this season Drengwitz said.
Mackey’s “huge honor”—being named All-State—doesn’t come often at Community. The last Community player to be chosen was linebacker Levi Smaling in 2019.

An All-State honor, Drengwitz said, is “also a recognition for [the football] program — that you have the types of players that can develop into some of the best players in your division.”
Mackey is entertaining offers from multiple DII schools, including Grand Valley State University, Missouri Southern State University and McKendree University.
Next season, the Ironmen open up play facing defending 4A State Champions Springfield’s Sacred Heart-Griffin.
As a private school, Drengwitz said, SHG can recruit talented athletes.
They have “the ability to pull kids from all different locations and bring them to the school [to] play football,” Drengwitz said.
That is something the coach isn’t worried about, he said.
Drengwitz isn’t worried about his team’s talent heading into that contest either.
“We were playing a decent amount of juniors and sophomores at the end of the year,” the coach said.
“I am excited about the new opportunity to coach a new team, to find out who’s going to step up, what seniors are going to rise to the challenge, what young guys are going to play really well…”
The season opener will be “a huge challenge,” but it’s a challenge the coach said the team is looking forward to.
“You want the opportunity to play the best and beat the best,” Drengwitz said. r