It’s a quick turn-around for high school football, which played a rare spring season this year due to COVID delays. 

Dupo went 3-3 last season and lost 1,000-yard rusher Camden Biggs to graduation, but Tigers head coach Joe Day is excited about his current crop of players this fall.

“Our kids have done an amazing job with the quick turn-around from the shortened spring season back to our normal fall schedule,” Day said. “We always pride ourselves on our physicality and ability to run the football, but our kids have done an incredible job this summer in our 7-on-7 league nights and I believe we’ll be very efficient in our pass concepts this season.” 

Dupo competes in the small-school division of the Cahokia Conference. The IHSA lists Dupo’s classification enrollment at 258, which is lowest of all teams in the conference. Other teams in the small-school division are Carlyle, Chester, Red Bud, Sparta and Wesclin. 

Among the key returning players are juniors Freddy McMahon (quarterback/safety), Logan Stevens (running back/safety), Chance Hunter (tackle/defensive end), Connor Smitt (guard/linebacker), Sam Stoffel (guard/tackle), Hunter Cataldo (tight end/defensive end), Earl Crank (cornerback) and Andrew Gischer (center), and sophomores Kaleb McGlasson (defensive end/wide receiver), Ashton Stein (fullback/defensive end) and Connor Ballard (wide receiver/center).

McMahon, at 6-foot-3, has been handed the keys to the offense.  

Stevens scored six touchdowns and three two-point conversions last season.

McGlasson recorded five quarterback sacks to lead Dupo’s defense last season.

Newcomers to watch, according to Day, include sophomores Thomas Asher (defensive tackle), Nick Phillips (wide receiver/safety) and Colton Skaggs (wide receiver), as well as freshman Cole Putnam (linebacker).

“One thing we will have to overcome is our overall youth,” Day said. “We don’t have a single senior in the program, which we believe in the long run will actually be an advantage because the junior-freshman class is very talented and we will return the entire program for the fall 2022 season.”