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Jul. 25—A leader. A competitor. A winner. All those attributes are what recent Unity graduate Dane Eisenmenger brought to the Rockets on the football field (12-2 record as Unity's quarterback on a Class 3A state runner-up team), on the basketball court (double-digit scorer on a 34-3 team that placed third in state in Class 2A) and on the baseball diamond (one of the Rockets' top players on a 26-win team that won a Class 2A regional championship and reached the Sweet 16) during his senior season. It all added up to Eisenmenger earning The News-Gazette's area high school Male Athlete of the Year honor for the 2025-26 school year. Sports Editor Matt Daniels caught up with Eisenmenger, who is about to start his first training camp as an Illinois quarterback, to reflect on his memorable and highly productive senior year with the Rockets:
➜ It means a lot. It was something at the beginning of the year that I really wanted to win. Winning all these state trophies and making all these memories with my guys means a lot more.
➜ I was really surprised. I was confused for a little bit, but after it hit, I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome having all these people here to support me.' It really meant a lot.
➜ Our expectations were to dominate everybody. We had a few hiccups early on. We didn't play very good against Monticello. We didn't play good at all against Bloomington Central Catholic. We figured it out then, but the playoff game against Monticello was real scary. We didn't play well at all, and Monticello did a great job. Once we got through that, we kind of dominated the rest of the way. The St. Joe game was a little scary in the first half. They just hung around the whole game. When we got to the state championship game, we were confident. We knew it was going to be a tough task because we knew nobody had come close to beating Byron all year. We were really excited, and it was a good game.
➜ I was really excited. We had our team breakfast at the Philo Tavern. We were watching the Class 1A state title game, and we were all thinking, 'Wow, that's going to be us in a few hours.' We were really excited, and we knew we had to lock in. We had a police escort on the bus ride there the whole way. That was awesome. All the community watched us go out of town. They showed up in Normal. We heard the crowd go nuts when we got there, and we knew this was going to be awesome.
➜ When we saw there was no wind in the forecast, we knew we had a chance. It wasn't going to affect the throwing at all. Tre Hoggard having a really big catch on a bad throw by me on the first drive was big. It was so loud with the crowd, too.
➜ I was just sad because it was my last time playing with all those guys. It was an honor to be close, but I don't know, sometimes, I've thought it would have felt better just to get blown out. Just being that close made it so hard.
➜ It was really fun. We weren't nervous on the sideline at all. We were just talking about how much fun we were having. At halftime, same thing. I don't know if I'm ever going to have as much fun playing in a football game as I had in that one.
➜ I told one of our assistant coaches, Conner Plotner, the next day at practice that I had thrown a lot of interceptions, but that was by far the worst. Then Brayden made an unbelievable play. He was the MVP of that game and kept us in it down the stretch. Being up 10 with three minutes to go and then being down one with five seconds to go and somehow coming out on top was sweet. Our administration had to keep our students off the floor. A dogpile in the middle of the court. Taking pictures after the game. When the students finally came on the court, everybody was giving us hugs. I don't know how it gets much better than that.
➜ Walking out before the state semifinal game against Peoria Manual at State Farm Center was surreal. We had another police escort to State Farm Center. We got in the Illini men's team locker room, and then we watched the 1A state semifinal game going on, and we're thinking this is pretty amazing. It felt like it took forever to warm up and get out there. Shooting out there was real weird. We didn't shoot all that well at all. The third-place game was miserable because there was nobody there. We felt before the game we weren't locked in at all because we felt confident we could beat Farragut.
➜ Getting to 1,000 points was definitely a goal of mine. I knew I was close, and I had about 70-ish points to go when the postseason started. I knew at that point, that goal was not nearly as important as getting to state, but when you win a lot of postseason games, it gives you more opportunities.
➜ I thought I got everything I needed out of track for that year in helping me get my 40-yard dash time down, which was kind of the main reason I ran track. I had severe FOMO (fear of missing out) when they were playing Monticello in the sectional title game in 2025. I was in the student section thinking, 'Man, I should be out there.' I never really thought about it until that game that I should consider it. I didn't make a final decision about it until about midway through basketball season, but I'm sure glad I did.
➜ It's been the best time of my life. Growing up with all these guys and playing with all these guys and then finally winning like we did, I feel like we lived up to the hype that we've all had. We know we're not going to regret anything when we're older. People aren't going to talk about us as the class that could have. We went out and did it all.
YEAR ATHLETE SCHOOL
2026 Dane Eisenmenger Unity
2025 Ike Young Monticello
2024 Jack Barnhart Centennial
2023 Garrett Taylor Salt Fork
2022 Blake Kimball Unity
2021 Nate Allen Champaign Central
2020 Drew Reifsteck BHRA
2019 Bryce Barnes GCMS
2018 Dalton Hoel Tuscola
2017 Jake Beesley Champaign Central
2016 Jon Davis Oakwood
2015 Joe Kenney Mahomet-Seymour
2014 Josh Wallick Fisher
2013 Cameron Mammen Urbana
2012 Steve Schroeder Monticello
2011 Pat Yoakum Tuscola
2010 Cale Huisinga Monticello
2009 Andrew Brewer Mahomet-Seymour
2008 Lukas Graves St. Joseph-Ogden
2007 Jason Seaman Mahomet-Seymour
2006 Jordan Kling Tuscola
2005 Alex Deer Fisher
2004 Dylan Ward Prairie Central
2003 Jeremy Kruidenier Champaign Central
Continue reading...
➜ It means a lot. It was something at the beginning of the year that I really wanted to win. Winning all these state trophies and making all these memories with my guys means a lot more.
➜ I was really surprised. I was confused for a little bit, but after it hit, I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome having all these people here to support me.' It really meant a lot.
➜ Our expectations were to dominate everybody. We had a few hiccups early on. We didn't play very good against Monticello. We didn't play good at all against Bloomington Central Catholic. We figured it out then, but the playoff game against Monticello was real scary. We didn't play well at all, and Monticello did a great job. Once we got through that, we kind of dominated the rest of the way. The St. Joe game was a little scary in the first half. They just hung around the whole game. When we got to the state championship game, we were confident. We knew it was going to be a tough task because we knew nobody had come close to beating Byron all year. We were really excited, and it was a good game.
➜ I was really excited. We had our team breakfast at the Philo Tavern. We were watching the Class 1A state title game, and we were all thinking, 'Wow, that's going to be us in a few hours.' We were really excited, and we knew we had to lock in. We had a police escort on the bus ride there the whole way. That was awesome. All the community watched us go out of town. They showed up in Normal. We heard the crowd go nuts when we got there, and we knew this was going to be awesome.
➜ When we saw there was no wind in the forecast, we knew we had a chance. It wasn't going to affect the throwing at all. Tre Hoggard having a really big catch on a bad throw by me on the first drive was big. It was so loud with the crowd, too.
➜ I was just sad because it was my last time playing with all those guys. It was an honor to be close, but I don't know, sometimes, I've thought it would have felt better just to get blown out. Just being that close made it so hard.
➜ It was really fun. We weren't nervous on the sideline at all. We were just talking about how much fun we were having. At halftime, same thing. I don't know if I'm ever going to have as much fun playing in a football game as I had in that one.
➜ I told one of our assistant coaches, Conner Plotner, the next day at practice that I had thrown a lot of interceptions, but that was by far the worst. Then Brayden made an unbelievable play. He was the MVP of that game and kept us in it down the stretch. Being up 10 with three minutes to go and then being down one with five seconds to go and somehow coming out on top was sweet. Our administration had to keep our students off the floor. A dogpile in the middle of the court. Taking pictures after the game. When the students finally came on the court, everybody was giving us hugs. I don't know how it gets much better than that.
➜ Walking out before the state semifinal game against Peoria Manual at State Farm Center was surreal. We had another police escort to State Farm Center. We got in the Illini men's team locker room, and then we watched the 1A state semifinal game going on, and we're thinking this is pretty amazing. It felt like it took forever to warm up and get out there. Shooting out there was real weird. We didn't shoot all that well at all. The third-place game was miserable because there was nobody there. We felt before the game we weren't locked in at all because we felt confident we could beat Farragut.
➜ Getting to 1,000 points was definitely a goal of mine. I knew I was close, and I had about 70-ish points to go when the postseason started. I knew at that point, that goal was not nearly as important as getting to state, but when you win a lot of postseason games, it gives you more opportunities.
➜ I thought I got everything I needed out of track for that year in helping me get my 40-yard dash time down, which was kind of the main reason I ran track. I had severe FOMO (fear of missing out) when they were playing Monticello in the sectional title game in 2025. I was in the student section thinking, 'Man, I should be out there.' I never really thought about it until that game that I should consider it. I didn't make a final decision about it until about midway through basketball season, but I'm sure glad I did.
➜ It's been the best time of my life. Growing up with all these guys and playing with all these guys and then finally winning like we did, I feel like we lived up to the hype that we've all had. We know we're not going to regret anything when we're older. People aren't going to talk about us as the class that could have. We went out and did it all.
YEAR ATHLETE SCHOOL
2026 Dane Eisenmenger Unity
2025 Ike Young Monticello
2024 Jack Barnhart Centennial
2023 Garrett Taylor Salt Fork
2022 Blake Kimball Unity
2021 Nate Allen Champaign Central
2020 Drew Reifsteck BHRA
2019 Bryce Barnes GCMS
2018 Dalton Hoel Tuscola
2017 Jake Beesley Champaign Central
2016 Jon Davis Oakwood
2015 Joe Kenney Mahomet-Seymour
2014 Josh Wallick Fisher
2013 Cameron Mammen Urbana
2012 Steve Schroeder Monticello
2011 Pat Yoakum Tuscola
2010 Cale Huisinga Monticello
2009 Andrew Brewer Mahomet-Seymour
2008 Lukas Graves St. Joseph-Ogden
2007 Jason Seaman Mahomet-Seymour
2006 Jordan Kling Tuscola
2005 Alex Deer Fisher
2004 Dylan Ward Prairie Central
2003 Jeremy Kruidenier Champaign Central
Continue reading...
