(11-9-26) Saturday afternoon’s win over Pontiac marked a milestone: Byron (Illinois) head football coach Jeff Boyer picked up his 150th career win.
The Tigers did it in style. No. 2 seed Byron (11-0) rolled past No. 23 seed Pontiac 47-8 in an IHSA Class 3A second-round game Saturday at Pontiac High School, leading 34-0 at halftime and never letting the game get close.
Byron ran for 356 yards as a team. Dylan Dach rushed for 114 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries, and Landon Bombalay broke off a 48-yard run. Pontiac, which entered the game 5-6, ends its season 5-7.
It was the Tigers 30th consecutive win, which is among one of the top streaks in the US.
The coach
All 150 wins have come at Byron — Boyer’s alma mater.
Boyer, a 2000 Byron graduate, has been at the school since 2008, teaching mathematics, and was named head coach in 2012 after a brief stint as an assistant.
He quarterbacked Byron to its first-ever state championship in the late 1990s.
Through the 2023 season he was 115-27, with eight Big Northern Conference championships and 10 playoff trips. His teams reached the semifinals in 2014, 2017 and 2022, finished as state runners-up in 2018 and 2019, and won the Class 3A state championship in 2021 and 2023. He was named the IHSA’s 2023-24 Coach of the Year, and he was a Chicago Bears High School Coach of the Week in 2023.
The 2025 season added a third title under Boyer: Byron went 14-0 and beat Tolono Unity 56-50 in the Class 3A championship game.
The team
This year’s Tigers are 11-0 and the defending Class 3A champions. They have outscored their opponents 564-69 this season, including a 44-0 first-round win over Fairbury Prairie Central.
What’s next
No. 3 Elmhurst IC Catholic (10-1) visits Byron in the Class 3A quarterfinals Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2:30 p.m. IC Catholic advanced with a 42-7 second-round win over Johnsburg.
Three more wins would give Byron another state championship — and Boyer win No. 153.
Sources: Rockford Register Star; Peoria Journal Star statewide scores; IHSA Class 3A bracket and schedule; MaxPreps; Illinois High School Football Coaches Association 2024 clinic bios; Byron CUSD 226 (IHSA Coach of the Year announcement).
Muse AI assisted
Editor’s Note: Dave Schmidt
While doing sports at WROK 1440 in Rockford I had the privilege of doing many interviews with Coach Parker. Including the start of his career as the head Coach.
Below are several of those interviews…as far back as 2013.
Coach Jeff Boyer 2013 (audio) Preview Interview
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/13pigskin/episodes/2013-08-09T07_56_56-07_00
Congrats Coach…Byron is lucky to have you.
