Local Football Players Gear Up for 2025 Illinois High School Shrine Game

The 2025 Illinois High School Shrine Game will be held in Bloomington on Saturday, June 21st at Tucci Stadium on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. This prestigious all-star event will feature 103 of the top high school football players from across Illinois, competing to support Shriners Hospitals for Children, the official philanthropy of Shriners International. Several players from the Monmouth/Galesburg area have played in the game throughout the previous 50 years of the event. This year’s local players on the Blue Team include Monmouth-Roseville’s Payton Thompson, Farmington’s Lane Wheelwright, Kewanee’s Alejandro Duarte and Sterling Newman’s Daniel Kelly. The Red Team will have Ridgewood’s Roy Sandberg, ROWVA/Williamsfield’s Talan Hull, Farmington’s Caden Mowen, Brimfield/Elmwood’s Bo Windish and Annawan/Wethersfield’s Dillon Ketelsen-Anton. Tickets for the game are $10 and will be available at the gate. In 2024, the Illinois High School Shrine Game raised nearly $13,000, all of which went directly to patient care at Shriners Hospitals for Children. For the full rosters and more details on the game, go to their website, ilshrinegame.com.