Three-sport standout shows off quarterback skills for East; earns BND Co-Player of the Year honors

Kris Stephens’ first career victory as a varsity head football coach was also the game in which he realized just how good of a quarterback he had in Belleville East senior Drew Millas.

“The first half he was really lighting things up and in the third quarter they made adjustments that took away some things he as doing,” Stephens said, noting how Millas responded again with more changes of his own in the Week 2 win.

Belleville East got Stephens his first win that night in dramatic fashion, defeating Normal West 55-48 in double overtime on the road. Millas ran five yards for a TD in the first overtime, then hit Anthony Dean on a 10-yard slant pattern for the game-winner in the second OT.

“We all knew what was at stake in that game and we needed the win for Coach Stephens,” said Millas, who has 25-of-48 that day for 268 yards and five TDs.

Millas built on that early success and finished with 1,949 yards and 23 touchdowns, throwing only four interceptions. Area coaches took notice and voted him Belleville News-Democrat Large-School Football Co-Player of the Year along with Triad running back Adam Nelson.

“We did a lot of things that fit Drew’s skill set.” said Stephens, whose team finished 6-4 and reached the playoffs before losing to Oswego. “The athleticism he had ... you can run with him, you can throw with him and he’s an incredible clutch player. He really came through for us.

“Any time you have a good quarterback it makes everything go a little easier.”

Millas closed out his high school football career with 3,282 passing yards, 34 TDs and 21 interceptions, completing 287-of-560 attempts.

Millas and Stephens proved a solid fit in a new offense, but that offense changed not long before the season began because of an injury to Lancers’ star running back Damone Witherspoon.

With Witherspoon out, it meant more passing — and more running — for Millas. As it turned out, the three-sport athlete was up for the challenge, adding 329 yards rushing and three TDs on 66 carries.

“We were counting on running it a little bit more,” Stephens said, hopeful of relying heavily on Witherspoon. “When we realized what we had when ‘Spoon went down in Week 1, it changed the tempo and what part of the offense we emphasized.”

During the summer, Millas operated about 75 percent of the time under center. Once the Lancers lost Witherspoon he was taking snaps out of the shotgun formation 75 to 80 percent of the time.

“That’s one of the nice things about having a kid like that,” Stephens said. “He’s a smart kid and can adjust on the fly.”

VERSATILE THREE-SPORT STANDOUT

Millas is one of a handful of three-sport athletes in the Southwestern Conference, also starting in baseball and basketball. He’s headed to Missouri State on a baseball scholarship as a catcher, but his strong performance this fall had college football programs talking to Stephens about his availability as well.

“I love football and I’ll definitely miss playing,” Millas said. “Baseball is where my heart still is, but I’ll definitely miss playing high school football under the lights.”

Millas grew up next door to former Althoff High and Sacred Heart University quarterback Dale Fink. The pair did extensive work together honing Millas’ quarterback skills well before Fink was brought on board as Stephens’ new offensive coordinator.

Fink had been coaching at Mater Dei with Jim Stiebel.

“He’s my neighbor so I’ve known him all my life,” Millas said of Fink. “I knew he was amazing at Althoff and he played at Sacred Heart and was great there. It was awesome having him around.”

The biggest thing Fink did for Millas was pushing his level of self-confidence a bit higher.

“Definitely, just having confidence in myself,” Millas said. “He helped with my mechanics, but the biggest thing was confidence. Getting everybody where they needed to be and making not only me, but my whole team confident as well.

“It was a great year and I really enjoyed it.”

Millas also enjoyed being able to throw numerous passes in the direction of childhood friend Isaiah King. King, a first-team All-Area selection, lit up opposing defenses for 53 catches, 850 yards and 17 touchdowns.

“We’ve been best friends since kindergarten,” Millas said of King. “Having him around was awesome. I knew he could catch anything I threw up there and it definitely wasn’t all me, either. A lot of it was him making big plays.”

Coach of the Year

Area coaches singled out Triad coach Paul Bassler for BND Coach of the Year honors after he guided the Knights to a 9-2 record. The Knights advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing 31-7 to Lincoln-Way West.

In 18 seasons under Bassler, Triad is 107-75 with 12 playoff appearances. His teams rely heavily on an option-based running attack that has proven extremely successful over the years.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Three-sport standout shows off quarterback skills for East; earns BND Co-Player of the Year honors."