Whenever his mother is in the stands, Tylin Brefford makes sure he waves to her.
Tekia Brefford was in the home stands Sept. 22 at Crete-Monee when Tylin, a senior defensive back/receiver, came up with a school-record three interceptions against Riverside-Brookfield.
“She’s my biggest fan,” Tylin said. “And yes, I’m her biggest fan.”
He proved that in 2022 when he gave up football as a junior to take care of Tekia, who had medical issues.
“It was tough, but there were a lot of things going on at the time,” Tylin said. “I was the only person at home, really.”
“You gotta do what you gotta do for your family,” Crete-Monee coach John Konecki said of Brefford. “Those are decisions everyone supports. He’s a very mature young man.”
Still, Konecki enjoys having the 6-foot-1, 175-pound two-way threat back on the field for the Warriors.
Brefford, who said he had been a quarterback all of his life until he made it to varsity, is leading Crete-Monee (4-2, 4-0) with 27 receptions for 299 yards and three touchdowns.
But his biggest game came on defense, when he picked off three passes in a 42-7 Southland Conference victory. The Bulldogs have averaged 38.8 points in their other five games, so this was against a quality offense.
“The first one was a bad ball,” Brefford said of his interceptions. “Thanks to my line, they put the pressure on the QB and they made him make a bad throw. The second one, I was on offense and they got an interception on us, so I was going for redemption.
“The third one, they were in the red zone. I dove for the ball and got the interception.”
Before Brefford made those three picks, he had a clear shot at another.
“He should have had a fourth interception,” Konecki confirmed. “The strong safety tipped it. The ball got kicked, and it hit off the belly of a guy and the other guy caught it.
“But it was going right to Tylin.”
It helped that Brefford was ready for Riverside-Brookfield’s high-octane offense.
“I was studying the wide receivers’ tendencies before the game,” he said. “Thanks to my coaches and the way we run the plays in practice, I knew what they were running.”
Crete-Monee assistant coach Mike Turay said he was fired up by Brefford’s trifecta of interceptions.
“It was awesome,” he said. “He’s super versatile, and we can put him anywhere we want. He’ll learn it and he’ll do it. This week, he’s going to do some strong safety and some corner.
“I have to share him with the offense. I don’t get the full time with him.”
While losing the year of football may have hurt college recruitment, it didn’t eliminate it.
Konecki, who said the Warriors have a strong pipeline to college teams, believes Brefford can play at the next level.
“He’s tremendously gifted and talented,” Konecki said. “But more than that, he is one of those guys who can see things before it happens. He’s a sponge. He has a high IQ.
“We’ve been able to move him around to different spots on the defense.”
After a 24-0 loss to Carmel and a 30-14 loss to St. Charles North in nonconference action, the Warriors have outscored Southland Conference opponents 202-7 heading into Friday’s home game against Rich Township (3-3, 3-1).
Brefford pointed out how the team readjusted after starting out 0-2.
“We are now focused in practice,” Brefford said. “We were slacking the first two games. Then, we started paying attention to what people were supposed to be doing and were giving more effort.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.