We're witnessing Golden Era of Tri-Cities football

Talk about big shoes to fill.

That's your Will Perdue, size-24 shoes to use a basketball reference, which is perhaps fitting for a town with a basketball tradition like Batavia's.

The players suiting up on the home sideline at Batavia tonight don't have to do much to top 2006.

Just win a Western Sun Conference title, beat four teams in a thrilling playoff run, bring 12,000-plus fans back down to Champaign on Thanksgiving weekend, then win the state championship.

And even that would fail to better one of the best parts of 2006 for Batavia fans -- shutting out Geneva in the state semifinals to get to Champaign.

No doubt about it, 2006 was a season unlike any other. Batavia's journey to the Class 6A state championship game certainly capped the unforgettable year, but the Bulldogs were far from the only special story.

A quick recap shows Geneva and Kaneland sharing the Western Sun title with the Bulldogs, both going 11-2. They were joined in the playoffs by St. Charles East and St. Charles North, with the North Stars winning their first playoff game.

To say football in the Tri-Cities is alive and well is an understatement.

Football might never have been better.

"It's an awesome excitement with the rivalries and other teams sharing in good competition," Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. "And it's not just the kids, it's the communities. When I started we had 90 kids in the program and now were at upwards of 210. It all feeds off itself and it's more of everything and it's exciting."

Has there been a year with the excitement to match 2006? In the last 20 years, 1998 is probably a good one to start.

Kaneland won the second of its back-to-back state championships. St. Charles was in the middle of an amazing stretch under Buck Drach and before the school split. The Saints rolled through 11 straight wins until Downers Grove North tripped them up 14-12 in the Class 6A state quarterfinals.

In the days before Driscoll won every state championship, Marmion claimed the Suburban Catholic Conference at 7-0, finishing 11-1. Batavia went 9-2.

That's 45-4 from those four teams, which would beat the 34-6 from the 2006 Western Sun trio.

The big difference that could tip the scales to 2006 is Geneva. Back in 1998, the Vikings didn't win a game, something that also happened the following year in Wicinski's first season.

There's no team in the Tri Cities struggling like that these days. Saints coach Ted Monken sees the success at Batavia helping Geneva and the Vikings' turnaround helping St. Charles -- the type of winning cycle that breeds thriving football programs for everyone.

"It's good to have good programs right down the road from one another," St. Monken said. "It's great for the kids and for the area and gives all of us involved an opportunity to sell a sport we love."

When you go to Batavia or Geneva or Kaneland tonight and see the stands filled and the enthusiasm high, take a moment to appreciate it. It hasn't always been this good.

In Wicinski's first four years from 1999 through 2002, the Vikings went 0-9, 1-8, 2-7 and 2-7 -- that's 5-31. It's amazing how far the Vikings have come.

If anyone can relate, it's none other than Batavia, and Bulldogs coach Mike Gaspari. It's hard to believe now watching the Bulldogs field powerful teams year after year, but Gaspari's first four years (1986-1989) were nearly identical to Wicinski's -- the same 5-31 record, 1-8, 1-8, 1-8 and 2-7.

To a much lesser extent, St. Charles fans also had their share of losses. St. Charles North went 2-7 when it debuted in 2001, but quickly became a playoff fixture under Mark Gould, now five years running.

St. Charles East had slipped to 4-5 and 1-8 in the two years before Monken arrived in 2004, but the excitement certainly is back at Norris Stadium the past few seasons.

So for all the fans that sat through those lean years, first at Batavia, then at Geneva and St. Charles, enjoy the big crowds and high times you'll find tonight and all throughout the next nine weeks and into the playoffs.

You know the players will.

"It's good for these kids because these are moments they're never going to forget," Gaspari said.

They also might leave good-sized shoes for the 2008 team to fill.