Glenbard North clamors over Mt. Carmel to state championship game

With less than two minutes left in the game, Silvio Busco pulled out his cell phone.

"Are you watching this?" he yelled into the receiver. "It's unbelievable."

David clobbered Goliath. Glenbard North -- the little engine that most thought wouldn't -- powered its way to a 28-21 victory over Mt. Carmel on Saturday at Chicago's Gately Stadium and into the Class 8A state championship game next weekend against Naperville North.

"They barely made it into the playoffs and now they're beating the number one team," said Busco, a Carol Stream resident who rarely misses a Glenbard North football game.

Mt. Carmel was top-seeded in Class 8A, top-ranked in the state and ranked 22nd nationally by USA Today. But the Panthers changed all that.

When the clock wound down, a loud silence hovered over Mt. Carmel's bleachers. On the visitors' side, meanwhile, things couldn't have been merrier.

Happy tears flowed. Bells rang. People stomped their feet and hugged strangers. They had watched a fairytale football game. Their knights in gold and black made them proud.

"We're the Cinderella team," said Bianca Esposito, a Glenbard North junior. "We made it happen."

The Panthers played on the southside of Chicago Saturday but their fans soon marked the territory. A hand-written cardboard sign appeared on the fence: "This is Panther Country."

The Panthers now boast playoff victories over Whitney Young, Fremd and Mt. Carmel. All three were unbeaten prior to playing Glenbard North.

The next step is the showdown with Naperville North for the state crown. The Panthers will play the Huskies at 7 p.m. Nov. 24 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

"It suddenly happened," Glenbard North sophomore Sam Tortorice said. "We're going to state."

Matt Campione, a 2007 Glenbard North graduate and football alumni, said the Panthers have been underdogs for a long time, but he believes their perseverance paid off.

"Heart," he said. "The whole team has it."

The fans, too. There was none of the unruly antics that marred last week's victory over Fremd.

Chuck Hill, training coordinator for security at Gately Stadium, was prepared.

"We heard about the incident so we made each other aware," he said. "We told ourselves they are not going to do that here."

Dozens of security officers monitored the entrances and exits. Bags were searched upon entering the stadium.

"We are strategically linked up here to make sure (fans) don't go out onto the field during the game or after the game," he said.

While fans watched the field, security guards watched the fans.

Chicago police squad cars and unmarked vans were positioned in the parking lots with security guards sitting inside scanning the area with binoculars.

"We are no nonsense," Hill said. "We are not going to tolerate that."

Happily, it never came to that.

The Panthers' season may have had its ups and downs -- they are the first team ever to make the playoffs with four losses -- but the fairytale is continuing toward what fans hope will be the happiest of all endings.

"This is great for the community," said Charles Ridley, a Villa Park resident and a basketball coach at Jay Stream Middle School that feeds into Glenbard North. "I'm speechless."