A last look at some of this season's more memorable moments
It's time to come in from the cold and enjoy the warmth of another basketball season, but not before taking a quick look back at some of the highlights from the gridiron in 2007.
Best game of the Year: Turns out it took place in Week 2, when Prairie Ridge (11-1) beat visiting Cary-Grove (9-2) 16-14 on Cullen Fahey's 42-yard field goal as time expired. That field goal snapped the Trojans' 29-game regular-season winning streak and sent the entire Prairie Ridge student body streaming onto the field in a state of delirium.
Beyond that memorable final play, the game boiled down late to a battle between two all-area quarterbacks, A.J. Hoger of Cary-Grove and Bryan Bradshaw of Prairie Ridge.
Trailing 13-7 late in the fourth quarter, Hoger completed his first 3 passes of the season, including a 9-yard strike to Dan McCall that put the Trojans on top 14-13 with 1:29 to play.
But Bradshaw answered. The junior drove the Wolves 45 yards by converting a third-down pass and a pair of fourth-down passes. His biggest play was a 15-yard strike to Jeff Simak on fourth-and-14, which put the ball at the Cary-Grove 20-yard line with 3 seconds left.
Fahey did the rest.
Craziest game of the year: Jacobs 75, Larkin 58 in Week 2. Larkin quarterback Cam Kinley threw for 449 yards and 7 touchdowns. And lost!
Feel good moment: I was fortunate to be on hand the night St. Edward snapped its school-record 26-game losing streak on Homecoming. What an experience.
Standing on the sideline, I just happened to make eye contact with St. Edward coach Mike Rolando just before St. Francis attempted to tie the game in overtime with a 2-point conversion run. The look on Rolando's face spoke volumes: C'mon, man, it's our turn. How 'bout us for once?
Two seconds later the ball was snapped, four St. Edward defenders stuffed the conversion run by St. Francis (my alma mater, for the sake of full disclosure) and all heaven broke loose on the field.
I hadn't seen so many grown men cry since the Honey Bears disbanded in 1986.
The expressions of exhausted relief and pure joy on the faces of the players and coaches at St. Edward is burned into my memory forever. No, the Green Wave didn't win a title that night, just validation after three trying seasons.
It was a great moment only high school football can offer.
Class move: Larkin quarterback Cam Kinley finished his remarkable campaign 106 yards shy of becoming the 24th quarterback in state history to throw for 3,000 yards in a single season.
Kinley would have easily eclipsed that number had coach Dave Bierman elected to pad his quarterback's statistics against East Aurora (0-9), a program ill-equipped to handle one of the best spread offenses in state history.
Instead, Bierman grounded Kinley's air attack and ran the ball. Larkin led 46-0 at the half and won 46-13.
"We ran it the whole time when we could have just passed it and thrown 10 touchdown passes," Kinley said. "Coach Bierman just wanted to be classy and not run up the score. That's special to say."
Best game of next year: Turns out this might take place in Week 1, when neighbors Bartlett and Glenbard North square off in their traditional season opener.
Bartlett (6-4) will return 10 of 11 starters on defense, led by leading tackler Kyle Zelinsky, a Division-I linebacker prospect.
The Panthers return 6-foot-6 quarterback Evan Watkins, who led Cinderella Glenbard North to Saturday's Class 8A state championship game. The Panthers are the first 4-loss team in state history to reach a title game.
Bartlett returns 1,600-yard passer Josh Hasenberg and running back Fabian Libreri, who will get his chance to carry the ball with big brother Vinnie graduated.
See you then.