Forget streaks; Driscoll's focus on the now

Six straight state titles -- seven if Driscoll wins tonight's Class 4A championship game against Bloomington Central Catholic.

What a nice number, six. What's really amazing, when it's broken down, is that the Highlanders have won 34 straight playoff games.

Thirty-four straight victories against the best the division has had to offer.

No losses due to a tough call, touchdowns brought back on a penalty, a fumble, a receiver who slips, a field goal sent wide or just bad luck.

The only 34 Driscoll sees, however, is the one on junior Donny Sullivan's jersey -- or, more aptly for tonight, Bloomington Central's No. 34, running back Pat McNeil.

The number for Driscoll is one. At a time.

"Definitely, our goal right now is just to be 1-0," said Highlanders coach Mike "Buzz" Burzawa, who has two titles under his belt since succeeding four-peat coach Tim Racki, now at Nazareth.

"The fact that we've won a lot of games in a row is just a tribute to, No. 1, I think Driscoll High School's values, the faith, everything the boys are brought up to believe," Burzawa said. "That's a very big part of who we are and how we carry ourselves.

"Then, we've had a coaching staff I believe puts in a lot of time and effort and is second to none.

"The game of football depends on leaders to emerge, and we've been fortunate enough to have our seniors emerge and get the job done. They're the guys on the field.

"I think it comes down to all those factors working together," Burzawa said. "And then, the obvious thing, of all our kids caring about each other."

Driscoll quarterback and free safety David Schwabe has been part of three titles and its run to a potential fourth. He snagged the first of his 25 career interceptions as a freshman in Driscoll's 2004 playoff opener, a 41-6 win over Dwight.

Schwabe respects the power of "one," but his prime number this season is four, going on five.

"We didn't win 34 football games, everybody else won 34 football games," said the Class 4A all-state selection. "We've won four so far.

"The program has done it, but the way we look at it is we've only won four and we're looking to win our fifth."

When Burzawa dedicated the 42-7 win over Newton in the 2005 title game to Driscoll's football "fraternity," one member of the club was Victor Arlis, the all-state tailback from the 2001 team that won the first title in the streak, 42-41 in double-overtime against downstate Mt. Carmel.

Now working part-time in the Glendale Heights Fire Department with a goal of becoming a paramedic and full-time firefighter, Arlis was guilty of some faulty thinking.

"We think they'll do good, but we don't think they'll do as good as we did," he said.

We now know they did. One reason Arlis points out is the Highlanders annually have five extra weeks of practice, where underclassmen are groomed under pressure.

"It's very beneficial," said Arlis, who played three years of fullback at Illinois State.

"I kind of would compare it to having a spring season in college, where you lose your seniors and you come in with the team you'll basically have next year. … You get an idea of who needs to improve and who needs to fit in where."

Phil Pedi needed to fit in, right quick.

Driscoll was unsatisfied with its quarterback position late in the 2004 season. Pedi, a sophomore, started and lost the last two games of the regular season, then culminated title run No. 4, with a 37-14 Class 3A win over Bureau Valley.

Obviously, he's seen pressure … the pressure to win in 2005 to surpass four-time winners Mt. Carmel, Joliet Catholic and Providence.

There was the third-round game in 2004 when Driscoll, with 90 yards of offense, beat undefeated Wilmington 14-11 on John Tranchitella's 54-yard fumble return.

"That's the most intense game I've ever been in," said Pedi said, done with his freshman season at Elmhurst College and helping out his alma mater.

How about last year's 4A opener? Against No. 12 seed Morton, Driscoll missed an extra point, had a field goal blocked and needed Pedi to complete 7 straight passes in the last two minutes to win 12-7, including Danny Taylor's touchdown catch with 6.1 seconds left.

"Every year there's a game that you win by luck, that you shouldn't have won," Pedi said. "That's the amazing thing, is we've won all those games."

There's one left for its 35th straight playoff win and seventh straight title.

Pressure? Schwabe doesn't feel it.

"Pressure is when you have to put food on the table," he said. "I'm having fun."