Memorable moments from an incredible year
As a high school sports reporter I have the privilege of witnessing many unforgettable moments over the course of a school year.
Here are just a few highlights from the events I was fortunate to attend in person in 2007-08:
Week 2 of the football season presented one of the craziest games I've ever heard of, let alone witnessed first hand. On the last day of August, Jacobs beat Larkin 75-58 at Elgin's Memorial Field -- more points than their respective basketball teams scored against each other on Jan. 28, 2006, when Jacobs beat Larkin 59-57.
On a steamy autumn night in Kankakee, I watched Elgin running back Kenny Williams excel at pinball, er, football. The athletic rusher bounced off one would-be tackler, broke to the outside and was gone. He sprinted untouched down the sideline for his second long touchdown of the night.
Enjoy, Eastern Illinois, you've got a nice football player coming to campus.
In late October I watched a group of girls volleyball teammates/best friends from Hampshire make a dream run to the championship match in Class 2A. Coach Karen Whitehouse's tightly-knit Whip-Purs fell 4 points shy of the state title in a decisive third game against Breese Central.
However, they did succeed in upping the Hampshire volleyball program to a state-title caliber.
I couldn't help but smile at the irony on Oct. 5, when the St. Edward football team defeated my alma mater, St. Francis, 28-26 to snap its school-record 26-game losing streak.
I'll never forget catching the eye of Green Wave coach Mike Rolando seconds before St. Francis attempted a 2-point conversion in overtime that would have tied the game. The look on his face said, "Oh please, man, please! Just once, let it be us!"
It was the Green Wave's turn, as it turned out. They stopped the 2-point run to snap the streak, sending hundreds of students and alumni streaming onto the field in a homecoming celebration those in attendance will always remember, myself included.
That's what high school sports is all about. I think the ol' victory bell is probably still reverberating.
I walked the sidelines at Millennium Field the afternoon South Elgin's football team beat East Aurora 42-2 for the school's first victory in 12 tries, the culmination of three years of preparation, blood, sweat and tears.
In the winter it was a pleasure to watch Jacobs basketball star John Moran set school records in just about every category imaginable, including poise.
It was equally enjoyable to chronicle the evolution of Burlington Central guard Mike McCurdy from supporting player to starring role. He delivered an Oscar-worthy performance.
I also admired the tenacity of Elgin's Armani Williams. The fourth-year varsity guard fought through rehabilitation of a torn ACL last summer and played at a level high enough to earn a Division-I scholarship.
It was a joy to see Dundee-Crown wrestling coach Al Zinke win his 500th match, a number that means far less to him than the number of lives he's had a hand in shaping.
No one in attendance at Jacobs High School on March 5 will ever forget the roar that emanated from the Elgin crowd the second Kenny Williams sank a 10-footer from the lane at the buzzer to beat Hononegah in a Class 4A sectional semifinal.
The action continued throughout the cold, waterlogged spring.
I watched Westminster Christian's Carter Ward beat Driscoll with a walk-off home run, Jacobs' Ryan Lesner throw a no-hitter against Dundee-Crown in a regional playoff game and Hampshire's Ryan Burke pitch a 1-hitter against rival Burlington Central.
The action has continued right through to this week.
The Prairie Ridge baseball team, which struggled out of the gate to a 6-6 record, qualified for the state semifinals on Monday by beating Carmel 5-4 in eight innings to improve to 30-8 this season.
It was a game that typified everything good about high school athletics -- effort, sportsmanship, strategy and clutch performances by elite talents.
The Wolves will try to add one more memory to the 2007-08 list when they take on defending state champion Neuqua Valley in a Class 4A semifinal on Friday at 7 p.m.
Of course, a year in high school athletics doesn't pass without its share of heartbreaking moments.
At the girls state track meet I watched a runner from another part of the state, the lead leg in her team's 1,600-meter relay, endure the pain of a false start in the Saturday state final race. All those hours of training and practicing, all of it, out the window in a heartbeat due to a slight twitch that gave the starter no choice but to double fire his gun.
The girl's three relay teammates streamed to her side to console their inconsolable teammate, who that day was dealt a harsh lesson in the sometimes unforgiving nature of sport.
My heart also went out to a talented girls soccer player who accidentally headed the ball into her own net in a 1-0 loss in a state quarterfinal. These things happen, unfortunately, which is what her coach rightly tried to explain to her over and over after the game as she slumped to the field in sobs.
You couldn't help but feel for the best field goal kicker in our area after he missed an extra point in overtime last fall, a miss that decided a playoff game in overtime.
It just goes to prove once again that high school athletics, like life itself, are unpredictable, which is why sports act as such a valuable avenue in learning life's lessons.
It was a pleasure watching all the exploits of our area athletes as they learned innumerable lessons in 2007-08. Makes me wish next year was ready to begin. Or maybe it already has.
True story: As I was writing this column, an area football coach e-mailed me his season outlook for next fall.
Hey, I'm ready. Hope you are, too.
See you back here in 2008-09.