A friendship that supercedes the St. Charles rivalry
Can rivals really be best friends?
St. Charles East's Pat Friel and St. Charles North's Sean McGushin have been the closest of friends since elementary school. Because the boys live in different parts of St. Charles, however, the duo was forced to be split up and each ended up at separate high schools. Friel and McGushin have remained friends, but were forced to be enemies for a couple hours Friday night in their final high school football game against one another in Cross-town Classic Friday night at St. Charles North.
I thought it would be fun to explore Friel and McGushin's friendship a little closer on the night of both teams' biggest game of the year.
When it comes time to St. Charles North and St. Charles East football players being friends, no one comes closer to best-friend status than the Saints' Pat Friel and the North Stars' Sean McGushin.
The two have gone from, in McGushin's word, "goofballs" at Davis Elementary School, to, in Friel's word, "chubby" teammates at Thompson Middle School and now dueling rivals on separate football teams in high school.
Sure, McGushin also listed other St. Charles East football players Wes Allen and Dan White as his good friends, while Friel named Jon DeMoss a North Star buddy, but nothing compares to the Friel/McGushin connection.
Both have countless photos of each other growing up on sports teams, halloween and birthday parties.
"There's definitely no one else as close as we are," McGushin said. "No one else has the same bond as we do."
The Friel/McGushin bond doesn't stop with the boys. Their moms, Kelly Friel and Maureen McGushin, are also best friends who run a business together, Celtic Customs, which supplies spirit wear for teams around the area. They called their sons "two peas in a pod" and even "little soul mates."
The moms know they wouldn't be in business together if it weren't for the boys' early bond. They were in the same second and third grade classes and always ended up on the same sports teams. It all started when Sean's best friend moved away and Kelly Friel offered a suggestion.
"Maureen said she needed to find Sean a new best friend," Kelly Friel said. "I said I had one for her (Pat), and we got to know each other through them."
"It's really cool they got together because of us," Pat added. "Our moms are two great ladies."
The bond continued at Thompson Middle School, where in seventh grade, the two, along with Allen, White, DeMoss and St. Charles North's Nick Neari, were all part of the only basketball team to go undefeated.
The moms got to know the other boys on the team as well. That's why, on Friday night, when Allen scored the first touchdown of the game, Maureen McGushin thought of cheering, but had to stop herself.
Something similar happened when Pat, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound middle linebacker, brought Sean, the 6-foot-3, 205 -pound quarterback, to the ground in the first half. For a moment, it became personal.
"To me, I look at it as just another game until ... if Pat tackles Sean, I'm like, 'Hey!'" Maureen said. "I text-messaged (Kelly) and joked Sean better not do that again."
"I think there is a lot of respect (between the boys)," Kelly added. "I know they've talked the past couple of nights. I think Pat turns it off once he gets in the game."
After the game, which St. Charles East won 21-0 to earn back the key to the city in the Cross-town Classic, Pat admitted he just goes out there and plays, regardless of who the Saints are playing.
"It's just business," said Pat, who estimated he got Sean to the ground a few times. "But I like how he came out. He made some good throws."
"I think he sacked me just once," Sean said when asked how many times Pat got him. "He knew he had me on the first one (in the first quarter) and there was another where I got rid of it on a completion and he ran right by me. He was yelling because he was disappointed. During the play, I don't see him as any different, but then after the play ... it was a weird experience."
As the North Stars handed the Saints the key back to the city after the game (St. Charles North won the Cross-town Classic last year), Friel and McGushin exchanged hugs, followed by Friel running off to the Saints' cheering section with the megaphone.
"The key definitely means more when you get it as a senior, (but) it's pretty cool we both had it," McGushin said.
They both have had the chance to own the key. They both wear jersey No. 22. They both are 6-foot-3 and were round-faced kids. They both have moms who share a business. They both are Irish Catholic. Each also has another brother and sister. Perhaps this friendship was meant to be, even if they were forced to be rivals once a year in high school.
cbolin@dailyherald.com