St. Francis football team gets hero's sendoff

The signs plastered all over the walls and lockers at St. Francis High School in say it all: "State '08."

As the school's varsity football team gears up for its first-ever IHSA Class 5A state championship against Metamora this weekend, students gave them a hero's send-off Tuesday afternoon.

As team members gathered before a drum line parade through the school, senior offensive tackle Jacob Kehl said the Spartans are excited but trying to remain focused.

"We have to cut down on distractions, focus on not getting arrogant and remember why we're here," he said.

The big game is at 10 a.m. Saturday in Champaign.

St. Francis scored a 21-20 victory over Kankakee in the semifinals on Saturday. And head coach Greg Purnell said this whole week has been memorable.

"This is a special time for St. Francis," Purnell said. "Football involves a lot of people in the community and we're grateful to everyone, especially the players who have been raising the bar each week to get us here."

And with nearly all students ditching their uniforms in favor of spirit wear Tuesday, a handful of drummers from the school band pounded their instruments behind the team procession.

Cheering them on were classmates like seniors Meghan McLaughlin, Jessica Defino and Courtney Trunk, who were also creating banners for Saturday's game.

Trunk and McLaughlin said they knew the team would be good this year, but admitted they were surprised the Spartans made it to the championship game.

"The boys are always cocky and brag 'We're going to state,'" Trunk said. "But this year they really did it."

Spartan fans are trying not to be intimidated about facing Metamora, which won last year's 5A championship and finished second in Class 4A four times between 1996 and 2000.

"We hope they'll (St. Francis) be the underdogs who come out of this and win," Defino said.