Roberts shines one last time
CHAMPAIGN - Among the most important things I've learned covering sports in the Tri-Cities: You don't question Bill Schalz about swimming, Bob Thomson about cross country, Jennie Kull about volleyball, Jim Roberts about basketball or Don Beebe about football.
Well, here goes nothing.
Beebe played in six Super Bowls. So when he says there's nothing worse than losing one, or as he compared it to, losing a state championship game, I should believe him.
I can't. Not after seeing what Friday meant to his players, the fans, the entire Aurora Christian community.
I think it's much worse to lose a semifinal game, to come one game short of getting to state. To miss out on everything Aurora Christian got a chance to soak in.
Yes, the Eagles will wake up this morning and think about how close they came to winning a state championship. A couple dropped passes here. A missed tackle or two there.
But when they wake up next Saturday, or when graduation rolls around in May, or when they return for their 10-year reunions, they - and the thousands of fans who followed them to Champaign - will remember something entirely else.
They'll remember making school - and city - history. They'll remember playing in the spotlight, the prime time game on Thanksgiving weekend, and putting on a show at that.
They'll remember a dream season, with a state-of-the-art, $1 million dollar home field, and ending Driscoll's 7 straight state titles. They'll remember the life lessons helping coach Chris Risch battle cancer.
And they'll remember playing in Memorial Stadium, the excitement of the entire community taking that road-trip south Thanksgiving weekend, to see their school play for the state title.
"Just being down here God has really opened the doors for us," senior Lewis Gaddis said. "We played our hearts out and they came out and showed they are a better team. Hats off to them."
Quarterback Jordan Roberts agreed, talking all about what the state experience meant and nothing about the loss.
"We had a great day today," he said. "Great time last night at Bible study. Hopefully this can draw people to our school."
It was a fitting place for Roberts' high school career to end, and not just because he led his team to the state championship game.
A college field, a 65,000-seat Big Ten stadium, the kind of setting Roberts hoped would be in store for him at the next level.
It isn't so far, just like Geneva's Michael Ratay, two area players who have rewritten the state record books, led their teams to Champaign ... and have no college scholarships to show for it.
Roberts made all the throws Friday, deep balls, slants, timing routes, shuffle passes, rollouts. You name it, he threw it. And he did it under pressure,
"It just shows you the kind of quarterback he is in the biggest of stages," Beebe said. "I hear a lot of comments about people sometimes that he plays teams he should rack up a lot of stats, but he's only playing half the game.
"In the biggest of games Jordan Roberts stood up and passed that test. He is definitely one of the greatest quarterbacks in state history."
Like I said, when it comes to football, you don't question Don Beebe.
jlemon@dailyherald.com