The poise of a champion
No matter how dramatic St. Francis' rise from consecutive 3-6 seasons to the 2008 Class 5A state title, Spartans coach Greg Purnell refuses to publicly take credit.
He came from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a Hall of Fame background that included four state titles, with people skills, with a Wing-T offense and with homespun wisdom he rattled off after the Spartans' 49-35 victory over Metamora.
"I've said all along," Purnell stated at the press room podium at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, "it's not a game of X's and O's, it's a game of Billy and Joes."
It's also a game of defense, which he thought was the key to this year's team. After allowing 49, 51 and 50 points in a three-game stretch in 2007, St. Francis gave up more than 40 points once this year - the Spartans' sole loss, to Montini in Week 4. Purnell called that the turning point of the season.
"Sometimes a good kick in the fanny can get things turned around for you," he said.
Inevitably, that turnaround came from the makeup of the 12 seniors and 28 juniors on the squad, Purnell said.
"I just think it's good kids that come from good homes, that work real hard. They're focused," he said, as seniors Jeff Reckards, Mark Kachmer, Stan Bobowski, Jason Lombardi, Ryan O'Donnell and Brett Robinson stood behind him.
"In my career I've been very lucky to be around kids like this that respond to what you're asking them to do," Purnell said. "If you execute on both sides of the ball, and if you're disciplined and you've got some talent - and we do have some speed and talent, and it made a big difference.
"It's not what I did or what I said," Purnell noted. "It's what these kids did and how these kids felt about themselves.
"Poise with humility and victory. That's what we do."
Kings of the hill: Immaculate Conception head coach Bill Schmidt was the offensive coordinator for the late Bob Cozzi on the 2002 Knights team that won the Class 3A title.
With that season, a state quarterfinal berth in 2005 and now a 36-17 victory over Casey-Westfield to take the 2008 Class 2A title, Schmidt likes the "emergence from where we were the previous 10 years."
"I think we put IC back on the map - more than just on the map," he said. "We're a school and a program to be reckoned with. Two state championships and the quarterfinals in a six-year span, it's not Driscoll's seven in a row but you know what, that doesn't happen very often.
"We're happy with the direction of this program and we're going to continue to build on that."
Asked how it feels to be the head coach of a state champ, he said: "As far as personal satisfaction, you never know when the coaching days are over, so any time I can be a part of a state championship and a special run like this, I'll take it."
Crazy numbers: Will Cronin took over the Immaculate Conception quarterback spot last year as a 5-foot-5, 130-pound sophomore. Friday at the postgame news conference he said since last season he'd grown at least 4 inches and put on 35 pounds.
Olivia and kicking: Olivia Vatch was Immaculate Conception's place-kicker the bulk of the season, but stirred great interest in Champaign when her extra point gave the Knights their largest lead of the Class 2A state championship, 30-3 in the third quarter.
With that kick, Vatch became the first female to score a point in a state championship final.
In the postgame news conference she detailed how she first started kicking.
"When my brother (Charlie) was in eighth-grade, I would fool around after football games with my friends," said Olivia. "And some of the dads said, 'You should do this seriously.'
"And I kind of felt like, 'Oh yeah, good one.' "But then I had a meeting with one of the coaches and things just kind of took off from there."