Lynx a link to football past and present
It sure felt like high school football on a fall Friday night, with an air so unseasonably cool that you thought you might get a glimpse of your breath under the stadium lights.
It sure sounded like football, too, when Keith Heerdegen rammed his shoulder pads into those of a would-be tackler standing in his way near the sideline, knocked the poor guy on his rear end and strolled into the end zone for a touchdown, as his dad, Keith Sr., smiled proudly, score book in hand.
But it wasn't Vernon Hills football, circa 2001-02, with Heerdegen scoring another TD as his dad marked it down in the team score book.
It was the middle of July, 2009. It was Lake Shore Lynx semipro football, with players such as Heerdegen, Kevin Fontana and other former Lake County prep football players wearing uniforms resembling those of the great Libertyville High teams from earlier in the decade.
Heck, Fontana was even sporting his old No. 33. Just like ol' times.
"They're a little different," Fontana, the former all-state running back, said of the black units with orange, vertical stripes. "They got some new symbols or whatever, but they're pretty much the same."
Ah, memories.
The players hang onto them and cherish them, as do dads like Keith Heerdegen Sr. - whose oldest son, Kevin, also plays for the Lynx - and Ray Fontana.
"They're doing this for us," joked Ray Fontana, who's a member of the Lynx chain gang.
The Lynx is in its third season, and after it thumped the Kenosha Storm 72-15 last Friday night at Lake Zurich High School stands at 5-0 in the Gridiron Football League, which is a member of the American Football Association. The 10-team GFL, which expanded by three teams this year, also includes another Lake County entry, the Cowboys.
There are no chinks in the Lynx armor. The team, founded by Bryan McDermott and Mike Johnson, both of whom play for the team, hasn't lost since the championship game of its inaugural season in 2007. The Lynx went 12-0 last year, winning the league title.
For this season, the Lynx added former prep stars such as Dante Daniels (Warren) and Craig Kastning (Woodstock). The team has a big game Friday night, when it plays the South Milwaukee Rage at the Milwaukee Sports Complex (8:30 p.m. kickoff).
"This year we reloaded," Johnson said.
They're all in it for fun, much like men who play in softball, no-check hockey and basketball leagues. The only the difference might be that semipro football players probably ache more the next day at work.
While the Lynx's roster includes 18-year-old Jack Matthews (Libertyville), most players are in their 20s and early 30s. Andy Jones, a 6-foot-5, 300-plus pound Vernon Hills police officer, is 46.
"I'm going to hurt till next week," the 31-year-old Johnson, who plays strong safety and linebacker, said with a chuckle after last Friday night's game.
Victory and camaraderie among buddies help ease the physical pain.
"It's a blast," said safety/sometimes halfback Fontana, the star running back on the Libertyville team that reached the Class 7A state championship game in 2003.
"It takes a little longer to recover than I remember," he added, laughing. "I used to get 30 carries a game in high school. I run the ball five times out here and I'm dead."
Linebacker Chad Blomgren played for Libertyville about 10 years ago and was a high school teammate of current Houston Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter. Blomgren wrestled for Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. A football coach for the Libertyville Boys Club, he hadn't strapped on a helmet and tackled anyone on a football field until he joined the Lynx last year.
"One of the guys that I coach with got me into it," Blomgren said. "He's like, 'You got to play. They need a linebacker.' ... I love it."
Bruises and achy bones aside, why wouldn't they? The Lynx not only wins - and often big - but the players appreciate the experience and each other to the fullest.
"We get our linemen in the end zone and stuff like that - guys who have never smelled the end zone before," Fontana said. "So it's fun."
"It's a neat thing we have here," said Johnson, who played high school football in California and now lives in Libertyville. "In my opinion, it's really special."
More than 75 fans attended last Friday night's game. Fontana said upward of 150 people have watched the Lynx play at Brainerd, its other home field. Players' wives and young kids come to the games too.
"It's Friday night football," Johnson said, "you're under the lights and you're going, 'This is kind of cool.' "
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jaguilar@dailyherald.com