This Cary-Grove seed was sewn back in 2004
Gas up the cars, minivans and fan busses and paint supportive slogans on the windows in blue and white.
Clear next Saturday's schedule and find room in the budget for tickets.
Thanks to Saturday's 40-7 dispatching of District 155 rival Prairie Ridge in a Class 6A semifinal, the Cary-Grove football team (and its massive fan base) is Champaign-bound for the second time since 2004. It should be quite a convoy down Interstate 57.
Of course, there is a stark difference between that 2004 visit to the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium and this trip.
"In '04 we hadn't even made the playoffs for four years," Cary-Grove coach Bruce Kay said. "To go undefeated and just get there was more like a fairy tale. This bunch, for us, it was a realistic goal. And we're headed in that direction.
"I think last time we were happy to be there - not that we didn't want to be there - but this time it's just different. The second time around is different, and a lot of these guys were there watching. When you're winning all these games by so many points you expect to be there."
The Cary-Grove Trojans (13-0) will face the Providence Celtics (12-1) for the Class 6A title at 1 p.m.
Providence, which won 30-21 at undefeated Danville on Saturday, expects to play for the state title every year. The Celtics have won 9 state championship trophies, third-most in IHSA history behind only Joliet Catholic (13) and Mt. Carmel (10). Providence last won a state title in 2004, when it defeated Bloomington 40-0 in the Class 6A title game that immediately preceded Cary-Grove taking the field for the 7A title game. Neither has returned to Champaign until now.
As Kay pointed out, many of the seniors on this year's Cary-Grove team were in the Memorial Stadium stands in 2004, when the Trojans lost to Libertyville 13-3. They were seventh graders then, still learning basic football skills as members of the Cary Jr. Trojans feeder program.
But a seed was planted in their minds that day.
"I went down to see the game with (linebacker) Stu Gaulke," quarterback Tyler Krebs said. "The year after that it became one of our goals to make it to state when we were seniors.
"We've accomplished that and now we have to win it to make up for what the '04 team didn't quite get. The team in '04 gave us the ability to do all this. We have to carry through on that."
It was fitting that several members of the 2004 team were on hand to watch Saturday's game. After making a semifinal appearance in 1998, the Trojans spent several seasons as an average team from the Fox Valley Conference until the 2004 group changed the level of expectation.
Players like Brian Mitz, Will Yocius, Kevin Passaglia, Tom Oswalt, Alex Stark, Alex Kube and Andrew Lorman demonstrated a work ethic superior to that of previous Cary-Grove teams, and the players who have followed in their footsteps have continually striven to equal or surpass the bar that team set.
The 2004 team went into Chicago's Gately Stadium for a state semifinal and stunned a talented Morgan Park team many figured would handle the Trojans. It was a win that sent notice throughout Illinois that Fox Valley Conference football was to be taken seriously.
No one in attendance will ever forget when quarterback Brian Mitz, on a designed rollout to his right, looked to his left and saw nothing but daylight. He took off for what turned out to be a game-winning, 60-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of a 21-14 victory.
Though subsequent Cary-Grove teams carried on the success of the 2004 team for the next five seasons - a run that includes a 38-game winning streak in conference games and six straight titles in the FVC - no group has been able to match the postseason achievements of the '04 team. Until now. And this year's edition is playing like it has unfinished business.
"It started with the '04 team," senior fullback Eric Chandler said. "They set a standard of how to work and how to play. From then on it's just been a roller-coaster ride and we're glad we're on the top right now.
"It's a spectacular feeling, especially seeing all these former players here to support us, guys coming from Boston and San Francisco who flew out to see us play. That's what it's all about here at Cary-Grove. The support we get from our fans and the community is just outstanding."
They will all be in Champaign next week: the players from the '04 team; players from the '98 team; players from the '06 team that held so much promise; parents and interested supporters; admiring coaches and players from around the Fox Valley Conference; the body-painted student superfans; and the muscled-up Trojans cheerleading squad, which has done more push-ups after touchdowns this season than Jack LaLanne has done in a lifetime.
They'll all be in Champaign next Saturday, all hoping to see the 2009 Trojans harvest championship fruit from a seed planted six years ago.
jfitzpatrick@dailyherald.com