Semi-Final Memorable Games

by dusty7 Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:44 am

Unfortunately, I have never had the privilege to coach or play in a Semi-Final game. I think if we had a season we would have a shot to still be playing depending on the playoff draw and all of the things that need to go right in order to be playing in week 13. I am sure some of you on this board have more fond memories of these games than I do.

1991 - Monticello vs. Futon (I fixed the year Gen Max!) - so I was only 6 years old when this game took place but I remember sitting with my Dad in packed stands and I believe at the end of the game there was a questionable or bad call on the part of the officials that caused the Sages fans to go nuts. I am sure Gen Max could add more detail. But the reason this game stands out to me is this is when I really started to notice and follow the game of football. When I saw how intense people got about the game, it really motivated me to want to play on that field when I got into high school.

(So I did some texted my brother, the play people went crazy over was when Fulton blocked the Sages kick which would have tied the game)

1997 - Monticello at Central A&M - a huge rematch of the top two Okaw teams. Earlier in the year CAM whooped up on the Sages, this was partially due to a meningitis outbreak among the football team where several key players were not available to play that week. Going in to CAM in this time period was very intimidating. All black uniforms, Semi-Trucks and trailers at one end zone that would blow their horn anytime something good happened and CAM had a kid by the name of Perry Jordan who was a phenomenal football player. Monticello was no slouch this season and I think this was possibly the best team in the history of Sages football. The game was nip and tuck, I was in and out due to chasing tail, but the end of the game came down to 1 play for the Sages. We needed a TD to win the game, QB throws deep, hits the WR's hands, and the ball falls out of bounds. I think most of Monticello's crowd believed he caught the ball at first.

2018 - Rochester at Bishop Mac - a co-worker and I met up at a BBQ and Brew place in Bradley with intentions of watching college football but after a few (actually several) beers decided that this game would probably be better than any game we saw on TV. Also, I had a few players who I once coached at Peotone who were now on Mac's roster so I guess I had some interest in the game. I was watching the game and listened to the Monticello game on my phone. This game was a game of 7 or 8 big plays by each team and it was a back and forth game but Mac pulled out the 52-42 victory late in the 4th. The stud for Mac is now the #2 or #3 WR at Minnesota. Just a great high school game where the winner got a shot to knock of IC at state. I think Rochester would have beat IC if they won this game.

by Head Idiot Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:01 am

My only experience with a semifinal game coaching wise was-

2004- Shelbyville @ Carthage- I was the head wrestling coach and having only been the freshman coach, I was kind of out of the loop going in. Our HC had been holding practices at 630am on the game field under the lights so kids could still at least attend winter practices. I was pretty lazy so I only made a couple. I went to one and we put out our defense against their Wing-T formation and I asked what the heck that was about.

Our OC said that's "special". What is special I asked. It's a defense Coach Resigned 2 Weeks Ago came up with. Why are we doing it I asked. He shrugged and walked away.

We get to Carthage and our 320lb DT frantically comes up to me and tells me someone stole his helmet. This kid had his own XXL helmet and his noggin was enormous. He was also kind of a key to any chance we had of shutting down their run game. We found an XL helmet that if we changed padding we could squeeze on his head.

We start the game and stuff them one play. Coach Resigned was strutting up and down. Second play they run a TE pop pass and it goes 70ish yds for a TD. We got our ass whooped in "special" and by the time we switched back to normal, the game was over.

After the game the HC pulls me aside and tells me he's resigning and wants me to take over. This starts a really weird 12 months of my life from then on.

I drove the equipment van, so I made it back to the Ville before the charter bus. SHOCKINGLY our DT's helmet wasn't stolen as it was sitting in the bed of his truck.

All in all, a bad day.

by Huck Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:28 am

We had a nice run at Bloomington that had us in the semis in '01 and the finals from '02-'04. (103-18 in the '00s according to the "Decade of Dominance post)

2002- Bloomington @ St. Rita- Going in to this game we had been 0-9 in the playoffs vs. Catholic schools (though those 9 losses were to MC, Provi, JCA, and the different iterations of SHG, so no slouches). Rita was rightfully the huge favorite. Wade Weyer was their stud RB who we weren't going to be able to stop. We were led by James Wade, who had the most rushing yards in our history, at TB, Justin Harrison, who was about the only member of the U of I to have a good game in the Rose Bowl vs. USC in '08, at FB and LB, and Brandon Hughes, who went to Oregon State and played a few years in the NFL for the Chargers, Giants, and mostly the Eagles, at SE and C.

Our locker room was a dungeon, which, as a product of an old Catholic school myself, I kind of expected, no big deal. What was different was that the trainer's room was connected only to our locker room. So, the whole time we were in there, Rita players kept marching through to go to their trainer. This started ramping up the tension pretty early, which was pretty fun.

1st half we go up 14-0. Our first TD was on an option where the pitch bounced off the TBs hands, which made all the defenders change their angles, before bouncing off the turf right back in to his hands. He wasn't slow to begin with, and with the defenders having shifted, he went untouched for a TD.

Things got interesting at half time. When we came back out onto the field, we were notified by Rita personnel that we were no longer allowed space in the press box. No amount of argument from our coaches or AD got that changed, so our coaches did the second half from a corner of the bleachers surrounded by Rita fans. No surprise that '03 was when the IHSA instituted the rule that teams have to be allowed equal conditions for coaches from opposing teams have to be made available in the press box.

We went on to win 20-7 to make it back to the state finals for the second year in a row. Weyer had a TD on a punt return, but aside from that we controlled him pretty well. They had to pass more than they would have liked and weren't real successful with it.

After the game things got pretty interesting again. Once we were back in our charter bus and trying to head out, some Rita fans started throwing things at the bus and a few even came over and started trying to rock it.

Never before or since have I heard of a team being treated so poorly, from the top on down, by another school as we were that evening. I am sure there has been worse done, but I have yet to hear it. Makes me happy that they probably had to take endless s--t from other Catholic schools for losing to us. BHS is currently 1-13 vs. Catholic schools in the playoffs in 30 total appearances (still with losses only to the 4 schools mentioned above). If it has to be like that, I am glad the 1 was against them.

Please note, this is not an anti-Catholic school post. An anti-St. Rita post, sure. I graduated from a Catholic school with 2 football state championships and have coached in two public schools that play Catholic schools, so I have been on both sides of the debate.

by wolverine55 Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:12 pm

My only experience in the semifinals as a coach or player:

2004 Joliet Catholic at Jacksonville. We lost 42-13 and honestly did not play a bad game. They were just a loaded, well-oiled machine. I remember they ran the full Wing T package (bucksweep, counter criss-cross/reverse) and the guards who pulled in doing so were both 325 pounds. We actually scored first, if I remember right, and reminiscent of the upset over SHG a couple weeks prior, they had their first potential TD called back on a penalty. They pretty much controlled the game after that however. Here's a highlight link I found on youtube when I did a brief search for info on the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW0GCcqG44k

I don't know if there are any younger members of the board here, but I always tell younger coaches (no matter how corny it sounds) to not take anything for granted. My third year of coaching I was part of a semifinal team, my fourth year of coaching I was part of a quarterfinal team and just sort of thought that was the way it was going to go. I just now completed my 18th year of coaching and have only been to the playoffs two other times.

by Huck Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:43 pm

wolverine55 wrote:I don't know if there are any younger members of the board here, but I always tell younger coaches

Funny how many times I see something like this and perk up, and then realize that I no longer fit that description........

by wolverine55 Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:46 pm

Huck wrote:
wolverine55 wrote:I don't know if there are any younger members of the board here, but I always tell younger coaches

Funny how many times I see something like this and perk up, and then realize that I no longer fit that description........

Me too...in fact, I'm the oldest member of the staff where I currently coach and our DC earlier this season complimented me on how youthful I still was despite how long I've been coaching, lol!

by newcom Fri Nov 20, 2020 1:03 pm

2004 Newman vs MF'ers. We arrive for the game and right by our locker room is their weight room, Their kids are benching and flexing in there and our kids get teed off. They also went and practiced at U of I that week. Rolling Eyes

Great game with great defenses but in the 4th Quarter MF's All State back breaks one and their crowd thinks he is gone. One of our DB's catch him about the 10 and we stop them on 4th down with an INT, Game-Set-Match. When the kid broke it their crowd turns to our Radio announcers and said Bye-Bye. Then we catch him and our radio guy says to the crowd talk to me in 4 downs. cheers

I have never seen a home crowd & team leave a game as fast as they did that day. Literally no one was at the school when we departed.

by Teetime Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:09 pm

newcom wrote:2004 Newman vs MF'ers. We arrive for the game and right by our locker room is their weight room, Their kids are benching and flexing in there and our kids get teed off. They also went and practiced at U of I that week. Great game with great defenses but in the 4th Quarter MF's All State back breaks one and their crowd thinks he is gone. One of our DB's catch him about the 10 and we stop them on 4th down with an INT, Game-Set-Match. When the kid broke it their crowd turns to our Radio announcers and said Bye-Bye. Then we catch him and our radio guy says to the crowd talk to me in 4 downs. I have never seen a home crowd & team leave a game as fast as they did that day. Literally no one was at the school when we departed.

Those MF'ers really make it easy to dislike them it seems like.

I don't have any great stories to relate as I never coached but I have attended 20 quarterfinals that SHG was in, 8 that included one of my three sons. I was at 7 semifinals of SHG, three that included my sons and 6 finals, three that included my sons. I have also attended at least six QF, 3 SF and probably 30 final games that did not include SHG. I used to keep the official statistics at the state finals up in the press box for the IHSA so I went to every final game for about six years from about 1980 through 1985.

by OSUBucks Fri Nov 20, 2020 7:17 pm

2008 SHG@Provience Catholic SHG was bumped up to class 6A for the first time in 2007. They faced Providence Catholic in the 1st round that year and lost 28-20. The following year the two teams met again, this time in the 6A Semifinal at Providence. The previous week Providence had manhandled Rock Island 38-0 and SHG had defeated Bloomington 32-12. In the SHG win over Bloomington their best offensive player, WR John Lantz was injured. The extent of the injury wasn't made public and Lantz was pretty much used as a decoy the following week at Providence. The SHG defense really came to play. The SHG QB Dondanville also had a couple big runs off zone read plays and SHG got out of town with a 24-17 win. To this day I think that's the best road win SHG has ever had.

by center Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:49 pm

Best of times, worst of times.

2000-beat Addison Driscoll 34-14 at home. It was their last playoff loss for 7 years. They won 7 titles in a row. We lost to a great Harrisburg team the next week in the finals.

2008-Illini West. Still haunts me. We played great for 3 quarters against a gigantic team. Lose a big lead in the 4th quarter and they score in the last minute to win 27-23 I think.

Biggest coaching regret in my career.

They are a muddle-huddle kickoff team all the time. We debate about always having the hands team as the KOR team that week. Instead decide to tweak our normal KOR team. After they score in the 4th we know an onside is coming. I decide to leave out tweaked KOR out there instead of hands team. Bad decision

They recover. Momentum has totally shifted and we melt down. Everything goes wrong from then on.

I feel like an idiot to this day about that decision. That was our best chance for a state champion. No question about that. Great team. Great kids and they deserved better. But for three quarters it was the all time best performance from an Oregon team.

by Head Idiot Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:01 pm

Teetime wrote:
newcom wrote:2004 Newman vs MF'ers. We arrive for the game and right by our locker room is their weight room, Their kids are benching and flexing in there and our kids get teed off. They also went and practiced at U of I that week. Great game with great defenses but in the 4th Quarter MF's All State back breaks one and their crowd thinks he is gone. One of our DB's catch him about the 10 and we stop them on 4th down with an INT, Game-Set-Match. When the kid broke it their crowd turns to our Radio announcers and said Bye-Bye. Then we catch him and our radio guy says to the crowd talk to me in 4 downs. I have never seen a home crowd & team leave a game as fast as they did that day. Literally no one was at the school when we departed.

Those MF'ers really make it easy to dislike them it seems like.

That 2004 was the beginning of a decade ish run where they were unbearable. There's a reason they weren't invited to the CIC and it had little to do with them being too good as they would like to tell you.

We beat them that year at Shelbyville week 9 in a really good game. We finished 3rd in the conference and MF finished 4th. Both of us made the semis. The Okaw was a really good 1/2/3A conference. Then they brought in Tolono, they tried to take over and the small schools said adios. Oh, and Clinton. Very Happy

Interesting side not about the 2004 MFers. For a couple years they put that they got 3rd on their IHSA school season results page. There is no such thing as 3rd place in football. And even if there was, I would think it would go to us since we beat them the week before the playoffs. Oh well...

by Pike Bishop Sat Nov 21, 2020 3:36 am

Teetime wrote:
newcom wrote:2004 Newman vs MF'ers. We arrive for the game and right by our locker room is their weight room, Their kids are benching and flexing in there and our kids get teed off. They also went and practiced at U of I that week. Great game with great defenses but in the 4th Quarter MF's All State back breaks one and their crowd thinks he is gone. One of our DB's catch him about the 10 and we stop them on 4th down with an INT, Game-Set-Match. When the kid broke it their crowd turns to our Radio announcers and said Bye-Bye. Then we catch him and our radio guy says to the crowd talk to me in 4 downs. I have never seen a home crowd & team leave a game as fast as they did that day. Literally no one was at the school when we departed.

Those MF'ers really make it easy to dislike them it seems like.

I don't have any great stories to relate as I never coached but I have attended 20 quarterfinals that SHG was in, 8 that included one of my three sons. I was at 7 semifinals of SHG, three that included my sons and 6 finals, three that included my sons. I have also attended at least six QF, 3 SF and probably 30 final games that did not include SHG. I used to keep the official statistics at the state finals up in the press box for the IHSA so I went to every final game for about six years from about 1980 through 1985.

1994 - SHG vs. Belvidere, my first semi game, my first experience with a no huddle team. Belvidere was a no huddle, wishbone team that ran a lot of CWM. WE played on a Saturday night. We were told because many of the Belvedere parents/fans worked at the Chrysler plant and they did not want to miss the game. Our all-state WR, Mike Pilger, left the game hurt by friendly fire. Mike was also a CB, and our strong safety hit Mike on a tackle, bruised his ribs and kidney. Belvidere spent the whole night running away from our all state DE/TE, Mike McGee. No matter where we placed him, they checked away from him. We were down 6-7 and had two TD passes dropped in the end zone. They scored their last TD late when we were trying to tackle and cause a turnover. We did not wrap up and they broke a long one. We lost 14-6.
1995 - Metamora at SHG, The weather was in the 50's compared to the sub-zero wind chill the week before. With Metamora you are going to get Belly and Belly Option to the fat lady sings. The first 3 plays they ran wing counter and two passes. Our defense stuffs them but our kids come off confused that they are not doing what we prepared for. Our LB coach, Bob Breneissan, tells me, "We got them beat. They do not think they can beat us with Belly." He tells the kids that and they go out and play a great defensive game. Metamora ran the Lou Tepper defense. Our Sam LB/TE, JC Clarke (I coach with him now). caught a crucial TE pass out of a one back dbl. flanker formation. At a clinic talk Pat Ryan the Metamora coach gave, he said the passes JC caught out of that formation forced them to change their coverage package. SHG won 20-8.
2009 - Rochester at Metamora, beautiful day, our sideline was muddy, but we brought sheets of plywood so our players and coaches would not have to walk thru mud up to their ankles. Both offenses were unstoppable and it came down who had the ball last. Rochester did and we went for two on the PAT for the win. We put the ball in the hands of our all-state QB, Sean Robinson and ran QB GT. He goes a foot wider he is in. The Redbirds stop him and we lose 41-40.
2010 - Metamora at Rochester, Our players had been waiting a whole year for this match-up and were ready. Probably the biggest crowd ever at Rochester. The booster club made $20,000 at the concessions. Our offense was on a roll. Our first year safety and WR, Travis Everly, caught two long TD passes. Our RB, Colton Glazebrook had a great game. Defensively, we caused several turnovers and scored a safety. We got the running clock, subbed, and Metamora got a score the last play of the game when they found our reserve DB, who was our TD magnet. W won 50--16. My best friend's oldest son was a underclassman for Metamora who dressed/played in both the 2009/2010 games. At his graduation party, I meet many of his friends (mostly OL/DL), who played in both games (Pat Ryan was also there). It was very enjoyable talking to them about . the games. There was a lot of good natured ribbing but also a lot of mutual respect.
2018 - Rochester at Kankakee McNamara, Their RB had 50 carries for 300+ yards on a muddy field. We had our chances but fell 52-42.
2019 - Rochester at Mascoutah, they had great facilities and a superb field. They had a pretty good offense and a tremendous RB who had rushed for 1900+ yards. He caught a long TD pass on their first series. After that, our defense settled down and played a great game. Our starting defense held him to under 30 yards rushing and their offense to 14 points. We advanced to the title game after a 56-34 win.

by wolverine55 Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:48 am

center wrote:Best of times, worst of times.

2000-beat Addison Driscoll 34-14 at home. It was their last playoff loss for 7 years. They won 7 titles in a row. We lost to a great Harrisburg team the next week in the finals.

2008-Illini West. Still haunts me. We played great for 3 quarters against a gigantic team. Lose a big lead in the 4th quarter and they score in the last minute to win 27-23 I think.

Biggest coaching regret in my career.

They are a muddle-huddle kickoff team all the time. We debate about always having the hands team as the KOR team that week. Instead decide to tweak our normal KOR team. After they score in the 4th we know an onside is coming. I decide to leave out tweaked KOR out there instead of hands team. Bad decision

They recover. Momentum has totally shifted and we melt down. Everything goes wrong from then on.

I feel like an idiot to this day about that decision. That was our best chance for a state champion. No question about that. Great team. Great kids and they deserved better. But for three quarters it was the all time best performance from an Oregon team.

I didn't remember enough details to post about it, but I was at your game against IW. Great game.

by 19delta Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:20 am

2018 2a. GCMS vs. EPC in Lanark.

EPC gave them hell but came up just a little short. Lost 14-7. GCMS won the 2a title the next weekend.

Sidenote...I have never seen that many drunk people at a high school football game. Those GCMS folks sure know how to tailgate!

by general maximus Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:41 am

dusty7 wrote:Unfortunately, I have never had the privilege to coach or play in a Semi-Final game. I think if we had a season we would have a shot to still be playing depending on the playoff draw and all of the things that need to go right in order to be playing in week 13. I am sure some of you on this board have more fond memories of these games than I do.

NO, I do NOT. LOL

1991 - Monticello vs. Futon (I fixed the year Gen Max!) - so I was only 6 years old when this game took place but I remember sitting with my Dad in packed stands and I believe at the end of the game there was a questionable or bad call on the part of the officials that caused the Sages fans to go nuts. I am sure Gen Max could add more detail. But the reason this game stands out to me is this is when I really started to notice and follow the game of football. When I saw how intense people got about the game, it really motivated me to want to play on that field when I got into high school.

(So I did some texted my brother, the play people went crazy over was when Fulton blocked the Sages kick which would have tied the game)

I started at MLB in 3 and the outcome sucked in all of them. The 1991 game was the last as a senior. Early in the game I reached out for a ball on the ground and was about to pull it in and someone dove on the back of my elbow. It bent in a really weird way and I knew immediately something was wrong. Our Trainer popped it back into place and taped it up. While I was sitting on the bench getting taped, they scored by running up the middle repeatedly. That team was pretty good, but we had beaten better. I do recall the exact play you spoke of. We had a kid who did not step down on the Extra Point. The kid from Fulton jumped the snap, no doubt about it. Not even close.

1997 - Monticello at Central A&M - a huge rematch of the top two Okaw teams. Earlier in the year CAM whooped up on the Sages, this was partially due to a meningitis outbreak among the football team where several key players were not available to play that week. Going in to CAM in this time period was very intimidating. All black uniforms, Semi-Trucks and trailers at one end zone that would blow their horn anytime something good happened and CAM had a kid by the name of Perry Jordan who was a phenomenal football player. Monticello was no slouch this season and I think this was possibly the best team in the history of Sages football. The game was nip and tuck, I was in and out due to chasing tail, but the end of the game came down to 1 play for the Sages. We needed a TD to win the game, QB throws deep, hits the WR's hands, and the ball falls out of bounds. I think most of Monticello's crowd believed he caught the ball at first.

NOPE, the first year Coach V was there was the most talented. The athletes that played during that time were better. I was a freshman, but had not moved to Monticello yet. I watched so much game film of that group. It was stacked with studs. Rusty Miller at QB, Steve Hancock at TE, Chris Dick at FB, Heath Weddle at TB, George Palmer at WR, Rob Zvonar at Guard, and the rest of their line was very good also. They had the most talent of any of those team. I know I am missing a few, But they were loaded. I have asked Coach V and he hates to answer it but does diplomatically say they were the best.

by net Mon Nov 23, 2020 12:48 pm

carlinville(11-0) at beardstown(9-2) 1978

i was a freshman and didn't get to dress, but i did get to roam the sidelines(only 2 frosh got to dress). our online was pretty good sized, but carlinville was massive. i actually got to play with two of them at ic. cold saturday afternoon and nobody could score. both teams moved the ball, just not in the redzone. end of regulation it is 0-0. we start overtime and score and are now up 7-0. they get the ball and score and we block the pat. huge crowd on hand and our fans go nuts. players on the field go running off the field to celebrate. flag on the field. we were called for roughing the holder. Shocked

on a blocked pat Shocked

carlinville goes for 2 on the 1.5 yard line and barely, barley get in. they win 8-7 in ot. Crying or Very sad

north chicago(10-2) at shg (12-0) 2005

north chicago comes in loaded with 3 d1 athletes, two of them were massive ol/dl guys. they are lead onto the field by their head coach whose wearing a red hoody, blue jeans, backwards hat, biker chain wallet and biker gloves. i'm pretty sure he had a massive chew in also. he's dragging a chain and makes his players follow him. they get into a big circle and the coach drags his chain inside the circle screaming at them. Rolling Eyes

it's a back and forth game and right before half, we are deep in our territory. it's 4th down and we have to punt. their 6'5" 300lber(d1 kid) breaks through and on an errant snap blocks the punt and they score right before half. anyway, we hold on to win with 8 juniors on defense and the same amount on offense, 29-19.

metamora(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2006

the first time i got to coach against legendary pat ryan and his misdirection wing-t. they had been unstoppable all year. we returned 8 starters on both sides of the ball. i was very nervous as my free safety(he's a dr. now) that i had coached for 26 straight games was moved to olb because of his excellent tackling abilities. my junior newbie did a great job. the highlight of the game was the 2nd half ko return. my fs that got moved to olb was my return guy for 26 games. he's already had 3 kor for scores this year. i remind him to hesitate as the wall forms and pick his hole. i hug him and he goes on the field. it was picture perfect. he hesitates and just takes it to the house. the first thing he does is come to the sideline and hugs me. loved it. we win 19-6. that was our last score of the game. our end zone camera's view is perfect. here's a link to the td from edgy's site.

https://edgytim.forums.rivals.com/threads/best-high-school-games-you’ve-seen.20604/page-2#post-253107

shg(11-1) at new lenox providence(8-4) 2008

probably the funnest game i've coached in. osubucks' post describes the game well.

shg(12-0) at jca(11-1) 2011

the windiest game i've ever coached in. the game was decided in the 1st half with total domination by jca. jca kicked off to us to start the game. my front line on kor retreated to set the wall. the ball went sky high and just like a bird shot in the sky the ball dropped straight down and jca recovered(i've used this trick since). we took an ass kicking.

washington(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2013

the tornado game. a huge crowd from washington road up in 5 charter buses we had sent to bring the devastated community to our game to provide them with a few hours of distraction after what they'd been through. we fed them after the game, we had donations of food and money, we just went out of our way to help. do you think the ih$a helped out with the gate receipts? nope. we prayed together after the game, and hardly a dry eye at midfield. we won 44-14.

peoria(11-1) at shg(12-0) 2014

unbelievable amount of talent w/out any self-control or desire to have any. no respect for anyone. their all state de(drafted by the bears) literally picked up and suplexed our 140lb 3rd string rb. it was ugly. we already had the running clock going and pulled all our starters. of course, peoria never did pull theirs. we never shook up after the game.

burbank st. laurence(9-3) at shg(12-0)

i've never been yelled at as much then by this student section-not me personally-but during pregame. i think they googled every 'country hick' joke ever made. very satisfying win, 28-16.

by Bighitter11 Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:39 pm

1996 Clifton Central at Leroy

IMO the State Championship that year just wished it was played on a better track. We were clones of each other. Heavy run teams and very fast and physical on defense. Our QB Spent much of the week in the Hospital on IVs with the flu but he got back to school Friday and played Saturday. We both had our chances I know we threw 1 Redzone interception and missed 2 FGs and they had a drive stall out and missed a FG as well. It was 0-0 with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter and we throw an interceptions thats brought back deep into our half of the field. 1st down we get late hit out of bounds and they have 1st n Goal at the 4. Then 2nd n goal at the 3. Then 3rd and Goal from the 2 and they pass and we drop an interception in the endzone. Its 4th and short and they run up the middle. They were stopped, TV showed them stopped, film showed them stop the back judge signals touchdown neither side official does. They win 6-0 and take home the title a week later. That game still burns me exactly 24 years ago today.

by niewi 24 Mon Nov 23, 2020 2:31 pm

2001 - Metamora at Morris
The only semifinal game I was a part of as a player. Night game in Morris. Metamora brought a HUGE crowd, as well as Rick Alvis, unfortunately. The Redbirds drove right down the field on the their opening drive with big runs by Alvis, Ferguson, and the quarterback Schlemmer. We, the Skins, returned the opening kickoff to midfield. We lined up in shotgun 2x2, did some motioning, ran some misdirection with the quarterback which is much different than our usual I formation or T formation. Quarterback Benjy Kennedy breaks a run in the first and second quarter for our scores in the first half. Metamora ties it at 14 before the half with more of the same.

We scored on our first possession of the second half on a 75 yard slant to the house. About midway through the third quarter, the fog started to roll in. By the time the fourth quarter hit, I could hear the crowd but couldn’t see them. It was a very surreal moment. We also returned a pick for six late in the third to break their backs. 28-14 final for Morris.

Over the next couple of years I had the opportunity to meet many guys that I had played against for Metamora. They were all such good dudes. Although it was a different town and program, you felt a connection to them. Plus we both shared the utter disdain for Joliet Catholic and that is always a good way to make a bond.

https://youtu.be/EO9C344dWe8
https://youtu.be/qm33Cti2Bik
https://youtu.be/249zFlKFgZQ

2016 - Plainfield North at Fenwick
I’m sure many remember this as it was talked about here and everywhere for weeks. This has been my only experience as a coach getting to the semifinals. At the time, I was the head sophomore coach, so I had little responsibility on game days, other than talking on the headset to a defensive coach from the press box. It was a great and bitterly cold high school football game for the first 47 minutes. An apparent misapplication of the rules allows us to kick a field goal with no time left to force the game to overtime. We both score in OT but since we had the ball second we go for two and get it. The excitement for the next two hours is short lived as news rolls in throughout the night. The drama for the next week was maddening. I lived across the street from our head coach, Tim Kane, and I sure as hell did not envy his sleepless nights of phone calls, emails and barrages. Making national news on Mike and Mike in the Morning and Good Morning America was less than ideal. I still hate David Kaplan for his comments about Tim and our program.

by dusty7 Mon Nov 23, 2020 4:32 pm

niewi 24 wrote: I still hate David Kaplan for his comments about Tim and our program.

This dude is a complete prick, I cannot stand him and the way he treats those people who call into his show. I'm a big ESPN 1000 fan but definitely not him.

by OSUBucks Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:44 pm

net wrote:carlinville(11-0) at beardstown(9-2) 1978

i was a freshman and didn't get to dress, but i did get to roam the sidelines(only 2 frosh got to dress). our online was pretty good sized, but carlinville was massive. i actually got to play with two of them at ic. cold saturday afternoon and nobody could score. both teams moved the ball, just not in the redzone. end of regulation it is 0-0. we start overtime and score and are now up 7-0. they get the ball and score and we block the pat. huge crowd on hand and our fans go nuts. players on the field go running off the field to celebrate. flag on the field. we were called for roughing the holder. on a blocked pat carlinville goes for 2 on the 1.5 yard line and barely, barley get in. they win 8-7 in ot.

north chicago(10-2) at shg (12-0) 2005

north chicago comes in loaded with 3 d1 athletes, two of them were massive ol/dl guys. they are lead onto the field by their head coach whose wearing a red hoody, blue jeans, backwards hat, biker chain wallet and biker gloves. i'm pretty sure he had a massive chew in also. he's dragging a chain and makes his players follow him. they get into a big circle and the coach drags his chain inside the circle screaming at them. it's a back and forth game and right before half, we are deep in our territory. it's 4th down and we have to punt. their 6'5" 300lber(d1 kid) breaks through and on an errant snap blocks the punt and they score right before half. anyway, we hold on to win with 8 juniors on defense and the same amount on offense, 29-19.

metamora(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2006

the first time i got to coach against legendary pat ryan and his misdirection wing-t. they had been unstoppable all year. we returned 8 starters on both sides of the ball. i was very nervous as my free safety(he's a dr. now) that i had coached for 26 straight games was moved to olb because of his excellent tackling abilities. my junior newbie did a great job. the highlight of the game was the 2nd half ko return. my fs that got moved to olb was my return guy for 26 games. he's already had 3 kor for scores this year. i remind him to hesitate as the wall forms and pick his hole. i hug him and he goes on the field. it was picture perfect. he hesitates and just takes it to the house. the first thing he does is come to the sideline and hugs me. loved it. we win 19-6. that was our last score of the game. our end zone camera's view is perfect. here's a link to the td from edgy's site.

https://edgytim.forums.rivals.com/threads/best-high-school-games-you’ve-seen.20604/page-2#post-253107

shg(11-1) at new lenox providence(8-4) 2008

probably the funnest game i've coached in. osubucks' post describes the game well.

shg(12-0) at jca(11-1) 2011

the windiest game i've ever coached in. the game was decided in the 1st half with total domination by jca. jca kicked off to us to start the game. my front line on kor retreated to set the wall. the ball went sky high and just like a bird shot in the sky the ball dropped straight down and jca recovered(i've used this trick since). we took an ass kicking.

washington(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2013

the tornado game. a huge crowd from washington road up in 5 charter buses we had sent to bring the devastated community to our game to provide them with a few hours of distraction after what they'd been through. we fed them after the game, we had donations of food and money, we just went out of our way to help. do you think the ih$a helped out with the gate receipts? nope. we prayed together after the game, and hardly a dry eye at midfield. we won 44-14.

peoria(11-1) at shg(12-0) 2014

unbelievable amount of talent w/out any self-control or desire to have any. no respect for anyone. their all state de(drafted by the bears) literally picked up and suplexed our 140lb 3rd string rb. it was ugly. we already had the running clock going and pulled all our starters. of course, peoria never did pull theirs. we never shook up after the game.

burbank st. laurence(9-3) at shg(12-0)

i've never been yelled at as much then by this student section-not me personally-but during pregame. i think they googled every 'country hick' joke ever made. very satisfying win, 28-16.

A lot of good memories in some of those games. That North Chicago coach was a character. In an interview the week of the game he referred to us as Scared Heart Griffin. He had the team that was bigger, faster and more athletic. The SHG team was better coached an better conditioned. Their linemen were gassed in the 4th quarter.
I know the 2006 player you were referring to was Gilpin. Really good all around player, very tough kid.

by Head Idiot Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:56 pm

net wrote:

peoria(11-1) at shg(12-0) 2014

unbelievable amount of talent w/out any self-control or desire to have any. no respect for anyone. their all state de(drafted by the bears) literally picked up and suplexed our 140lb 3rd string rb. it was ugly.

I remember seeing that play after the game. One of the worst displays of sportsmanship I've ever seen.

Was walking through the lobby of the St Louis Glazier that off-season or the one before or after and their staff is hanging out on the couches. I hear someone say something that sounded like my last name. I turned around and said what- I thought maybe someone i knew was sitting with them I didn’t see. They laughed and asked what I wanted. I said I thought I heard someone say my name. They laugh again, stare at me and tell me to get lost.

Not a big deal, but super douchey. Very Jr Highish.

by Pike Bishop Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:07 pm

net wrote:carlinville(11-0) at beardstown(9-2) 1978

i was a freshman and didn't get to dress, but i did get to roam the sidelines(only 2 frosh got to dress). our online was pretty good sized, but carlinville was massive. i actually got to play with two of them at ic. cold saturday afternoon and nobody could score. both teams moved the ball, just not in the redzone. end of regulation it is 0-0. we start overtime and score and are now up 7-0. they get the ball and score and we block the pat. huge crowd on hand and our fans go nuts. players on the field go running off the field to celebrate. flag on the field. we were called for roughing the holder. on a blocked pat carlinville goes for 2 on the 1.5 yard line and barely, barley get in. they win 8-7 in ot.

north chicago(10-2) at shg (12-0) 2005

north chicago comes in loaded with 3 d1 athletes, two of them were massive ol/dl guys. they are lead onto the field by their head coach whose wearing a red hoody, blue jeans, backwards hat, biker chain wallet and biker gloves. i'm pretty sure he had a massive chew in also. he's dragging a chain and makes his players follow him. they get into a big circle and the coach drags his chain inside the circle screaming at them. it's a back and forth game and right before half, we are deep in our territory. it's 4th down and we have to punt. their 6'5" 300lber(d1 kid) breaks through and on an errant snap blocks the punt and they score right before half. anyway, we hold on to win with 8 juniors on defense and the same amount on offense, 29-19.

metamora(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2006

the first time i got to coach against legendary pat ryan and his misdirection wing-t. they had been unstoppable all year. we returned 8 starters on both sides of the ball. i was very nervous as my free safety(he's a dr. now) that i had coached for 26 straight games was moved to olb because of his excellent tackling abilities. my junior newbie did a great job. the highlight of the game was the 2nd half ko return. my fs that got moved to olb was my return guy for 26 games. he's already had 3 kor for scores this year. i remind him to hesitate as the wall forms and pick his hole. i hug him and he goes on the field. it was picture perfect. he hesitates and just takes it to the house. the first thing he does is come to the sideline and hugs me. loved it. we win 19-6. that was our last score of the game. our end zone camera's view is perfect. here's a link to the td from edgy's site.

https://edgytim.forums.rivals.com/threads/best-high-school-games-you’ve-seen.20604/page-2#post-253107

shg(11-1) at new lenox providence(8-4) 2008

probably the funnest game i've coached in. osubucks' post describes the game well.

shg(12-0) at jca(11-1) 2011

the windiest game i've ever coached in. the game was decided in the 1st half with total domination by jca. jca kicked off to us to start the game. my front line on kor retreated to set the wall. the ball went sky high and just like a bird shot in the sky the ball dropped straight down and jca recovered(i've used this trick since). we took an ass kicking.

washington(12-0) at shg(12-0) 2013

the tornado game. a huge crowd from washington road up in 5 charter buses we had sent to bring the devastated community to our game to provide them with a few hours of distraction after what they'd been through. we fed them after the game, we had donations of food and money, we just went out of our way to help. do you think the ih$a helped out with the gate receipts? nope. we prayed together after the game, and hardly a dry eye at midfield. we won 44-14.

peoria(11-1) at shg(12-0) 2014

unbelievable amount of talent w/out any self-control or desire to have any. no respect for anyone. their all state de(drafted by the bears) literally picked up and suplexed our 140lb 3rd string rb. it was ugly. we already had the running clock going and pulled all our starters. of course, peoria never did pull theirs. we never shook up after the game.

burbank st. laurence(9-3) at shg(12-0)

i've never been yelled at as much then by this student section-not me personally-but during pregame. i think they googled every 'country hick' joke ever made. very satisfying win, 28-16.

The Carlinville/Beardstown game was my good friend "Little" Andy Easton's last game coaching for his dad, "Big" Andy Easton at Carlinville before he became my assistant at Litchfield. He was an excellent coach. Unfortunately, both of them have passed away.
My wife was playing in the Beardstown band that game. It is my understanding, that my wife and her friend Ellen, started NET on his road to debouchery.
Many coaches I know in the Peoria area do not speak highly of coach Thornton.

by wolverine55 Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:01 am

net wrote:
peoria(11-1) at shg(12-0) 2014

unbelievable amount of talent w/out any self-control or desire to have any. no respect for anyone. their all state de(drafted by the bears) literally picked up and suplexed our 140lb 3rd string rb. it was ugly. we already had the running clock going and pulled all our starters. of course, peoria never did pull theirs. we never shook up after the game.

There's a thread on Coachhuey.com about things that were changed for COVID that you want to see stay. First thing I thought of was how wonderful it was not having to do the postgame handshake line...

by Horsefeather Sun Nov 29, 2020 12:11 pm

Metamora @ Morris, 2001- Niewi covered this one, but that was a heck of a lot of fun. The mid third quarter a fog rolling in & settling right on the field was surreal. What an atmosphere.

Morris @ TF South, 1994- My first semi... we went over to TF South & got off the bus. They made us walk a gauntlet of students to get to our locker room that spewed some pretty good bile at us. They had some hellacious athletes, too. We took control in the 2nd quarter and won 25-14.

Morris @ Crystal Lake South, 2005- The absolute coldest game I ever coached in. We were coming off beating JCA and we had to avoid that huge hangover. CL South puts us in a locker room as far away from the field as possible so that we would have to waste half of halftime going to and from the field. Our defense played great and we ended up winning 33-13.

Woodstock Marian Central Catholic @ Morris- Probably one of the most fun games I've ever coached in. MC was loaded, had beat Montini & Naz to get to us. Game goes back & forth for a bit until we block a punt & recover it on the 3 yard line. We punch it in from there to go up 7-0. I was up in the pressbox & it SHOOK from the crowd when the play happened. We also kicked a field goal & blocked an extra point that night and held on to win 10-9. Such a satisfying win as we started the year 0-2 & were now headed back to the State Finals.

by wilky Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:33 pm

the MCC game was great. If I remember right they had several big time D1 players. Qb went to wisc, and I think one of the lineman is the Bulaga guy that plays in NFL?

I would put that game in my top 5 of greatest wins in Morris history.

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