Memorable State Championship Games

Getting to the State Championship is a very difficult task and some get there but many do not. I have never had the pleasure of coaching in a championship game but I have attended at least a game or 2 most of the past 14 years.

There are way too many great games to mention so I am going to stick with 3A games and they all feature Williamsville and that is just a coincidence. I will definitely be watching all 3 on youtube tonight and tomorrow along with many other IHSA Championship Games.

2014 - Wilmington vs. Williamsville - Double wing vs. Spread, two quality programs, two future Hall of Fame coaches, and no private sxhool to ruin this championship. I was happy to see a fellow I8 member with the opportunity to bring home a championship and even happier that it was Reents and crew who I have the utmost respect for. We received a thorough pounding week 8 and I knew upfront how physical of a team they were. On the other hand, I also knew Williamsville had quality athletes and is very efficient running the spread and Kunz and his coaches always does a great job with defense. Game was back and forth but neither team was really able to get into the end zone. Everytime the game started to go Williamsville’s way, Wilmington had an answer and vice versa. Great effort plays on both sides and Wilmington had a great return by one of the most talented players to ever play in the program in Alex Zlomie and Mason Southall (OC’s son) made several big plays on both sides of the ball. Wilmington wins on a game ending field goal by a new kid and I believe it was his first year playing football.

2018 - Monticello vs. Byron - finally the Sages made it to the finals but they had to go up against Byron who was loaded with talented Juniors. I do not think many people gave the Sages a chance, myself included. The only advantage I thought they had was being 25 minutes away from the stadium. The weather is pretty crappy, raining, cold, and windy, and looks like perfect weather for Byron. The first quarter was each team mustering up a few first downs but no big drives. Monticello was on their own 5 yard line and they run a screen and the kid goes 95 yards. Byron responds and scores on the next drive but the Sages answer with a Field Goal. Early in the 4th Quarter Monticello takes a 24-14 lead and looks poised to win but Byron scores. Monticello is up 24-20 with Byron facing a tough 4th down and the Sages get the stop but come out with throwing the ball and kids keep running out of bounds stopping the clock. I really thought they were going to give the ball back to Byron but on a gutsy 3rd down call, with Byron out of timeouts, Welter calls a WR reverse and the kid gets the first down and slides. In no way did I ever think Monticello stood a chance but I think Byron was surprised at the speed of the Sages. A great game plan on the part of Welter and really took Byron out of what they were comfortable doing.

2019 - Williamsville vs. Byron - Byron is there again with basically the same team they had the previous year and again a heavy favorite. Everytime Byron looked to have control of the game, Williamsville was right there to answer. Byron was up by 10, Williamsville scores and goes for an onside, Byron player scoops and looks like he is about to score but drops the ball on about the 25 yard line. Had he scored, game would have definitely been over. Byron goes 3 and out, Williamsville goes on about an 80 yard drive and scores with less than 1 minute left. On Byron’s last drive, they don’t even look like they try, they run the ball 2 or 3 times and once again leave in defeat.

Even though I normally watch at least the 1-6A games every year, there's really only a couple that stick out to me and even then I won't be nearly as detailed on these as previous posts:

2000 Carthage vs. Northwestern/La Harpe. Northwestern La Harpe was a co-op and La Harpe now plays with Carthage as part of the Illini West school district. Carthage won this game that was a regular season and conference rematch as both schools are only roughly 20 miles a part. It was also Carthage's third title in a row and a couple of players from this game were later teammates of mine at Illinois College.

2013 or 2014 SHG vs. Montini...I honestly don't remember which one of the two I'm talking about here, but I remember Montine had a huge defensive end who was an Ohio St. commit. SHG tried running away from him early and he actually had success running plays down from behind so the adjustment was SHG over and over again started running a jet sweep read right at him and started moving the ball. John Allison, another IC teammate of mine, had a masterful gameplan. I remember ending up almost an hour behind live TV because I was rewinding some of the concepts so many times, lol!

wolverine55 wrote:2013 or 2014 SHG vs. Montini...I honestly don't remember which one of the two I'm talking about here, but I remember Montine had a huge defensive end who was an Ohio St. commit.  SHG tried running away from him early and he actually had success running plays down from behind so the adjustment was SHG over and over again started running a jet sweep read right at him and started moving the ball.  John Allison, another IC teammate of mine, had a masterful gameplan.  I remember ending up almost an hour behind live TV because I was rewinding some of the concepts so many times, lol!

That was 2013. It was a lot of fun up at NIU. Fun story about that game. I'd been working with SHG in a volunteer capacity for a few years & in that game, the big DE you mention was just getting in the hip pocket of our OT, Quinn Osland, when he'd pull & he was just blowing up the run game. I yelled down to JA to have Gabe pull it & literally yelled, "He'll walk into the endzone." To JA's credit, he didn't have to listen to me, but he did. The DE bit, the hole blossomed... and QB Gabe Green ran six yards, tripped & fell down. JA just turns, looks at me & starts laughing. A couple plays later we score & as Gabe runs off, I asked him what happened. He said, "Coach, the whole was so big it scared me & I lost my feet."

First Trip to State Finals was in 1996. We had lost in the Semi's in 2A the week before. A couple really good games that day.

1996 Class 1A Chenoa 35 Sciota NW LaHarpe 28

Really good game future College teammate David Spencer was a two way Standout for Sciota. GCMS DC Chad Augsburger was a standout OL/LB for Chenoa. Chenoa had a pretty good size WR Nathan Kylander 6-4 205 who got drilled by Spencer with about 3 minutes left going over the middle of the field knocked his helmet off of him. With todays Safety emphasis I dont even know if he comes back in the game but he did and they hit him in the Corner of the End Zone a few minutes later for the go ahead score.


1996 Class 2A Leroy 16 Central A&M 14

Lost to Leroy 6-0 the week before and felt like we should of been there. Central A&M was sitting pretty up 14-0 heading into the fourth and then Leroy put together a drive to cut it to 14-8. A&M was going into the wind and threw a pick Leroy scored again to take the 16-14 lead and A&M coughed the ball up once again and Leroy ran out the Clock. 2nd Straight year A&M lost a heart breaker they would finally get theirs the following year.

wolverine55 wrote:Even though I normally watch at least the 1-6A games every year, there's really only a couple that stick out to me and even then I won't be nearly as detailed on these as previous posts:

2000 Carthage vs. Northwestern/La Harpe.  Northwestern La Harpe was a co-op and La Harpe now plays with Carthage as part of the Illini West school district.  Carthage won this game that was a regular season and conference rematch as both schools are only roughly 20 miles a part.   It was also Carthage's third title in a row and a couple of players from this game were later teammates of mine at Illinois College.

2013 or 2014 SHG vs. Montini...I honestly don't remember which one of the two I'm talking about here, but I remember Montine had a huge defensive end who was an Ohio St. commit.  SHG tried running away from him early and he actually had success running plays down from behind so the adjustment was SHG over and over again started running a jet sweep read right at him and started moving the ball.  John Allison, another IC teammate of mine, had a masterful gameplan.  I remember ending up almost an hour behind live TV because I was rewinding some of the concepts so many times, lol!

Yep that SHG game was 2013. Montini led at one time 21-7. SHG scored the next 31 points to lead 38-21 and the final was 38-28. One other thing I remember. When Montini scouted us they obviously were worried about their Corners going 1 on 1 with our WR Malik Turner so they were doubling him a lot with a Safety. When Gabe broke thru some of those holes there was no Safety in the middle of the field.

The '13 SHG vs Montini game would be the one for me, I was on the sideline and my son was a senior playing for SHG. The hit on the QB right before halftime by Overton I think changed the game. Now I have a freshman itching to play and outdo is brother, and we can't even get in the weight room.

Cyclone1 wrote:The '13 SHG vs Montini game would be the one for me, I was on the sideline and my son was a senior playing for SHG.  The hit on the QB right before halftime by Overton I think changed the game.  Now I have a freshman itching to play and outdo is brother, and we can't even get in the weight room.    

Agree that there was a big momentum shift at the end of the half. I think Ken Leonard was more animated than I've ever seen him when the teams left the field at halftime. Some of the Montini fans were giving our Coaches the business as they left the field.