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Pantagraph-area teams still trying to tackle title repeat
By Randy Kindred
rkindred@pantagraph.com
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Some schools have made it look easy. Joliet Catholic and Chicago Mount Carmel come to mind. So do Carthage, New Lenox Providence, Addison Driscoll. Yet, in the Pantagraph area, winning back-to-back state football championships has been far more difficult.

So difficult, we're still waiting for the first repeat champion.

In the 33 years of the Illinois High School Association playoffs, 10 area teams have won state titles, but fallen short the next season. Class 6A champion Normal Community seeks to end that drought this year.

What will it take?

Players, of course, and the Ironmen return a solid nucleus from last year's 14-0 team. They'll also need some good bounces, and to avoid injuries, and to stay hungry, and to cope with the big target on their backs.

Put it all together, and former Lexington coach Don Tanney said simply, "I admire the programs that are able to pull it off."

Tanney guided Lexington to a Class 1A runner-up finish in 2001, one of 20 second-place showings in area history. He said merely getting to the state finals makes you "the game everyone circles on the schedule" the next year, even if you're hit hard by graduation.

"Opposing coaches have the entire offseason to dissect everything you do and plan how to attack you," said Tanney, who resigned as coach after reaching the 1A semifinals last season. "Coaches not only gauge their seasons, but their programs, on how they compete against your team."

Former Pontiac coach Mick Peterson saw that in 1994. The Indians won the 3A championship in 1993, and returned what Peterson said "in some ways might have been a better team."

However, Central Catholic knocked off Pontiac, 7-6, in a rainy second-round playoff game and went on to win the championship.

"We had the bulls-eye on our back, and Central Catholic had the big bow and arrow," Peterson said. "I would say there might be a little bit of a letdown for teams (after winning a title). It happened once, and you forget how hard you worked to get there. Once you get to the top of that mountain, everybody plays king of the hill and wants to knock you off. You're not really ready for it."

Central found it difficult in 1995, finishing 7-3 and losing at Pontiac in the opening round of the playoffs. Coach Bobby Moews said his 1994 squad "kind of snuck up on everybody," but there were no surprises in 1995.

"We had some breaks go our way, and our kids just did not want to be denied (in '94). The next year, it seems like people are gunning for you," Moews said.

NCHS coach Hud Venerable is trying to prepare his team for the challenge by maintaining the "same approach and same mindset" as last year.

Venerable pointed to the University of Florida basketball team, which repeated in April as NCAA champion.

"They returned a lot of starters from the year before. He (Coach Billy Donovan) had that leadership going for him in that locker room," Venerable said. "They knew what it took. A lot of the same people were in place. We have a lot of the same people in place. But we need to focus on the present, because we can control that."

Actually, the Ironmen have come as close as anyone to repeating. Their championship last year came after a 14-9 loss to Morris in the 2005 title game.

John McIntyre was offensive line coach on those teams, and had experience in coaching back-to-back title games. His 1982 Central Catholic squad won the 2A crown, and his 1983 team finished second, losing 34-14 to Woodstock Marian.

"It was 8-8 at halftime, but they were just physically stronger than us," McIntyre said. "It's tough to win two in a row. I think some of the great programs have done it just from pure strength in numbers. Two platoon programs have a better chance because they can find somebody on the other side of the ball to fill in when they need to.

"It takes a program where the younger players set just as high of goals and don't see it as a one-time thing. It can happen. We were five points away at Normal. We came very close to knocking (Morris) off. Sometimes it boils down to a couple of plays."

Brian Hassett was part of a three-year championship run at Kankakee Bishop McNamara. He was the senior quarterback on the 1985 team which downed Olympia in the title game. The Irish built off of that and won again in 1986 and 1987.

"That team (in 1985) had a mix of good juniors and seniors. We graduated probably eight guys who started, so there were a lot of juniors who were playing a lot," said Hassett, now head coach at Prairie Central.

"I think the biggest factor (in repeating), especially in the smaller schools, is health. We had that last year with Ben (Herr) going down. That made a huge difference in us not advancing to the state championship."

Prairie Central, the 2003 Class 4A runner-up, fell in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Driscoll, 17-7.

LeRoy won the 2A title in 1996, and was runner-up in 2001 (3A) and 2003 (1A). Coach B.J. Zeleznik, a former Panthers' player and assistant coach, said a constant after LeRoy's title-game appearances has been "going from large senior classes on those teams to a smaller class the next year."

"A lot of times you have a big, talented group that comes through, and it's hard for the class behind them to get on the field," Zeleznik said. "They don't get the experience, and never learn the leadership part of it. They've probably lost kids from their class along the way. Now, it's their senior year and they haven't played in a varsity game, or had to lead a varsity team."



A season to remember



To view a photo gallery of Normal Community's state championship winning performance, click here.

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