November 9th 2001
Joliet Catholic 56 Riverside-Brookfield 50
Joliet Catholic 56 Riverside-Brookfield 50
20 Years Ago Today
- Thread starter SUNDOWN
- Start date
That was a crazy good game!!
Oddly enough, RB hung a banner in their gym that they came 3rd in State in 2001.
Oddly enough, RB hung a banner in their gym that they came 3rd in State in 2001.
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The most electric HS football atmosphere of any game I've attended.
I was on the sidelines there stringing for an up and coming website. Best game I've ever seen.
In retribution for his team's six point loss to a private school, R-B Head Coach Otto Zeman leveraged his membership on the IHSA Football Advisory Committee and got the multiplier conversation going within the IHSA.
👶
Almost as good as an idea as when he ran the A-11
I was there as well. Got there in, what I thought, was plenty of time. About an hour before kickoff. I almost had to watch the game by climbing a nearby tree. What an epic HS game and atmosphere.
The wheels were in motion years before that happened. Dave Gannoway asked Otto to do it. It was an inside job!
The 3rd in the State banner is from the 1993 semi final team! Look at the date???? Otto would of put 2nd!
A score of 56-50 is no big whoop these days, particularly in college football. Quite an outlier back in 2001, though.
Another time when this board was absolute nuttery. Definitely Wild Wild West back then!
Has there ever been a more talked-about game than this one, other than the DERGO GAME?
No. This was the best team Otto would ever have. This was at the height of the public/private debate. I don’t think we will ever see this many people at a local high school football game again.
Let's not forget that R-B had first and goal at end of game and ironically couldn't put it in.
Best game and atmosphere I've ever witnessed in close to 60 years of attending high school football.
Best game and atmosphere I've ever witnessed in close to 60 years of attending high school football.
That chase down by Buchanan to stop them inside the five was huge. Set up the big knock down by minarich.
the ironic part is that if they were running the final play or two from the 20 or 30 instead of the 3, they are far more likely to have gotten in. Their offense wasn’t set up for short yardage and the JC defense had trouble matching up with more space to cover.
Dergo game is legendary for his exploits. I know the outcome kind of leaves me biased, but I really think the JC RB game is orders of magnitude bigger than the Dergo game.
Dergo game was two traditional rivals, a desperate Morris fan base finally slaying their Goliath, and a truly Herculean individual performance. Awesome show and atmosphere, but classic David vs Goliath script that Dergo flipped.
JC RB was epic precisely because it had no precedent and was the antithesis of classic or traditional. It was a team that only ran vs one that only threw (and they both did it at the highest level), it was mammoth size vs insane speed, it was the most dynastic program in Illinois history at its apex vs an upstart with no tradition to speak of.
and it was on a Friday night at the zoo.
This game and the Jon Scheyer Glenbrook N hoops game in the Proviso West tourney were the two greatest high school sporting events I’ve ever witnessed.
There were literally people in trees watching
And they had to get there 3 hours before kickoff to get a spot in the trees!!!!
Otto's first 3 teams might of been his best. 7-2, 5-4, and 7-2. Didn't get in the playoff's was the early 80's. Was a 4a school in a 6a conference. RB had 800 students at the time. Was beating Downers Grove South 16-15 and had a receiver wide open on 4th down drop the ball in the endzone with 4 minutes left in the game. DGS would lose to ESTL in the 6A finals that year. The 5-4 team beat the 4A state champion Woodstock high school 28-27 in a nonconference game. Had a chance to have 3 nice runs if they got in.
Respectfully none of those teams could touch ‘01 RB. The only team in the class that could have maybe beat them was JCA and they won by a few inches.
The runner up that year only lost by a few inches to JCA as well though…
Please tell me they didn’t do that!
if that is the case why didn’t they just put up a 2nd place one? I mean you could always play back to a true 2nd place if your gonna make claims of an imaginary 3rd?!!
I was thinking a little less than that, based on the fourth down play.
I went back and watched that championship game last night. Great game.
I lived and worked in Riverside at this time. You could hear the crowd roaring from my house which was about a mile away.
Little Kin.....you are spot on! The 1982 team had Willowbrook (DPVL Champ, 6a qualifier) beat, lost in last 2 minutes of the game. Did not realize the 1983 team beat Woodstock and 1984 team almost beat DGS. The 1985 team made the 4a playoffs, first year with 32 teams/class. Lost to Geneseo (quarter-finalist) by 3 points in regular season and 1 point to Elmwood Park (semi-finalist) in 2nd round. Geneseo was arguably best 4a team in 1985. RB is one of ten teams that could of won state in 1985. I've never seen such parity in 1985's class 4a before or since then.
