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Best High School Games You’ve Seen

I have attended hundreds of football games dating all the way back to the early 80's. One that particularly stands out to me is the 1992 JC/MC game. It was a rematch of the season opener won by MC. The rematch was a 5A semifinal game on a cold day in Joliet. A defensive battle highlighted by an unbelievable run by Matt Larson in which he absolutely ran over a MC linebacker in route to a 69 yard TD. MC was led by a young Donovan McNabb. Just a great battle of two heavyweights.

Was home from school on Thanksgiving break and attended that game. Great atmosphere. The other thing that stands out about that day, a friend that I went to college with from the Joliet area introduced me to Merichkas. Great day all around!
 
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Those were good games. I was in the endzone section in 2015 when two 6/5 kids vied for the ball that was about 10 feet above the ground in the back of the endzone, with the Crusader's Edwyn Brown breaking up the pass, sealing the win.

All.... It's hard not to look at a 6'5" receiver in a time of need and Colin was a very good one. But I would of bet the house (and lost) that this particular pass play would of went to one of the two stud brothers Avante or D'ante Cox. Two of the best I've seen that could (and did) play multiple positions for the Rockets. Neither tall though. Both taught since they could walk the art of football from their father (Marcus) who was a successful JFL coach for many years in the Springfield area. Always enjoyed discussing with him the games played and how they turned out on the following Monday. Ratsy
 
All.... It's hard not to look at a 6'5" receiver in a time of need and Colin was a very good one. But I would of bet the house (and lost) that this particular pass play would of went to one of the two stud brothers Avante or D'ante Cox. Two of the best I've seen that could (and did) play multiple positions for the Rockets. Neither tall though. Both taught since they could walk the art of football from their father (Marcus) who was a successful JFL coach for many years in the Springfield area. Always enjoyed discussing with him the games played and how they turned out on the following Monday. Ratsy
Had similar thoughts at the time. I believe Rochester tried the same jump ball pass to Stallworth at least twice on their previous possession and Althoff had the size to defend it. Rochester got a last chance after a short punt but had no timeouts left and only 15 or 20 seconds to work with. The Cox brothers both had huge games in the 2016 rematch, where Rochester trailed by 19 in the 3rd before coming back.
 
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Had similar thoughts at the time. I believe Rochester tried the same jump ball pass to Stallworth at least twice on their previous possession and Althoff had the size to defend it. Rochester got a last chance after a short punt but had no timeouts left and only 15 or 20 seconds to work with. The Cox brothers both had huge games in the 2016 rematch, where Rochester trailed by 19 in the 3rd before coming back.
And Derek got drilled with a water bottle.

Not condoning it, but he deserved it!
 
1999 regular season Lincoln-Way (when it was just one school) vs. Thornton. It was a great rivalry and there were about 7 thousand in attendance and it was homecoming. It was game of the week with the “game of the week” crew, Lee Corso, Dave Bernhardt, Mack (not sure if I have the names correct). It decided the SICA Blue conference championship as well.
 
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If I'm not mistaken 2004 was the only title Driscoll won at 3A. I remember someone on this board explained the near impossible set of circumstances that lead to them dropping from 4A to 3A on the last day of the season. They never should have played at 3A. I still think the 2004 Wilmington team was one of the best, if not the best, 3A teams I've seen in the last 25 years. I know, I know ,IC had some tremendous teams , I'll still take Wilmington at home over IC.

The I-8 was squarely in that set of circumstances...4-4 Manteno went to 2-6 Reed-Custer week 9 with the Panthers first playoff berth in school history on the line. RC had started 2-0 against 0-9 Peotone & 3-6 Plano (a year away from becoming the monster Reapers). Apparently a busted party suspended a bunch of Comets for 6 games. Comets in an ugly, rainy game beat the Panthers 24-23, keeping the Panthers out of the playoffs - and enabling Driscoll to be the biggest school in 3A rather than 4A.

Coal City, despite losing to Wilmington, made it to the 4A title game that season and lost to Montini...Driscoll & Montini likely have to rematch in 4A for one to get to the title.

History...I-8 that year, 3rd year of 10 teams, Plano had the only football enrollment under 500, Lisle (625) & Sandwich (755) only schools over 600.
 
I know this will sound very sarcastic and sad, but one of the best high school football games I will ever see is whenever I finally get to see the next game between 2 Illinois HS football teams after all this crap.

And that could be live in person or streaming.
 
2004 Driscoll vs Wilmington

If Wilmington stays healthy I think they beat Driscoll. Possibly the closest Driscoll cam to loosing a playoff game in that great run they had. Vercelli and Roark were both hurt in that game and Wilmington was still able to hgold Driscoll to 11 points.

Energy was electric that night.....true small school football at its best
Amazing game to be at. Everything as cooking and energy was off the charts. I know Vercelli got hurt (ankle?) and gutted through that second half but it wasn't the same. If I remember right, Wilmo was driving and inside their own 5 when they fumbled and it got returned.
 
Thanks PanthersWildcats86 for refreshing my memory. Like I said it was a crazy set of circumstances.
 
I have two, one really obscure from the 80's with 2 high schools that no longer exist.
Gridley vs Tiskawa in the Qtrs at Gridley. Gridley was coached by a young Ken Leonard. Their biggest player was their fullback, Marty Lomelino , who might have weighed 215. otherwise, Gridley probaly averaged 180 lbs. Tiskawa was massive, Tom and Todd Schertz, who both went on to play OL at U of I. I don't remember a lot of the details, but I couldn't believe Gridley beat them 14-12.

2nd was the heartbreaking loss for Cary Grove vs PR in 2017, when Evans broke that 66 yard run. I still have the tear stains on my sweatshirt.
 
I have attended hundreds of football games dating all the way back to the early 80's. One that particularly stands out to me is the 1992 JC/MC game. It was a rematch of the season opener won by MC. The rematch was a 5A semifinal game on a cold day in Joliet. A defensive battle highlighted by an unbelievable run by Matt Larson in which he absolutely ran over a MC linebacker in route to a 69 yard TD. MC was led by a young Donovan McNabb. Just a great battle of two heavyweights.

I left for Somalia in the Marines the day after this game. I remember calling home to my Dad that night before we left assuming he would tell
me they won....no such luck....long flight to Africa!! Therill Smith will always been known in Caravan lore for that blunder by shooting his mouth off! I’ve looked for that game in archives many times, never been able to find it.
 
I do remember watching McNabb play in person. It was against Loyola which my cousin played on.

played against him twice in high school. Was underwhelmed both times. Clearly shows some players peak much later in their careers.
 
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played against him twice in high school. Was underwhelmed both times. Clearly shows some players peak much later in their careers.
In high school he was a major threat with his feet but not a huge threat with his arm, MC just didn't have that kind of offense back then. He was given the opportunity to be a more well rounded QB after high school.
 
Best game I ever covered was LW-MS - seeing the ball hit the cross bar and bounce over was pretty awesome. Would’ve been more excited if I could have felt my hands and feet.

LZ-Warren in 2017. 41-34 in OT. Warren tied it on a Hail Mary that made ESPN top 10.

Prospect-BG in the playoffs 17-16 Knights win on way to state title.

Carmel -Mt Carmel state quarters game - MTc won on way to a state Title. The mysterious block in the Back on a punt return by Adam Oerschlein - when Bitto asked for a number the official said - “I don’t know but it was some guy over there.”

Minooka-Barrington second round game - Indians score on an odd guard eligible pass play to win it I believe in OT. Was a brutally cold night
 
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I left for Somalia in the Marines the day after this game. I remember calling home to my Dad that night before we left assuming he would tell
me they won....no such luck....long flight to Africa!! Therill Smith will always been known in Caravan lore for that blunder by shooting his mouth off! I’ve looked for that game in archives many times, never been able to find it.

I was just out of college and was coaching at JCA. A great year to be on the sidelines. Unfortunately, the Hilltoppers lost the following weekend to WWS in an absolute classic championship game.
 
In high school he was a major threat with his feet but not a huge threat with his arm, MC just didn't have that kind of offense back then. He was given the opportunity to be a more well rounded QB after high school.

he was a threat running on his own, but didnt run the option anywhere nearly as good as mcgrew did the year before.
 
Best game I ever covered was LW-MS - seeing the ball hit the cross bar and bounce over was pretty awesome. Would’ve been more excited if I could have felt my hands and feet.

LZ-Warren in 2017. 41-34 in OT. Warren tied it on a Hail Mary that made ESPN top 10.

Prospect-BG in the playoffs 17-16 Knights win on way to state title.

Carmel -Mt Carmel state quarters game - MTc won on way to a state Title. The mysterious block in the Back on a punt return by Adam Oerschlein - when Bitto asked for a number the official said - “I don’t know but it was some guy over there.”

Minooka-Barrington second round game - Indians score on an odd guard eligible pass play to win it I believe in OT. Was a brutally cold night
One of my best friends was a starter on that BG team. Still laments to this day why they didn't give it to the sophomore fullback on a long drive at the end of the game and instead went with Tommy Z and he fumbled after being concussed most of the game.

I can see his anger when it comes up.
 
Pretty sure IC beat Wilmington at Wilmington during their first title run. IC has had better teams the last few years. IC would run over them.

2002 IC beat Wilmington @ Wilmington in the semifinal.
Wilmington 2004 was very good, but I'd probably give the edge to the IC team with Rowell, Ricobene and the Saunders twins.
 
2007 5A Quarterfinals

Kaneland 52
Sterling 45
2 OT

Kaneland tied it up w a hook and ladder to send it into OT. Kaneland won on GL stand. I remember walking back and forth to each EZ from the end of regulation and each OT.

Kaneland had Boone Thorgeson and Casey Crosby as seniors.

awesome memories.

Side bar, sterling and kaneland have probably had the misfortune more than any other programs running into the private buzzsaws each year. Seems like every year one of these teams is loaded they run into Montini, JCA, Woodstock Marian, etc
 
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There are so many SR/MC games to pick from. Thinking outside of that box there are few games that stick out. On Sep 19th 2002 St. Rita and Brother Rice played six (6) overtimes. With BR up 48-45 SR went for the win instead of the game tying FG. Gutsy call from Todd Kuska.

That same year in the 2nd round of the 7A playoffs during overtime Hubbard got the ball first and scored first and converted the extra point. SR answered with a score but went for two and the win instead of kicking the extra point. Another gutsy call from Kuska.
 
MC's methodical demolition of Nazareth last year put me in a euphoric mood for months. I don't know why this game in particular has transfixed me so, but I've watched it at least ten times on YouTube. In the scale of things, the loss of a high school football season is trivial in comparison to the losses other people have suffered from the virus. But in a very personal sense, the inability of Mount Carmel to defend its title this year was little short of a tragedy.
 
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But in a very personal sense, the inability of Mount Carmel to defend its title this year was little short of a tragedy.
Even though JCA WOULD have been pretty loaded this year, I don't think they could have given much of a scare to the 2020 MC team with all the talent they had coming back. Yeah I think MC got cheated by fate out of their repeat.

There are so many things we missed this year. :(
 
2007 5A Quarterfinals

Kaneland 52
Sterling 45
2 OT

i was there too. have that game on CD. the 2 pt conversion the knights converted to send the game to OT still boggles my mind. from my angle (i was about 30 feet away from that play on the sideline) i was 100% sure that the shs player in coverage was going to either intercept the pass or easily knock it away. how it got through to the receiver is a mystery.
 
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Best game I ever covered was LW-MS - seeing the ball hit the cross bar and bounce over was pretty awesome. Would’ve been more excited if I could have felt my hands and feet.

LZ-Warren in 2017. 41-34 in OT. Warren tied it on a Hail Mary that made ESPN top 10.

Prospect-BG in the playoffs 17-16 Knights win on way to state title.

Carmel -Mt Carmel state quarters game - MTc won on way to a state Title. The mysterious block in the Back on a punt return by Adam Oerschlein - when Bitto asked for a number the official said - “I don’t know but it was some guy over there.”

Minooka-Barrington second round game - Indians score on an odd guard eligible pass play to win it I believe in OT. Was a brutally cold night
The still toast to Derek Wentworth out here in Channahon/Minooka area.....just another example of the brilliance of the John Belskis/Terry McCombs school of coaching.
 
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