Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

A tale of two towns: Metro-east teams, fans set to face each other

It's playoff time in towns with tradition of champions

About this time every November, old Route 50 in Breese serves as a billboard for the success of Mater Dei’s fall sports teams.

Just north of Clintonian Plaza, 17 wooden volleyballs are stuck in the ground. Each one represents a player, coach or statistician for the Knights, who are in the midst of their latest postseason run.

On the next block adjacent to All Saints Academy, 33 wooden footballs are painted blue and white with names and numbers on them. They symbolize the players on Mater Dei’s football team, which will take on Freeburg at 7 p.m. today in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.

There are other signs of all shapes and sizes around town — on Jamestown Road past Wally’s and Dairy King, around the streets circling North Side Park — that garner plenty of attention.

“A guy came in to the station the other day and he’s like ‘What’s the deal with all the signs around town?’” said Darin Revermann, owner of Revermann’s Shell in Breese. “I’m like ‘It’s a big deal in our town to keep going to the playoffs every year.’”

Revermann’s son, Zac, is a junior center for the 9-1 Knights. Darin Revermann and his wife, Tina, painted both glass doors on his station’s garage in Mater Dei football colors and symbols Tuesday night.

He said many fans are counting down the minutes to today’s clash with the Midgets. There will be a caravan of cars, vans and buses, many with windows soaped and decorated, making the trek to Freeburg from all parts of Clinton County.

Bartleso, Germantown, Aviston, Albers, Carlyle, Beckemeyer, St. Rose, Damiansville, Trenton and New Baden ... it doesn’t matter. Each small town unites for the playoff cause.

“Everybody’s excited about it,” he said. “It’s almost like a college bowl-type atmosphere. A lot of people that come into the station are like ‘Is all this just for high school football?’ We’re like ‘High school football is a pretty big thing around here.’”

It’s become a tradition in Breese for both high schools — Mater Dei and Central — to commemorate the postseason accomplishments of their sports teams with clever signs. And the novelty never seems to wear off.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said first-year Mater Dei football coach Jim Stiebel, who grew up in Belleville and played and later coached at Althoff High. “It’s caught me by surprise. I had no idea it meant that much to them. It means everything to me, too, but you don’t usually see that in a community.

“It means a lot more than in the bigger cities. People just care a little more out here.”

Central’s football team made the playoffs for the fourth time in the last six years, losing to Fairfield in the first round Saturday. The Cougars’ volleyball team has advanced to the state tournament four times this decade, capturing state titles in 2005 and 2007.

This is the sixth straight year Mater Dei has made the football playoffs, and only once (in 2005) have the Knights been eliminated in the first round.

“It would be totally something unexpected if they were not playing in the playoffs,” Darin Revermann said.

After the Knights’ final regular-season game against Newton, many of the parents met at Revermann’s garage to construct the latest batch of signs. Some were recycled from last year’s run, when the Knights advanced the Class 4A semifinals before losing to Bloomington Central Catholic.

Stiebel said the level of parental involvement has taken him aback. The parents organize a tailgate party at North Side Park before every home game, then cook food for the players after its conclusion.

The tailgates have become epic, drawing upwards of 500 people on some occasions.

“There were some friends of mine that brought some of their relatives from Chicago last Friday night will all the mud and the rain, and they just couldn’t believe all the people,” Revermann said. “They were shocked that there’s that many people involved with high-school football.

“Every week for nine weeks, it’s like you have a whole new family. It’s just hard to explain how much fun it is.”

That fun spills over to the volleyball side. After the Knights — who have made 18 trips to the state tournament, winning state titles in 1987, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2001 — knocked off rival Althoff in the Class 3A Centralia Regional, the parents congregated at Warren Strieker’s construction business in Germantown to create the signs.

Strieker’s daughter, Nicole, is a junior setter for the Knights.

Beth Bedard, a well-known volleyball official for 28 years, has a daughter, Sam, who’s a sophomore setter for the Knights. Mater Dei (33-8) beat Mattoon on Thursday in the title match of the Civic Memorial Sectional and are one win away from its 19th strip to state.

“What’s so cool is it’s a new cycle of parents and kids that come through every year, so this never gets old,” Bedard said. “I’m a Mascoutah girl. I didn’t grow up with all this kind of stuff.

“To come and spend my last 20 years in a town that’s so devoted and into the sports that their kids are participating in is overwhelming. It’s very cool.”

***

In Freeburg, the domain of the Midgets doesn’t just extend to the compass points of the city limits.

From Freeburg and Smithton and on out Illinois 15 to Fayetteville and St. Libory, Freeburg High School students, parents and alumni can all lay stake to a proud athletic tradition that’s about to add a few more layers.

It could be a wild weekend for Midget fans.

“The entire community really backs our kids, because on the teams basically there are kids from every town,” said Freeburg native and former Freeburg High volleyball coach Sue Merker, who guided the Midgets to a state volleyball title in 1982. “We’re usually pretty solid as far as our sports teams go. But to get all of these teams in the playoffs has been phenomenal.”

A crowd of more than 2,500 people is expected tonight to watch the Midgets (7-3) plays host to Mater Dei in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

Freeburg advanced with a first-round upset victory on the road last Friday against previously unbeaten Mount Zion, feeding the fire of optimism for another playoff win.

Also adding to the tension is a rematch against Mater Dei. In the regular-season game, Mater Dei held a 35-7 lead before Freeburg used a furious comeback to tie the game 35-35 in the final minutes.

Mater Dei wound up winning 38-35 on a last-second field goal.

“We almost pulled it off the first time, so I really think we have a shot,” said Smithton resident Cheri Becherer, the Midget Athletic Booster Club president and proud mother of a freshman cheerleader and senior soccer player. “That’s what the Midgets name is all about. We’re the little guys that people don’t expect anything out of.

“We’re a little school that just does great things.”

The defending Class 2A state championship Freeburg volleyball team (36-2) knocked off Staunton on Thursday in the Columbia Sectional championship match. That left the Midgets one victory away from another trip to state.

Not to be outdone, the Freeburg boys and girls cross country teams both qualified for the Class 1A state tournament in Peoria on Saturday. Sophomore sisters Kristen Busch and Caitlin Busch are both considered top medalist threats after finishing fourth and seventh, respectively, last season as freshmen.

The school’s rich athletic history has featured success across the board. The baseball team won a state title in 1989 and finished second in 2002, while the 1985 softball team also brought home a state championship.

The Midgets won back-to-back Class A girls track state titles in 2003-04, nailed down volleyball state titles in 1979 and 1982 and even added a state archery crown in 1976.

Many local businesses show their support by painting their windows with good luck slogans, or putting “Go Midgets” messages on their marquees.

Sue Merker’s husband, longtime local sports booster and former American Legion baseball coach Charlie Merker, says that’s what gives the community such a special hometown feel.

“It has grown a little bit, but it still has a really neat small-town flavor and the school has kept its size,” Merker said. “It’s been a great ride this year for sure.”

Scott Weber, co-owner of Mick’s Auto Repair in Freeburg with Milton Weber, painted the shop’s front windows with foot-and-a-half-tall white letters: “GO MIDGETS.”

There is also a nod to the Freeburg cross country and volleyball teams, along with two footballs bearing the numbers 10 and 36. Weber is the father of Camden Weber, No. 10, a sophomore who plays backup quarterback and defensive end for the Midgets. The No. 36 is for his nephew, Ian Weber, a special teams player.

“I do it every year,” Scott Weber said, “because Freeburg always has one team or another in the playoffs. We always try to support our kids. It makes the kids feel good when they see the signs.”

A 1984 Freeburg High graduate, Weber has long bled blue and white for the Midgets.

“We go to every game,” said Weber, who will be in the stands tonight for the football playoff game.

His prediction? A Freeburg win, of course.

“Especially after last week’s big upset,” said Weber, who enjoys getting the occasional “thumbs up” sign or car honks from passing drivers who see his window artwork.

Meckfessel Auto Body in Smithton has a “Go Midgets” sign, as does Gary’s Restaurant and several other local businesses. Other families show their Midget pride with signs in their yards or by using white shoe polish on their car windows.

A school pep assembly is planned for today and senior students from the Midget Madness student section have fun barbecuing before each home game.

The Merkers live close to the high school, so they are only a short walk away from all the sports action.

“If it’s a fall night like this, you can hear the marching band going in,” Charlie Merker said. “That’s a really neat feeling.”