Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Giant killer O'Fallon has another big task in facing East St. Louis

ISHA says host schools are in charge of sidelines

O'Fallon High football coach Brandon Joggerst called it the biggest home playoff win in school history.

Everyone else in O'Fallon is still searching for adjectives to wrap around an improbable 17-16 Class 7A second-round victory last Friday over heavily favored Lincoln-Way East.

"The scoreboard was still on Saturday night when I drove by -- and that was good to see," said Joggerst, whose 8-3 team has another mountain to climb on Saturday against Southwestern Conference rival East St. Louis (9-2). "As far as home playoff wins, since I've been here for 15 years, I think it's definitely the biggest one we've had.

"To beat a No. 1 seed and a team not too many people gave us a shot to beat, that was a tremendous win."

This is O'Fallon's fourth trip to the quarterfinals, also reaching that level in 1987 and 1989 (losing both times to Peoria Richwoods) and in 2004 (losing to Chicago Morgan Park). Meanwhile, East St. Louis is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its phenomenal 1989 national championship team and aiming for a seventh state title.

"Lincoln-Way East had a great tradition and our kids didn't know much about that," Joggerst said, "but they definitely know about East Side."

O'Fallon is about to play a third postseason game despite scoring only one offensive touchdown in the playoffs. Defense and special teams provided the other three.

"What are the chances of that?" asked Joggerst, whose team took advantage of five Lincoln-way East turnovers on Friday and also got a 67-yard interception return for a touchdown by B.J. Hendrix. "We have great confidence in our defense and they've been outstanding."

So have the Flyers, who dealt with an injury to star running back Courtney Molton by getting big-time performances from others. Darius Stewart had 199 yards and three TDs in a 48-20 second-round win over Minooka, while Jeremy Nicholson had 174 yards and two TDs in a 50-43 win over Bradley-Bourbonnais.

On the sidelines

One of the sidebars to Mater Dei's 35-14 second-round Class 4A playoff victory Friday over Freeburg that had Internet message boards and fans buzzing was the presence of a former coach, currently coaching another team that didn't make the playoffs, on Mater Dei's sideline.

When Mater Dei's offensive coordinator was ejected in the third quarter after officials flagged the bench for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, the coach walked to the far side of Mater Dei's bench and appeared to have a playsheet in his hands, but did not actually don a headset or call any plays.

Dave Gannaway, assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association in charge of football, said Monday no violations were committed. He said it's up to the host school to police the sidelines as they see fit at all their home games.

"The host administration has a responsibility for taking care of the sidelines, not the IHSA or the officials," Gannaway said. "They have the responsibility for checking the sideline passes on who's there, as well as keeping the media and everybody back behind the restraining line."

Gannaway was among the 2,300 fans who attended the game. He watched the first half of O'Fallon's 17-16 upset of Lincoln Way-East, then caught the second half of the Freeburg-Mater Dei game.

"I'm just going on what I see from the 40-plus games I see around the state each season, but I think there should be a whole lot stricter sideline policies in place, not from my behalf, but from the behalf of school's running their own sidelines," Gannaway said. "During the regular season, sometimes I see parents and graduates and people on the sidelines and wonder why they are letting these people out there. All they're asking for is trouble. Put them behind the fence or the wire.

"People think it's a status that you get the right to be able to be on the sideline. They think it's a status, but what it becomes is an administrator's nightmare waiting to happen."

On the subject of coaches not in the playoffs offering assistance to schools that are, Gannaway said it happens a lot and depends whether they are certified and the school has approved them.

"The one thing you have to remember is, do I think it's right? No, I don't think it's right, but we have a lot of pole-vault coaches that coach at two different schools," Gannaway said. "We have specialization and they're hired at two different places to coach. If an opposing coach is on the sideline, there's nothing that can stop him unless the host administration keeps him off."

Native son

Nashville's next Class 3A playoff opponent, 11-0 Tolono Unity near Champaign, is coached by Roxana High graduate Scott Hamilton.

Hamilton's teams are an incredible 144-32 since 1994 with a pair of second-place finishes. He spent time on the staff of Belleville West coach Ric Johns when Johns was at Hardin Calhoun.