|
Thursday,
November 28, 2002
BHS ready for title game
By Rebecca Loda
Pantagraph staff
BLOOMINGTON -- The Bloomington High School Purple Raiders
will be well-represented on and off the field Saturday when the football
team takes on Chicago Mount Carmel for the Class 6A state championship in
Champaign.
Plenty of school spirit was on display Wednesday afternoon at a brief,
but emotional, pep rally in the school's gym.
Before he introduced the football team to a roaring crowd, teacher and
assistant athletic director Doug Jordan predicted BHS will give the
Chicago school "the fight of their lives."
"Everybody knows Mount Carmel is supposed to be so good," Ryan
Pankey, one of the team's captains, told students and faculty.
"Well, Mount Carmel doesn't know about the Raiders and the fans, and
the support and energy you give us to beat anybody."
"We want you there to make sure we push through," head coach
Rigo Schmelzer said.
Senior Brittany Moore, like many others, wore a "Raider
Pride" T-shirt but said she's never worn the school's purple and
gold colors before Wednesday.
"I'm really proud of the team," she said. "This is our
senior year, so it's really cool for us."
Senior football player Chad Olson agreed spirits are high. There are
banners in the school and plenty of purple and gold cars in the parking
lots.
"It's probably the most it's ever been since I've been
here," he said. "It seems everybody's talking about it."
Olson broke his collarbone during the team's second playoff game. But
that has not stopped him or his family from cheering on the team.
"I'm still supporting that team," said his mother, Kathy
Olson. "I'm at every game."
She and other proud parents have shown support all season, and this
weekend will prove no different. Olson and parent Jana Bishop said
parents will meet to decorate cars at BHS before forming a caravan for
the drive to Champaign on Saturday. The game starts at 10 a.m.
There also will be a hospitality tent on the grounds of Memorial
Stadium, and parents and fans are arranging a tailgate. A post-game
reception is planned for 3:30 p.m. Saturday at BHS.
Pep Club sponsor Carol Rozboril said the club has ordered 800 50-inch purple
and gold "spirit balloons" for the crowd. The Booster Club, she
said, has donated face tattoos, and the Pep Club will also meet at 7:45
a.m. Saturday morning in the BHS parking lot to decorate cars before the
game.
"Everybody I've talked to is going," Rozboril said.
Bishop's son, Adam, is a junior on the football team, and she expects
that younger brothers Will and Tyler will follow in his footsteps.
"They play all sorts of sports, but there's just something about
football at Bloomington," she said.
Bishop and others said BHS fans have outnumbered "home team"
fans before. She expects a large contingent to travel to Saturday's game.
"I expect we'll have a full house," she said. "It's
something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives."
|