This past weekend not only did number 1 ranked Stanford get kicked out of the NCAA tournament, but my high school alma mater, number 1 ranked West Aurora (and number 6 in the nation), got their hopes of winning the Illinois state championship nipped in the bud. In 1976 I was at the championship game that West lost at the buzzer. Since then they have won it once and come up short a couple other times. Back then everone was a "rowdie" and everyone cried (or busted up private property) when they lost. I'm sure it is as it was then, an emotional rollercoaster for any westside booster. I am consoled by this amusing bit of home town journalism that followed this years third place winners' very upsetting but noble weekend in Peoria:
Final game overcomes blues from early loss
By Matt Hanley
STAFF WRITER
PEORIA — It's a little bit ridiculous, this high school basketball thing. You finish ahead of 281 other Class AA boys teams in the state, and some people want to call it a disappointment.
You play four games in five days, including a rare doubleheader, and analysts say you didn't do everything you could have.
You win 32 of 34 games, and you've wasted your season.
Yep, ridiculous.
That's what the West Aurora High School faithful had to say to people who suggested they felt anything but proud when the boys basketball team earned the third-place trophy, beating Carbondale 68-50 Saturday night.
"Oh yeah," said Ryan Klinger, a vocal member of the student cheering section before the game. "It's all about pride."
No, it didn't have the ring of state champions, but, for the "rowdies" who packed the southeast corner of Peoria's Carver Arena, third place was nothing to hang their red and blue painted heads about.
"I feel badly for the boys," said Barbara Biddle, a West fan who traveled from St. Charles for the weekend's games. "I think kids today think they have to be first. I guess they're no different than kids before them. But they did such a great job out there." "You get this far down the road, and there's not much difference between the teams," said her husband, Max. "It's just the way the ball bounces."
After beating Hoffman Estates 47-42 on Friday to advance to the trophy round of the state tournament, the Blackhawks lost a physical and emotional 58-46 game to Homewood Flossmoor in the semi-finals Saturday afternoon.
Ahead by a point at the end of the third quarter, the eventual runner-up Vikings pulled away with a pressing defense that hurried the West team and deflated the West fans.
"I came down here thinking we were going all the way," said West freshman Caroline Dornfeld, repeating an often-used phrase after West dropped the first game. "At least we didn't lose on Friday, I guess."
Fans were almost surprised to find they wouldn't get the marquee match-up they had been envisioning all week: No. 1 West Aurora vs. No. 2 Peoria Central for the title. Instead, the West squad was going to play in the third-place game — less than two hours after losing their shot at the championship.
At that point, the mood outside the arena was dismal. Cheerleaders cried, players' parents wept, and fans looked for someone to receive the finger-pointing. "I admit that we played bad," said Chuck Gust, a junior. "But the refs made some bad calls."
To most West fans waiting, it just didn't seem the team could recover to beat the Terriers from Southern Illinois by the 6:30 p.m. tip-off. After all, Carbondale had been resting longer, and the Blackhawks were spent emotionally and physically. Their fans were on the verge of giving up. The whole thing seemed, well, ridiculous.
"It's good, I guess," said a discouraged Eileen Amone, a junior, referring to the also-ran game. "But we were expecting to come home as champions."
Yet something happened when West Aurora stepped back on the floor. The Blackhawk seats weren't empty; they were packed. The student cheering section — nicknamed the "rowdies" — wasn't despondent; they were as loud as ever, ready to give their senior-led team a big send-off.
And the players obliged. Jaeh Thomas threw in 24 points, including some shots from distances that were, well, ridiculous. All-Stater Shaun Pruitt powered in 12 of his own to finish with 50 for the weekend.
And suddenly, West had opened up an almost 30-point lead with dunks, no-look passes and fans screaming.
Each of the players — and the seven seniors in particular — were given a standing ovation as they came off the court and got to hear their names chanted syl-la-ble by syl-la-ble one last time.
Yes, it's a little bit ridiculous, this high school basketball thing — pinning the hopes of half a city on the fortunes of 15 teenagers still dealing with pimples and prom dates. But sometimes — and this weekend in Peoria was one of those times for West Aurora — being a little ridiculous is just the right thing for everybody.
"There's so much hassles, there's so much rumors and gossip in high school," senior Ashley Doyle said. "But when it comes to this, all that stops. It's all about the game.
"It's intense. That's all I can say — it's intense."