Leading With Competition, Not Covid: "It's working. Things are back to normal."
The 2020-21 sports season unlike any other concludes the way it should, with the crowning of champions
(Photo Credit: The Record North Shore)
Loyola Academy was minutes away from closing out Lake Forest in the Illinois High School Association boys lacrosse state championship game Saturday afternoon.
The Ramblers, trailing 6-3 at halftime, had stormed back to score eight second half goals.
As the clock ticked down on an eventual 11-8 Loyola Academy victory at Morris Field in Arlington Heights, a representative of the Ramblers operations staff, standing near the team’s sideline, checked his phone and shot a glance across the field towards the student section of the almost full capacity stands.
Before the fourth period had begun, the public address announcer issued the following edict through the stadium speakers:
“No spectators are allowed on the field following the conclusion of the game.”
The announcer repeated the decree multiple times.
I stood in the same general vicinity as the Rambler administrator. From a football field away, we both saw the same thing—a sea of students dressed in white, making all sorts of noises, boisterous and ready to party.
Keeping them from jumping the fence at the conclusion of the game? Not going to happen.
“There’s nothing I can do,” said the Maroon-clad representative. “This isn’t our field.”
The resignation in his voice at the possible violation of the PA’s order reflected the collective mood and atmosphere on the sun-splashed afternoon in Arlington Heights.
Forget the worrying over Covid. It’s time for a celebration of life.
There has never been a 48 hours in Illinois youth athletics history quite like what took place last week.
On June 17, 18 and 19, eight sports—baseball, softball, boys/girls lacrosse, boys/girls track and field, girls soccer, boys volleyball—played their state championships. Never before have so many high school sports simultaneously shared the same Championship Day or played it in such close proximity.
We all know the reason—Gov. JB Pritzker and his public health valets forced the compression of the seasons and the frantic nature of their conclusions.
But a year removed from a complete white wash of the spring due to Covid, the seasons were played and finished.
“It took a lot of patience. It took a lot of being flexible and being able to move and change,” Illinois High School Association Assistant Executive Director Matt Troha said. “We certainly changed our postseason the way we normally do.”
In a year defined by agility and nimbleness, the location of the boys and girls lacrosse state tournament represented another example of adeptness-in-motion—2021 was the third year of a three-year contract the IHSA had with Hinsdale Central High School to host the tournament. But ongoing construction at the school forced them to bow out of hosting responsibilities. Troha put feelers out for a replacement hosts and representatives from Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South High Schools in Northbrook and Glenview offered to take the girls tournament while St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights said it could handle the boys.
The June 11 removal of capacity restrictions for outdoor events in the state proved to be optimal timing for lacrosse. Participating schools were well-represented at all games. At Saturday’s boys final, the Morris Field grandstands were almost completely full, nary a social distance or mask in sight.
Before Loyola Academy and Lake Forest met for the state title, the third place game was played between two newcomers to the state tournament, York High School (Elmhurst) and Chicago Academy (Wheaton).
York won the game and after water-bucketing its coach, Don Canfield, the Dukes moved the victory festival to an open grass field adjacent to the main turf one.
Canfield, the Dukes coach for 13 seasons, said the community has always had a robust feeder program, with high participation numbers in lacrosse. For a mostly DuPage County school, sandwiched between Interstates 355, 290 and 88, to get to a state tournament in a sport dominated for decades by I-94 and Northern Cook County stalwarts New Trier and Loyola Academy, first it had to avoid playing the Trevians and Ramblers (they did).
In the Season of Covid, the Dukes had to be doubly fortunate and dodge Covid-related contact tracing and quarantine protocols (they did).
“Luckily, we did not (have quarantine cases),” Canfield said. “Some schools in our conference taking two weeks off to quarantine to start the season once you start playing games was tough. We were lucky not to have to deal with that.”
The post game photo stream went on for well over 30 minutes, Canfield asked to pose for picture after picture. Like the interviewer, he couldn’t help but notice the wall of affection surrounding him—the shoulder squeezes, cheek smooches or just plain old-fashioned hugs.
No hesitancy. Only a devotion to well, open expressions of devotion.
“I’m so happy we are at a point now where we can do these things and celebrate together,” Canfield said. “We can feel good about things and give kids hugs at the end of the game.”
On the back of the jersey of each Loyola Academy player are printed the initials “AMDG.”
It’s a Latin acronym (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) that when translated to English, means “For the Greater Glory of God.”
Being a Jesuit school, it should not be all that surprising Loyola Academy athletes would wear a uniform signifying such a phrase.
At halftime against Lake Forest, trailing 6-3, there was no mention of God’s spirit to lift the Ramblers out of their listless play.
Instead, they referred to another expression when searching for answers.
“Our halftime motto was ‘survive the assault and work the cut,’ Ramblers junior Connor Ditomasso said.
“(It means) we’re going to put a cut in this team and we are going to keep hitting them and that cut is going to open up and they are going to bleed,” junior goalie Alex Feuer said. “And that’s what happened.”
Within 22 seconds of the second half the Ramblers scored twice. It almost proved prophetic the words of head coach Rob Snyder, who told his players as they were emerging from halftime that they would score three times in 30 seconds.
“We go out there, stick two (goals) and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that!’” Snyder said. “Luck, no wisdom.”
Lake Forest remained in the lead, 7-6, as the fourth quarter began. The Scouts, making their first appearance in the state tournament since the IHSA began sponsoring boys lacrosse in 2018, got to the state title game behind a suffocating defense and an offense built around stick virtuoso Richie Hoskins, a multi-talented senior midfielder.
Hoskins scored five goals, never once being knocked to the ground by a Ramblers defender. But over the game’s final period, the Ramblers neutralized Hoskins by encircling him with multiple defenders, and most importantly, winning 50/50 ground balls and holding possession.
When Loyola Academy junior Will Majeras scored to tie the game at seven with 11:17 left, momentum clearly shifted in favor of the Ramblers. Four more goals came next and Lake Forest could not survive the Ramblers assault. It was the type of punch thrown by a program with annual championship expectations.
“That’s something we talked about. About the jersey you are wearing, to think about what Loyola means,” Snyder said. “You’ve played in front of big crowds and pressure. Just another game for you guys.”
Ditomasso, the shaggy-haired midfielder, matched Hoskins with five goals. He and his Ramblers teammates add a second state title trophy in the state tournament’s four years of existence.
Watching that 2018 Ramblers team win a trophy as an eighth grader attending Latin School in Chicago, Ditomasso never could have imagined the bumpy road to this state championship, the life sacrifices made, the constant warnings from public health policymakers about a virus virtually of no risk to his age group.
“We took it upon ourselves to be like ‘we have to be really smart about this and this is our time of year.’ No stupid stuff,” Ditomasso said. “I love how we’ve come so far from Covid.”
Snyder said his team avoided the contact quarantines that plagued so many spring sport teams. One proactive move?
Shrink the road schedule (three games total away from home) and eliminate bus rides.
“We can only put 21 (kids) on the bus. We have 38 to 40 (on the roster) so we’d have to take two busses,” Snyder said. “With the contact tracing, what if something happens and someone gets sick? We didn’t want to take the risk.”
Upperclassmen/lowerclassmen carpools became the norm along with parents driving their non-licensed sons to games. Snyder admitted he preferred the new system to the old.
Long after the Ramblers had won, most of the victory party dispatched to the parking lot and off to celebratory gatherings, Snyder handed the championship trophy over to assistant coach Brian Rynes (“I have to get this out of my hands”) and had one more thing to say about the season, about the past 15 months.
“All the self-isolating, all the locker room stuff is bad for them. The Zooms, the not interacting with other kids. It’s ridiculous. They need to get in these classrooms, they need to get in these locker rooms and be with other kids. Just self-isolating, standing six feet apart. The mental part of it, it’s so bad for these kids,” Snyder said. “Enough is enough.”
Of course, Snyder is right. A final requiem on the impact of lockdowns, masking, quarantines and hyperactive testing won’t be written for several years.
But as I’ve written about for almost a year, sports, youth sports in particular, can lead the way back.
Saturday, not just Saturday but Friday, Thursday and all of the completed state series this spring, free of public health interruptions and delays, can be a turning point to full-time, no restrictive #ReturnToPlay and #ReturnToLearn.
“As you look at how these events are playing out…it’s working. Things are back to normal,” Troha said. “We have precautions for those who want to take it. But this shows that by fall we should be playing sports on a normal schedule and that’s our plan.”
The post-game handshakes complete, one question remained to be answered.
Would the victorious student section remain compliant to the public address announcer’s warning and not rush the field?
Alas, there would be no drama on this championship afternoon.
After the on-field joyful huddle, Ramblers players next raced to their fans, receiving well-earned shoulder smacks and hand slaps over a fence lining separating the field and spectators.
That’s the one thing I’d change about Saturday.
I wish they hadn’t listened.
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