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| Semper Tigris |
A reproduction of the two-part feature I wrote for US Sports Down Under.
In the
sometimes complicated tapestry of American sports, (and despite the incredible Friday Night Lights movie and then
television series and the brilliant book on which the TV series was based) the
tradition and importance of high school football is somewhat forgotten, when
judged alongside immense college football stadiums and the twenty-four-seven
media blanketing that is so much a part of the National Football League.
Beyond the
semi-serious peewee football, gridiron competition at the high school level is
seen as the first real stepping stone to the NFL – and very much the proving
ground for future college stars. You have to impress in high school to get a
college scholarship, in order to impress in college, catch the eye of NFL
scouts, and be drafted to play in the biggest sporting league anywhere in the
world.
In both
small towns and big cities across the vastness of the United States of America,
even with the encroachment of major college football onto it’s spiritual turf,
Friday nights are traditionally reserved for high school football. As much a
communal event in small communities as anything else, high school football is a
serious business. For schools and fans, it’s bragging rights for one town over
another. For the young men on the field, it’s their first chance at big-time
sport, and, perhaps, the beginning of a long career.
Week after
week during late summer and into the crispness of fall, crowds in their
thousands (and, sometimes, tens of thousands) flock to high school stadiums to
watch kids no older than eighteen battle for gridiron supremacy as winter
beckons. As hard as it is to believe for
most Australians, it is not uncommon for top tier high school programs in those
incredibly football-rich states – Texas, Florida, Southern California and
across the Midwest – to attract more fans to their games than some professional
sporting contests in Australia do.
Also
present at every game is a heavy media contingent, from newspapers with a
circulation of millions and local TV affiliates that reach similar numbers over
the air. Games are broadcast live or on near-to-live tape delay. It’s a far cry
from, at best, an hour’s worth of highlights of schoolboy rugby league early on
a Saturday morning that we get in Australia. Add to that, the oft-heavy
presence of scouts from college programs big and small, and there’s a serious
weight of expectation on those playing under the Friday night lights.
With that
sharp focus, the stars of the game are elevated to a pedestal unlike any that
our high school athletes could comprehend. The very best are as well-known and
media-savvy as professional athletes here. Imagine a crowd of more than ten
thousand attending your high school’s rugby league or AFL game, and throw in a
sizeable bunch of reporters and TV crews there to track and document every
minute of action. For Australians, such attention is completely unheard of, and
the sort of pressure that comes with live or near-live television coverage is a
completely foreign concept to us – but attending a game, with all it’s
impressive pageantry, is perhaps the most American experience a visitor could
have. For better or worse, there’s simply nothing else like it in the world of
sport.
When it
comes to big-time programs in the state of Illinois, the Tigers of Wheaton Warrenville South – Semper Tigris; always a Tiger – is an oft-mentioned name. A
long-time state superpower from the suburbs of Chicago, the Tigers have had
incredible success over the last quarter-century, bringing home seven State
Championships and finishing State runner-up on a further four occasions. In
twenty-five years, the Tigers have made the State semi-final game fourteen
times, losing only three times.
Consider,
if you will, the fact that a mere 32 of the 544 teams make the State semifinals
each year, and you get the idea of the sort of talent-laden program that
Wheaton Warrenville South has. Indeed, some of the biggest stars of their
program have gone on not just to FBS college football programs but also to the
grandest stage of all, the National Football League.
In the last
twenty-five years, Wheaton Warrenville South also boasts enviable winning
percentage of 82% (256 wins to just 56 losses). It’s a testament to their
ability to reload year after year. As if that’s not enough, three Tigers have
won the prestigious Gatorade (Illinois) State Player of the Year award: QB Jon
Beutjer in 1998, RB Dan Dierking in 2006 and QB Reilly O’Toole in 2010.
The
program’s most famous alum is Harold Edward ‘Red’ Grange, “The Galloping
Ghost”, the man whose name adorns the impressively state-of-the-art field where
Wheaton Warrenville South play their games. Grange, a halfback in the 1920s and
1930s, was a 2-time NFL champion with the Chicago Bears and his #77 jersey has
been retired by the Bears and the University of Illinois Fighting Illinois. He
was a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of
Fames. He was named the greatest college football player of all time by ESPN
and, in 2011, was named the Greatest Big Ten Icon by the Big Ten Network.
There is plenty
of gridiron excellence for the current-day Tigers to live up to. Expectations
are therefore high – astronomically so – for Wheaton Warrenville South each
time they put on the pads and helmet. Their biggest regular season fixtures
attract crowds of between nine and ten thousand fans at Red Grange Field forcing
literally thousands to cram in along the fences, because there simply aren’t
enough grandstands, and they have featured most recently in
nationally-televised games on the sports media juggernaut from Bristol,
Connecticut: ESPN2 in 2011 and ESPNU in 2010.
Himself a
State Championship-winning quarterback in high school, the 2013 season marks
Matthew Alley’s sixth year of coaching Wheaton Warrenville South’s signal
callers under Head Coach Ron Muhitch. The former starting quarterback for
Division III Washington University of St Louis has coached or played in more
than half of the Tigers’ recent success, their run of eleven State
Championships of the modern era.
Coach Alley
sat down with US Sports Down Under and helped us lift the lid, not only on the
Tigers program, but on the mystery and allure of high school football itself.
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| Coach Matthew Alley |
High School
Football 101
High school football is very important to
America, particularly in the small towns that dot the landscape. Can you put
your finger on exactly why?
It is truly
a community event. Kids (especially
boys) grow up attending games with their dads and friends in their youth league
jersey, dreaming of one day playing on that stage. For the few that have the talent and work
ethic, they have their time in the spotlight.
Several of those alums will come back and watch a few games each
year. Additionally, there are tons of
fans that have never had children in the football program that will regularly
attend games and root very hard for their home high school.
Are there any rule differences between high
school and college/pro football?
Not
many. High school football has
twelve-minute quarters (college/pro have fifteen-minute quarters). The only other rule difference is essentially
a "slaughter rule" whereby if a team is up at least 40 points in the
2nd half, the clock continues to run through all normal stoppages
Do players generally play both offense and
defense?
It depends
on the size of the school and the coaches' philosophy. Wheaton Warrenville South are at the
second-highest level of football in Illinois in enrollment – which has actually
been traditionally the strongest class in terms of football. Our coaches
believe strongly in "platoon football" where players either play
offense or defense.
There are
some programs that will regularly play their best players "both
ways", but we are not one of them.
A few reasons why:
- Players are able to perfect their craft practicing only one position all year.
- We believe our kids won't tire as much as a team playing kids "both ways”.
- The risk of injury is lessened.
- Platoon football allows more players to see regular playing time.
What is the structure of the season?
All
Illinois high school football teams (currently 544 teams) play 9 regular season
football games. Most schools are in a
conference, which accounts for 4-7 of their games annually. WWS plays in the
DuPage Valley Conference, which, traditionally, is one of the strongest
conferences in Illinois. Teams play 7
games in conference after 2 non-conference games.
At the end
of the season, the top 256 teams make the playoffs. Those teams are decided in order by (1)
number of wins and (2) playoff points - number of wins that your 9 opponents had
that season. Once the top 256 teams are
chosen, they are ranked by enrollment (1A is smallest and 8A is largest) and 8
32 team brackets are made using the same seeding criteria as is used for the
choosing of the playoff field.
Essentially, most teams that go 5-4 make the playoffs. 6-3, 7-2, 8-1 and 9-0 guarantees a playoff
spot. No 4-5 teams make the
playoffs.
What is the offensive identity of the Tigers?
Pass-first or run-first?
We very
much tailor our offensive schemes to suit our personnel. The past three years, we've been anywhere
between 60-70% run. But, in the years
previous to that, we had very strong passing games and were 50/50 or maybe even
more pass. We also tailor our run/pass
balance to the defense that we're playing and the situations of the game.
What defensive scheme do the Tigers run?
We run a
4-3 (4 linemen and 3 linebackers). It is
very similar to the normal 4-3 defense that you'll see run by NFL and college
teams. Our secondary varies their pass
coverage routinely to try to cause confusion.
How many players, in total, on your team’s
roster?
On the
varsity team, there are approximately 70 players. They are all juniors and seniors. Sometimes, a sophomore is called up if they
are ready to play varsity level football.
Players that do not play on Friday nights will play in a junior varsity
game on Saturday mornings. There is also
a sophomore and freshman team that will both play "A" and
"B" games.
Explain how recruiting for high school football
works.
As a public
school, there is no recruiting. Wheaton Warrenville South can only field a team
with players that live within the boundaries of the school. Private schools (who are not restricted to
players only in their boundary area) are able to field a team with all players
that enroll in the school and pay tuition.
Illinois does not allow recruiting, although it is very difficult to
monitor as transferring from school to school is very common.
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| WWS South Tigers at Red Grange Field |
Tiger Pride – Semper Tigris
Who is Wheaton Warrenville South’s biggest
rival?
Historically,
our biggest rival is our crosstown Wheaton North Falcons. We have had a leg up on them, winning 25 of
the last 27 contests. Our most recent
biggest rival is Glenbard West (from Glen Ellyn, which is adjacent to Wheaton)
who we beat in the 2009 State Championship in double overtime and in the 2010
quarterfinals. In 2011, we started a
series playing the first game of the year against them. We lost in 2011 and 2012 and won in
2013.
What are some of WWS’ football traditions?
- Service Day during the summer - volunteering somewhere in the community
- Wearing jerseys to school on Fridays during the season
- Sophomore team making a tunnel for the varsity team to run through before the game
- One of the best defensive players wears #31 to honor a great linebacker that has suffered from a severe illness for the past 2 decades.
- After school ends on Fridays during the football season, the principal plays our fight song "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor over the intercom for the whole school to hear
- The student section forms a tunnel for the players after home games, win or lose.
Does Wheaton Warrenville South have an annual
homecoming game? What are some of the homecoming traditions? What other
traditions does the school have?
During the
annual homecoming game, a homecoming court is named and introduced during the
game, a pep rally before the football game, class reunions (10, 20 and 25
year), School hall of Fame inductees are announced and presented during the
game, and there is a dance for the current students.
In recent years, you’ve seen a number of your
players commit to major FBS schools, and one has even graduated to the NFL.
Tell us about them.
In my six
years of coaching, six players have gotten full scholarships to FBS (formerly
D1A) schools, though many others have walked on at FBS schools, or played at a
lower level.
Currently, Reilly
O'Toole is a quarterback, and started games for the University of Illinois
Fighting Illini in 2011; Dan Vitale is the Northwestern Wildcat’s starting
tight end/super-back under legendary coach Pat Fitzgerald; Titus Davis is a Wide
Receiver at Central Michigan; and Corey Davis is a Wide Receiver at Western
Michigan. Every starting quarterback I've coached has played in college at one
level or another.
Recently,
Tony Moeaki, a tight end from Wheaton Warrenville South, who played for the
Iowa Hawkeyes in college, was drafted into the NFL and played for the Kansas
City Chiefs, though injuries have plagued his promising career.
Tell us about the summertime football clinic
you run that features some of those ex-Tiger players?
The clinic
was designed as a way to raise important funds for an organization in Rwanda which
provides shelter, food, water, education and healthcare for under-privileged kids,
most of whom have unfortunately been orphaned, losing their parents to the atrocious
genocide that occurred in Rwanda in the mid-1990’s.
Ex-players
and current coaches, both from Wheaton Warrenville South and other schools in
the area come out to volunteer their time.
We provide coaching for youth football players, with the added benefit
of the kids being able to meet current college football players.
Bring us up to date on Wheaton Warrenville’s
season 2013.
After a
down year (4-5 and only the second time in the last twenty-four years that WWS
missed the playoffs), we had low expectations from those outside the program
and were ranked in the 20's in the state by most publications. We started the season playing against 3
opponents that were ranked in the top 10 in the state. We won all three in close fashion. We beat #2 Glenbard West 17-14, #6 Maine
South 28-13 and #8 Wheaton North 17-13.
We are currently ranked #5 in the state after the three upsets in a
row.
After a blowout victory in the
fourth game of the season, we remain undefeated at 4-0.
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