NOVEMBER REIGN

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A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL LOVE LETTER

8 min readNov 27, 2014

Nothing Lasts Forever, even cold November Rain

This is the fifth, and final installment in a series of 5 photo essays that explore a 5-year span of Montini Catholic High School Football. Below are links to the entire series:

Part I — RIVALS
Part II — WOODSTOCK
Part III — ORANGE SKY
Part IV — PROGRAMMED TO WIN
Part V — NOVEMBER REIGN

NOVEMBER REIGN

This essay looks at Montini’s run of late November success, its climb to the top of the IHSA 5A football world, how it got knocked off the mountain-top and found itself within an arms reach of regaining the crown.

So, one last time…join me, if you will, as we take a look at ‘November Reign’ and close-out this photo-essay series.

Q: What epic love letter or swan song doesn’t include a little heartbreak? Or an orchestra or desolate shirtless guitar solo or a wedding or a funeral?

THE STREAK

King of the Mountain

Since 2009 the Montini Catholic Broncos have practiced on 6 consecutive Thanksgivings. So, we’re gonna talk a little bit about practice…yes, practice. But not just ANY kind of practice.

Alumni & Family have made Montini Catholic football practice a part of thier Thanksgiving Day tradition, here in 2013

This is a special day of practice, reserved for special teams. Taken out of context, most parents/families would be a bit annoyed to have to send their kids to practice on Thanksgiving morning — but around Montini it’s become a tradition. For the schools that are members of the IHSA, to be crowned champions in football, it’s a necessity to practice on this day of thanks.

It’s a practice that is as symbolic as it is practical.

Here’s just a handful of other streaks that Montini Catholic can lay claim to:

22 Consecutive Playoff Appearances (‘93-’14)
24 Consecutive Playoff Wins (28–1 over last 6 post-seasons)
6 Consecutive Semifinals Games (‘09-’14)
6 Consecutive Thanksgiving Practices (‘09-’14 — 2 indoors, 4 outdoors, 327 donuts consumed, 267 cups of coffee, 93 cups of hot chocolate)
6 Consecutive Trips to State (‘09-’14)
4 Consecutive 5A State Titles (‘09-’13)

Over the past 6 seasons the Broncos are 28–1 in the playoffs. In consecutive state title games Montini Catholic defeated Joliet Catholic Academy, Glenwood Academy, Joliet Catholic Academy (again) and Morris, respectively.

That single, lone playoff loss came in November of 2013 in DeKalb, IL. Sacred Heart Griffin dethroned the Broncos and denied them their 5th consecutive 5A State Championship.

In the time that has elapsed from 2009 to 2014, Montini went from ‘Shock the World’ underdogs to ‘Back to Back’ to ‘3-Peat’ to ‘#4PEAT’ to the stalled ‘Drive for 5'…but ever resilient, they’re back in Champaign (2014 IHSA 5A State Championship) and have a chance to dethrone the very team that ended their streak just one year prior.

A NEW STREAK?

Knocked Off the Mountain

I had a 5-year run photographing Montini football that started with the first game of the 2009 season and ended with the last game of the 2013 season.

The first game was against Sacred Heart Griffin at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. The last game was against Sacred Heart Griffin at Huskie Stadium at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL.

Sacred Heart Griffin was victorious on both accounts. This was the only oppositional losing streak I was subject to while photographing the Broncos (they did lose back to back games to 8A powerhouse Loyola Academy in 2010 & 2011, but I did not photograph the 2011 game).

Although this losing streak was separated by 69 games, it was an appropriate way to bookend my photographic efforts. As a fan & former Montini Bronco it was terribly disappointing and heartbreaking. But as a photographer and seeker of story, after all the success and championships, it was sort of poetic.

If poetry is not your thing, than how bout you try on this Matthew McConaughey “time-is-a-flat-circle” scenario…

Since that first game I photographed, nearly 6 years have passed and Montini Catholic’s playoff opponents are 1–28 against the Broncos

The program, on the whole, is a far cry from the ‘underdog’ year of 2009…having won 4 of its 5 state titles in that time.

Though, a case could be made that they have come full-circle and again they find themselves playing the role of underdog against the undefeated, defending State Champions from Sacred Heart Griffin.

And now we sit here amidst Thanksgiving week…awaiting the Saturday’s rematch.

Will we see poetic justice?
a Redemption Song?
Or will we see a team begin a new streak?

a continued streak of loses to Sacred Heart Griffin and a streak of 2nd place finishes.

RISE

WHY DO WE FALL?

In Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy various characters, throughout the three movies, utter the question above. Likewise, several characters respond with a resilient:

So that we may learn to pick ourselves up.

A handful of scenes throughout the movies echo this theme of response, persistence and perseverance. It is Bruce Wayne’s father, Thomas, that imparts this knowledge to his son after Bruce falls into a well.

After Thomas Wayne is murdered, this mantra is carried on by Alfred, the butler, and plays out in classic Hollywood form in the final chapter of the trilogy as Bruce Wayne, after being captured, desperately spends his time time sulking and feeling sorry for himself.

After many physical and mental trials he rises from the bowels of a secluded prison by scaling a rock wall, risking imminent death to save Gotham City from burning to the ground at the hands of the villainous Bane.

We all fall, but falling isn’t so much about the fall. It’s about how we respond to the fall, it’s about how many times you can take a hit, get knocked down and keep moving forward (Rocky).

So you can ask yourself: Spend my time feeling sorry for myself or risk it all, lay everything on the line and climb my way back to the top? Those are your choices.

It’s in one’s control to bounce back.

So ask yourself again: