November 17, 2017—Will Maine South’s 34-31 victory over Lincoln-Way East fifty-three weeks ago matter on Saturday? Will the Griffins’ 28-26 victory over the Hawks eleven weeks ago matter Saturday? The lessons learned from those games will matter, but the effort, the decisions, the plays that were made, nothing from those games will matter at all. Saturday’s game is its own chapter in a rivalry between two programs that thrive on winning.
In August of this year, Maine South allowed me to spend a few hours photographing a practice. A couple of days earlier, I had photographed Marist and Loyola Academy, and I covered LWE enough last year to know what they had returning. It was easy to see the reigning 8A state champion had the players needed to defend their title—Fotis Kokosioulis, Cam Stacy, Thomas Yager, and an at that point untested quarterback named John O’Sullivan—but I remember saying to coach Inserra, “I don’t know how anyone wins a state championship in this class.” Coach Inserra didn’t say a word, his expression never changed, he just kept coaching his players.
Over the course of the 2017 season, I’ve photographed eight of LWE’s games. I remember the heat of August when the Griffins opened the season with a victory over Crete-Monee. I arrived early—three hours before game time—when East marched down Lincoln Highway to defeat Central. I covered my cameras in rain gear the night the Griffins rolled Lockport, and I dressed warmly a week ago when Oswego brought a one-loss team to town and left with a two-loss team. The word that I would use to describe the Griffins is FOCUSED. As I have pored over the thousands of photographs I’ve shot of this team, the one quality I see in every photo is focus.
Saturday’s game between East and South should be an incredible contest. These are two great teams with great coaches. These athletes love to compete. And the winner. . . the winner moves on.
AC photo 22 