In a show of a real Christian spirit and great sportsmanship, Sacred Heart-Griffin High School welcomed the players, students and fans of the Washington Community High School Panthers to the SHG Athletic Complex on Nov. 23 for the Class 5A playoff semifinal game.
That day, the SHG Cyclones, their school and family members were focused both on football and on bringing a sense of normalcy back to the people of Washington, whose town of 16,000 was devastated by an EF-4 tornado just six days before the big game. Moreover, one of the coaches and nine football players lost their homes in the storm that damaged or destroyed well over 1,000 homes and businesses.
Ken Leonard, SHG football coach and athletic director, said a slew of people worked together to offer transportation, food and financial assistance to the community, which is about 70 miles north of Springfield in the Peoria diocese.
Thanks to donations from SHG, the general community and a number of area businesses, seven buses of fans came to Springfield and between 1,200-1,500 Panther supporters were fed after the game, as were the players and their coaches. Also, before the game, players were provided with the makings for their traditional simple meal — peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
"I put my (football) mothers in charge of the food," Leonard said, noting that Michele Reavy and Anne Dondanville were heading up the "meal team." Reavy and Dondanville have sons who are freshmen and they took over so the mothers of the older players could watch their sons play. All of the food was donated by area businesses.
Additionally, SHG was able to send two trailers filled with bottled water to Washington, and Neuhoff Media collected donations for the devastated community at the gate. Erica Cusumano, director of SHG student marketing and alumni, said, "We appreciate everyone's generosity to the Washington relief fund. They are so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity."
Cusumano said close to $70,000 was collected before and during the game. "Of course, the food was all donated so the money was (first) used to pay for the buses. Whatever is left over will go to Washington."
On Saturday afternoon, Washington fans filled their section of the stadium, many wearing newly-printed orange shirts that read "Washington Strong" in response to the tornado damage. It was the first time in 30 years that their team had advanced so far in the state play-offs.
Of course, an abundance of SHG fans were there as well cheering for their own team, with at least one group that held up a large sign that read "God Bless Washington."
"It's been unbelievable how people have helped out with this tragedy. The whole school has gotten involved and we've had calls from businesses and people all over who wanted to help," said Leonard, who is in his 30th year of coaching at SHG and the former Griffin High School. "Thank God everybody on their team was healthy, so we were very happy about that."
At a press conference after the game, Leonard said he wants his players "to be better men than football players" and noted that they had taken direction from their parents, who "stepped up this week and helped with the situation."
As in any football game, there was a final score — Sacred Heart-Griffin won the game, 44-14. On Saturday, Nov. 30, SHG will advance to the Class 5A state title game, facing another Catholic school team, Lombard Montini Catholic High School at DeKalb's Huskie Stadium.