You might not realize what goes into building a high-school football stadium, but John Konecki does.
And on Sept. 12, the Crete-Monee athletic director and football coach got to enjoy the result of all that work along with the school community.
The Warriors christened their new facility with a 49-6 win over Thornton.
Derrin Couch was 17-of-24 passing for 244 yards and five touchdowns for Crete (1-2, 1-0 Southland). His top targets included Dorian Patterson (six catches, 102 yards, two TDs), Brian Miller (three catches, 44 yards, TD), Nate Jones (one catch, 41 yards, TD) and D’Arion Yarbrough (three catches, 32 yards, TD).
Jeremiah Stonewall led Crete’s ground game with 19 carries for 142 yards and two scores.
But while the Warriors put on a show, the night belonged to the new stadium east of the school.
Konecki credited the District 201-U board of education and administration for their work in getting the project to the finish line. But as coach and AD, he also was deeply involved throughout the process, including, he noted, meetings and site visits to other facilities.
Seeing the reaction to the stadium’s unveiling? Priceless.
“The kids, the community, the band, the cheerleaders, the boosters, longtime community members — (it was great) just how excited they were to see that brand-new facility,” Konecki said.
The stadium had a soft launch earlier in the week with boys soccer and girls flag football. The marching band was able to practice and “the cross country team was out there running repeats,” Konecki said.
And then it was time for the football team to get going after opening with losses at Richards and Bradley-Bourbonnais, the latter by a 41-6 score.
“We wanted to get the offense back on schedule,” Konecki said. “I think we did. We wanted to get the defense playing fast, not having to process as much. … Hopefully we can continue to get better.”
Herscher 28, Manteno 23: Herscher had touchdown runs of 80 and 55 yards in the third quarter to take control and held on to edge the host Panthers (2-1, 0-1 Illinois Central Eight) on Sept. 12.
Manteno’s Connor Harrod had 258 total yards and three TDs. He ran 32 times for 128 yards and two scores, and was 11-of-25 passing for 130 yards and a TD with two interceptions. Kalub Jankuski had five catches for 99 yards and a TD.
Briggs Cann and Franklin Jordan had interceptions for the Panthers, while Carter Stell had a team-leading eight tackles.
The Panthers play at Reed-Custer at 7 p.m. Friday.
Wilmington 41, Peotone 13: Alex Chenoweth passed for 115 yards and a TD to Nick Cronin, and also ran for 33 yards for the Blue Devils in the road loss on Sept. 12. Tyler Walker scored Peotone’s other touchdown and Declan McMaster had a team-best seven tackles.
The Blue Devils will pick up a forfeit win over Lisle this week to move to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the Illinois Central Eight, They return to action Sept. 26 at home against Streator. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.