If a defeatist attitude could be measured in gum drops, then the MacArthur and Danville football programs were two separate Candy Mountains in Central Illinois.
For most of the past two decades, neither school’s students seemed to want any part of owning up to the dedication and sacrifice needed to change a losing culture on the football field. That has all changed with both programs' recent success. Friday night, for the second consecutive year, they’ll clash with a chance to stay unbeaten two-thirds of the way through the regular season.
Culture shock
Very little will light a fire under MacArthur head coach Derek Spates like talking about his team. While most coaches are excitable over their squads, it holds a little truer for Spates. Same goes for the coach of the Danville Vikings, B.J. Luke.
Both Spates and Luke honed their playing skills, as well as ignited their coaching desires, at the schools they now lead. That both are 5-0, state ranked (Danville No. 3 in the Associated Press’ Class 6A ranking and MacArthur No. 5 in the 5A tab) and possibly playing for the Big 12 Conference title when they meet in Danville on Friday is just a tiny bit of icing on the cake. Most of the sugary goodness comes when you consider where each program was before their respective leaders took the helm.
"No enthusiasm for the team, no fire," said Spates, whose Generals won just 25 games in the 11 years prior to his taking the reins. "When I grew up, I wanted to be a General. I want kids to be like that today. I want them to dream of wearing that blue and silver jersey. That was all gone and that killed me."
Luke, who returned to Illinois after playing at the University of Georgia, was firmly entrenched at Wabonsie Valley, coaching there 18 years with 105 wins and nine playoff appearances. But then the alma mater came calling in 2005. It was an easy sell. He felt the same way Spates did, and feels the same way Spates feels now.
"It’s a complete change of climate here. I’m not saying that’s all the football team, but it’s a huge kickoff to the year to have some success like we have and to see the community and students really get excited about something," said Luke, who lives in the house both he and his father grew up in, just three blocks from the high school. "I’m sure Decatur is the same way it is here; you see a lot of maroon here. I bet there is a lot of blue and silver there."
No more surprises
Last year’s Vikings bolted out of the gate at 5-0 (kicked off by a two-overtime thriller of a win against perennial power Bloomington) only to get stopped cold by the Generals (who were also 5-0), 35-7, in Decatur. The whooping preceded a 2-2 finish, but 7-3 followed a 5-5 playoff run in 2007. They may have surprised Bloomington last year, but the Purple Raiders knew exactly what they were getting with this year’s more mature Vikings. Didn’t matter. Luke’s club hung a second consecutive loss on them. Clearly, the Vikings' fortunes have turned.
"We are definitely not surprising anyone, and neither is MacArthur," said Luke, whose Vikings won just 24 games in 10 years before he showed up. "You know that they are very talented, and so are we. It’s nice to be able to say that."
The Vikings beat now 4-1 Bloomington to open the year, but haven’t played a team with a winning record since. They are allowing just over 11 points per game. The Generals, who lost to eventual state runner-up Cahokia in the 2008 quarters, have taken a similar path to unbeaten, upending 1-4 Mattoon 49-14 to open the season, rallying to beat 2-3 Champaign Centennial, 31-24, in Week 2, then beating 1-4 Normal West 37-33 before a 21-12 escape against winless city rival Eisenhower. The Generals put on a defensive show last week, topping 3-2 Champaign Central, 16-0.
But until Week 5, it seemed to be an undefeated record without a "wow" moment. Spates bristles at those kind of thoughts.
"I don’t really like that some people think that way. You can’t be on both sides of the fence with MacArthur football. Before, we didn’t know how to win; now, we’re 5-0 and people pick us apart because of the way we‘ve won," Spates said. "That’s not right. We are undefeated and we get asked all the time why we aren’t blowing teams out.
"We are 5-0," Spates added. "We’ve done what we’ve needed to do."
The Generals are unbeaten and have clearly turned a corner. And it's a huge corner, encompassing the entire school experience. Like Danville, Mac football has done what it’s needed to do across the board. Schoolwork is better among football players, and camaraderie is up, as well as team pride. Players used to wear their jerseys sheepishly to school. Now they wear them around town, hoping to be asked about the team. It’s a different culture now in both cities, one that believes better is not only possible but expected.
"It’s a big deal, for sure. The winner controls his own destiny. Win and you don’t have to worry about what anyone else does," Luke said. "You can’t want anymore than that."
As teams, no. As fans, how about an overtime, 24-21, barn-burning blast of an extravaganza suited just for rising programs lighting up scuffling cities?
Troy Hayes covers central and southern Illinois for MaxPreps. He may be reached at sportsgopher@yahoo.com.
