The Friday night lights are shining brightly, as usual, on a cool September evening in Batavia.
In 2020, it could be the only thing remotely close to being normal in this football-crazy town. It certainly isn’t what quarterback Kyle Oroni envisioned for his senior year.
Normally packed bleachers are quiet minus the fans, the band and the raucous student sections. Yes, players are on the field working out, but the pads aren’t popping.
This is the state Oroni operates in for a practice now allowed this fall by the Illinois High School Association. This counts as a contact day, but there’s limited interaction between the masked athletes under the direction of their masked coaches.
It’s a misnomer.
“There’s as little contact as possible,” Oroni said.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, this contact period is all Oroni and his football teammates have right now. They are striving to make the most of it.
They are not alone.
Athletes in many of the program’s other sports also are allowed 20 contact days with their coaches between Sept. 7 and Oct. 31. It’s a statewide phenomenon in following IHSA guidelines put in place by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and several state agencies.
“It’s a good start to the whole offseason,” Oroni said. “But it’s going to be a strange season.”
Is it ever.
Tentatively, football, girls volleyball and boys soccer will have their seasons pushed back to a spring window from Feb. 15 to May 1.
Oroni, who also plays baseball, has been keeping busy. He has football on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and baseball on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
“At least we get to go under the lights on Mondays and Fridays,” Oroni said. “It’s better than sitting at home.”
It has been 10 months since Oroni stepped onto a football field for meaningful action, lining up against Nazareth in a Class 7A state quarterfinal. Leading the Roadrunners was University of Michigan-bound quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who had 29 other scholarship offers in hand.
The high-profile McCarthy is now playing for IMG Academy in Florida after transferring due to the uncertainty of fall football in Illinois.
Oroni, the youngest of four brothers who have played for Batavia, has earned some NCAA Division II and Division III recruiting interest, but he works with a lower profile than McCarthy.
It’s also one he shares with many high school seniors.
“I think I have a lot to prove,” Oroni said. “And I’d like to see where it takes me.”
Numbers game
Since November 2019, the 6-foot-2 Oroni has grown an inch. He threw regularly to his wide receivers during quarantine. He has weekly film study sessions with Sean Anderson, the former Illinois quarterback who serves as Batavia’s offense coordinator.
Batavia coach Dennis Piron, whose nine-year tenure has produced a 94-15 record, two state titles, two semifinal appearances and two quarterfinal appearances, said this year’s team could be his best on paper.
He plans to use all 20 contact days. He just hopes the Bulldogs get to play.
“If we are certain of having a season,” Piron said, “I’m good with it.”
He thinks teams could still play this fall, and he planned to take part in a rally organized by coaches for Saturday in Chicago to urge Pritzker to restart football and other fall sports.
“We’re kind of becoming pros at this, following the safety procedures since our summer camps in June,” said Piron, a member of the IHSA’s sports medicine advisory committee. “I don’t think there’s been evidence of cases being spread by athletic events.”
He pointed to the number of states — 39 and growing — that are playing high school football.
Naperville Central coach Mike Stine, who does not plan on using all his contact days, agreed with Piron on the restart.
“We’re going two days a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, under the lights,” Stine said. “It’s not just about football. We push our kids to play multiple sports. For those kids, it would be hard to get all those practices in.”
Stine also planned to attend the rally.
“We’re not going to go down without a fight,” Stine said. “Every other state bordering us and now the Big Ten are playing. We have to fight for the kids because I think they’re being used as pawns.
“If we get the OK next week, we could get a modified season in, I believe.”
Maine South coach Dave Inserra, meanwhile, wants to spread out his contact days.
“We’re strictly coaching football,” Inserra said. “We’re not doing conditioning or speed training. It’s football for a full two hours. The biggest positive is it’s that time of year for football.
“These kids need to be together, be out there exercising.”
Questions remain
Support for the growing number of protests isn’t universal. West Aurora boys basketball coach Brian Johnson, for one, has questions.
“Who knows what winter with the flu season will bring?” Johnson said. “I just want our kids to be safe, do the right thing and hope we have a season. I’m not going to go out stomping my feet down.”
Johnson has been working with his team three times a week.
“It’s basically like summer camp,” Johnson said of contact days. “We’re doing drill work, implant some offensive actions we’re going to use, and the last 30-40 minutes, let ’em play.
“It’s different to run with a mask on, but they’re doing a great job and not complaining. They understand the situation.”
While she has enjoyed returning to the gym to work with her basketball teammates, Mother McAuley junior Bella Finnegan confirmed it’s far from normal.
“You just never thought it would be like this, wearing masks and having to stay 6 feet apart and not being able to high-five,” Finnegan said. “It’s so weird to imagine that we might be playing games wearing a mask.”
As of right now, the IHSA plan for winter sports does not include a state tournament. That doesn’t sit well.
“I feel a little cheated,” Finnegan said.
Five months removed from the team’s last game in a Class 4A sectional, Finnegan’s world has been changed by the virus.
“We had a big game in a gym with so many people, and then everything became so unreal,” Finnegan said. “Because I’m younger, I might not even show symptoms.
“But I still have to be careful. You can give it to grandpa. I haven’t been able to give him a hug or a kiss. You just have to be cautious.”
High school vs. travel
There also will be a dilemma for athletes in sports like soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball. Their schedules could conflict with club or travel teams.
The IHSA’s board of directors considered a special exemption that would allow simultaneous participation but tabled that decision until its next meeting in October.
Sandburg boys soccer coach Desi Vuillaume believes programs will be able to coexist.
“Club will be in their indoor season, and there aren’t many tournaments at that time,” Vuillaume said. “All my seniors keep talking about is how they can’t wait for the season.”
St. Laurence baseball coach Pete Lotus sees a challenge because his players haven’t been able to work out together.
Students at St. Laurence are divided alphabetically for the two days they attend school for in-person learning. They are also divided within the building with each class confined to its own wing.
“We’re trying to keep it loose and fun,” Lotus said. “It’s tough to communicate.”
He hopes players aren’t forced to choose between high school and club, but if they are, he’s “confident most of our kids will play for St. Laurence and not travel.”
Warren softball coach Jenna Charbonneau hopes travel teams will start later so kids don’t have to choose. Lockport softball coach Marissa Chovanec understands it would be a tough call.
“These kids and their families have paid thousands of dollars to play for these teams,” Chovanec said. “They made that commitment as early as July or August. I don’t know that I can compete with that bill they’ve just paid. I don’t know what the answer is.”
Lincoln-Way East’s Kris Fiore, who coaches both boys and girls volleyball, hopes communication will help with the overlap.
“I understand kids want to have the opportunity to play college volleyball, and I know that’s going to be the argument for club, that it would give them exposure,” Fiore said. “But there is no guarantee, with COVID around, a college coach is going to travel to see a tournament in Indianapolis in March anyway. Would they be just as likely to look at your high school film?
“There’s a certain sense of pride playing for your community and school. I would hope everybody stays the course with us.”
Decisions, decisions
Will there be a choice that has to be made? Two of Lincoln-Way East’s uncommitted seniors in girls volleyball, setter Ava Porada and outside hitter Julia Owczarzak, said they would lean toward their high school team.
Fiore also will push for a state tournament.
If there isn’t one?
“I think you’re going to see a lot of kids leave high school sports,” Fiore said.
Marist’s Jordan Vidovic, who also coaches both boys and girls volleyball, thinks most players already committed to college would stay with their high school team.
“I think it becomes a decision if you’re not committed,” Vidovic said.
Jillian Elsouso, a senior outside hitter/libero for Marist, falls into that category.
“I’m never going to steer her one way or the other, and I’m certainly not going to steer her selfishly to play high school volleyball,” Vidovic said. “We’re going to talk through it, just like we do everything else.”
Elsouso feels caught in the middle. Much of her recruiting thus far has been based on film.
“With club, you get more exposure to coaches,” Elsouso said. “But at the same time, we don’t know if coaches can even come and watch.”
Brad Baker, coach of reigning Class 4A girls volleyball state champion Benet, is only using one contact day a week because his varsity players are working out up to three times with their club teams.
He would like to see the IHSA let parents choose whether their kids play club and high school.
“I don’t think any parent would allow their kid to get overworked,” Baker said. “I think the high school and club coaches could work it out. This volleyball season is in the middle of the biggest recruiting time. If they say you can’t play both, well, a majority of kids want to get recruited.”
What if the exemption doesn’t get approved? The IHSA has said that would open up opportunities for other players to step in, something Baker disputed.
“By the time you’re a junior or senior, you’ve decided if you’re going to play volleyball or not,” Baker said. “Now you’re going to try it? I think we’d end up losing a lot of high school teams.”
Baker pointed to his daughter Rian, a 5-11 setter for Fremd who has committed to Wake Forest, as an example of what kids could be facing.
“She’s a setter playing a 5-1,” Baker said. “If she leaves the club team, it’s a whole different team, and there are other kids on the roster trying to get a scholarship relying on her.”
Football now? Football later?
For Loyola football coach John Holecek, the discussion around contact days and IHSA-related news always returns to whether there will be a season.
“We’re doing it just in case we have a season in six months, which in everyone’s mind is crazy, if they even let us play,” Holecek said. “The good part is the kids want to get back to normal, have a goal and compete.
“The offensive and defensive lines are bored. The kids want to play games and prepare for something. Right now, the season is so far away on the horizon. There’s no end game, and nobody wants participation games anymore.”
Mount Carmel coach Jordan Lynch wasn’t sure he would use all of his 20 contact days.
“We had a lot of good practices in the summer and we were able to get a lot done,” Lynch said. “I want to keep the players fresh. I don’t want to burn them out.”
Will there be a season?
“We’re emphasizing to control what we can control,” Lynch said. “You can’t predict what is going to happen, but it’s important to have the mindset that we’re going to play.”
Hillcrest coach Morgan Weaver also is trying to stay positive.
“I can’t imagine being 15, 16 or 17 and seeing kids in all these states around us doing things I love to do but can’t,” Weaver said. “That’s tough. The kids have been through a lot in a short time. Their worlds have been thrown upside down.
“We’re stressing to them to have the mindset that we’re going to have a season. Choose to get better every day. Go for a run, go work out. Because if we do have a season, we have to be ready.”
For now, Oroni goes back to work — with contact days as his only option.
“I’m just keeping an open mind,” he said. “We all just want to play, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure we have a season.”
Tony Baranek, Pat Disabato and Bob Narang contributed.
