By Grace Moore
Fenwick’s Tommy Thies (#7) takes a handoff from Jamen Williams (background) and looks for daylight as Mike Murphy (#5) looks for someone to block during the Class 6A football title game against East St. Louis, Dec. 2. Thies had 14 tackles in a 38-28 victory that gave the Friars their second state championship. (Dan Chamness/Riverside Brookfield Landmark)
It’s Tuesday, Dec. 2, in Normal, Ill., with light snow and a temperature of 23 degrees. The Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium is electric. The Fenwick Friars from Oak Park are playing the East St. Louis Flyers in the high school football State Championship. With a minute left on the clock, an interception wins the game for the Friars.
“It was surreal,” said Ryan Murray, one of the Friars’ wide receivers. “There actually hasn’t been a better feeling than that.”
Ryan has played sports since he was little. As he got older he specialized in basketball and football. He wanted to go to Fenwick High School because of the highly ranked sports programs. Throughout high school, Ryan Murray wanted to focus more on basketball and ended up sticking with both. Throughout the football season, the Friars football team faced some adversity. In week four they played Montini Catholic High School and lost in the last play. Then, in Week eight they played Mount Carmel High School and also lost in a close game.
However, in the playoffs they beat Rolling Meadows High School 45-7. Then they beat Central High School 49-21.
“In the early rounds we were just completely rolling,” he said.
That all led up to the semifinals against Nazareth Academy High School.
“It was an enormous happening for the town,” Ryan Murray’s older sister, Anna Murray said. “People came from far and wide to see it.”
Nazareth has been a large competitor in Illinois football for the past few years because it’s where the Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy played. The school has now become widely known for their dominant football team. There were many people tailgating at the game because many parents from the area send their kids to either Nazareth or Fenwick, creating a lot of rivalry.
“His entire school was partying,” Anna Murray said. “There was a party that was so big both of my divorced parents went to it.”
The energy for this game was shared amongst the players as well.
“When it got to Nazareth Week that week, it was just filled with hate,” Ryan Murray said. “Everyone is so locked in at practice.”
Fenwick ended up winning in overtime 28-27.
“The Nazareth win is really more fun than the state championship,” Ryan Murray said.
Next up was the state championship game against East St. Louis Senior High School. That team plays in the Illinois State Playoffs, as opposed to the Missouri one because it’s on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
“He was ecstatic, so were all of his friends, they were so unbelievably excited,” Anna Murray said.
It took place at Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State University Campus, about halfway between both of the schools. The game was originally supposed to be on Nov. 28, but it was cancelled due to a snow storm.
“That was kind of a brutal 72 hours after that, just waiting for it to happen, but then it was moved to a night game,” she said.
Despite this change in scheduling, there was a silver-lining for the players.
Ryan Murray explained, “It did work out though because we got a couple of extra days to watch more films and strategize.”
On the day of the game the whole school had a half day that day. Then, the football players got on the buses to go to the game.
“Everyone in that stadium, besides the 50 or so people on the field, on our sideline, thought that we were the underdogs,” Ryan Murray said. “I believed that we had them completely.”
Anna Murray watched it at a bar with her friends at the University of Missouri, where she attends college.
“It was so exciting because I was yelling to everybody over and over throughout the night: ‘this is my brother, he’s in the state championship.’” She said. “He plays football in high school and they’re playing state right now.”
Anna wasn’t the only Murray in awe of what was happening.
“I was just like this is insane,” Ryan Murray said. “This team is nationally ranked and we were just out here just destroying them.”
The Friars ended up winning 38-28.
“Now, I’m so glad I played, it was so fun,” he said. After the victory, the team got on the bus to go home and celebrate.
“The bus ride home was a surreal thing,” he said. “It was like one of those end credit scenes from one of those like sports movies. It was insane.”