Joliet seniors reflect on season's sad end

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JOLIET -- Seniors from fall sports teams at Joliet Central and West got the chance to have some fun last Friday.

The afternoon in Central's new fieldhouse was a reward for the seniors who had closed out their careers or were just about to.

But the pizza party and subsequent games of basketball, volleyball, soccer and badminton provided more than just a fun way to waste a few hours.

It was a nice 'thank you' from a variety of school officials who realize that for many of the seniors things didn't end up how they should have.

Due to health concerns, JT's football team had to forfeit its final game while the soccer squad couldn't use several players in its regional title defeat.

It's rare to have any team's season cut short, let alone two different squads, so naturally the decisions that were made for safety reasons were difficult ones.

And while members of the affected squads were obviously upset to see their high school careers end how they did, many learned valuable lessons from the situation.

One of those who felt the disappointment more than any other was soccer goalkeeper Mike Vertin, who has been a four-year standout for the Steelmen.

The Joliet Central student only could watch in dismay as 15-6-1 JT fell to Normal Community 3-1 in their own regional championship match on Oct. 24.

JT had to compete without six of its Central players, including captains Dan Martinez and Vertin, and coach Eduardo Contreras was also sidelined.

"When Coach told us that we couldn't participate in any sporting event that weekend, my head immediately went down and I started to realize that I wouldn't get to play," Vertin said. "I started thinking about why they weren't moving the game back to Monday or who else could play. It was just heartbreaking and I was so sad for a kid like Dan since soccer is his life.

"We couldn't go on the premises so we were by the tennis courts, and it was just hard watching them play, it was sad. I thought this was our year and that we were going to go to state since we were peaking at the right moment. This just shows that you can't take anything for granted since things can be taken away from you sometimes and you just have to live with it."

Joliet West senior Ryan Cronin was able to compete in the regional game, but realized that his squad would have a hard time moving on while missing so many key players.

"We were a close family all year round and we had big hopes since the offseason," Cronin said. "We were missing four or five starters who didn't get to finish off their season and just trying to put people in different positions who weren't comfortable there caused a lot of chaos on the field. We came out with a lot of intensity but the other team's experience won out.

"It was disappointing that we couldn't finish our season the way that we wanted to. But I also understand they didn't play because of health issues, so it was an important reason. It's disappointing this happened in my senior year in something I love so much like soccer, so all I can do is hope that next year's team can go even farther."

While part of JT's soccer team wasn't able to compete in what turned out to be its final contest, none of JT's football squad even got the opportunity to play a final game.

The team's senior day against Lincoln-Way Central scheduled for October 25 was forfeited, leaving JT's last football game a 63-7 setback at Lincoln-Way East a week earlier.

So coach Jason Aubry's squad, which showed real signs of progress throughout much of the season, wound up settling for a 1-8 record and a disappointing ending to its campaign.

For JT West player Wesley Powell, not getting the opportunity to finish up his career at home makes what turned out to be their last game against the Griffins feel even worse.

"It was disappointing since I was looking forward to getting to play our senior game and having that memory of our last high school game," Powell said. "We were preparing for practice and didn't find out until the end of the day on Friday that we weren't going to play. We were looking forward to it since we knew it was our last week of our high school football career.

"One of the most important things was trying to do better in that game than we did in the game before, but now the only last game memory that we have is against Lincoln-Way East. The coaches told us to learn from this that you have to play every play like it's your last one. That really sunk in because we were expecting a game but had already played for the last time."

JT Central senior Chad Carlson will get to have senior days in wrestling and baseball, so he feels disappointed for the many athletes who only were involved with football.

"To have the last game canceled was really hard, especially for all of the seniors," Carlson said. "I think back to everything the seniors did trying to get the program going in the right direction. We did a lot of things during the summer that no Joliet teams have done lately, like going to a camp. Granted the results weren't that good, but we were in a lot of games.

"After everything we've done this year and all that we did this summer to have it end like that was disappointing. Unfortunately our last game was against Lincoln-Way East instead of Lincoln-Way Central. A few seniors and myself will get to play in college but I feel letdown and upset for the seniors who just played football and were looking forward to their last game."