The time on the clock is ticking. Those numbers are getting lower, but another is getting higher. Touchdown! Friday, October 11th, a day that will go down in Joliet Central’s football hall of fame. Mr. Hart and the football team celebrate a long-awaited victory, winning with a final score of 37-17 against Plainfield Central. Go steelmen! Steelmen staff and students gathered that Friday at the steelmen stadium, and have shown their excitement alongside them. I think it’s safe to say we are astonished and thrilled. This has been a long-awaited victory and has now become the topic of our conversations here at Central. How was it done? Well, Mr. Hart says he “rolled with the punches”, and remained resilient no matter the streak or how much time had passed.
Thinking back to several years ago, Mr. Hart says they “always took a step forward”. What we can take from that is that having a forward-thinking mindset and being solution-oriented pays off. It is good to think and plan ahead, determine possible future-occurring obstacles, and find the solution. Mr. Hart’s example of resilience by rolling with the punches shows how they did not dwell but instead had a drive and a focus; they had a goal and the determination; they were proactive. In the long run, and I don’t mean on the field, five years later it paid off. We recognize how long it has been to say like Mr. Hart says, “We proved we can do it.”.
Seeing the scoreboard that night, Mr. Hart described it in 3 words: shock, disbelief, and excitement. He says it took time to process, and from the team for some, the reactions were tears of joy. There is one more word coach Hart used to describe Friday night: cold! He liked to mention that some of the guys poured cold water over him in an outburst of celebration. It’s all love!
So what does this mean for Joliet Central’s football team moving forward? Let’s win more games! Like Mr. Hart said, they’ve proved they can do it; go steelmen! In present time, Coach Hart has been voted one of the Chicago Bears coaches of the week. A Chicago Bears manager who runs several programs for the Bears came out to meet our coach on Thursday, October 17th, saying it was “pretty evident yesterday that you were going to win” when explaining the nominations and votes for coach of the week to him. One of the things he received was a 2,000-dollar donation to the football program on behalf of the Chicago Bears. Secondly, tickets to a home Chicago Bears game against the Lions on December 22nd, where coach Hart will be recognized as one of the coaches of the week during the pregame on the big screen! He was also invited to a lunch on December 20th, where he gets to watch practice and get some pictures with the other coach of the week winners.
How cool and exciting for Coach Hart! We cheer him on and congratulate the team on their win. We continue to support our football team and show them our steelmen spirit at those games, attentive to the next game on Friday, October 25th, at 7 p.m. against Plainfield South, a home game for the Cougars. Big congratulations again to Coach Hart for his well-deserved recognition.