Stepping up to the Mikes
Are there two coaches out there – anywhere – better than Newman’s Mike Papoccia and Stillman Valley’s Mike Lalor?
Anyone who spent Saturday afternoon at Roscoe Eades Stadium can’t think so.
The two Mikes, proud owners of three state championships apiece, put on a clinic in a Class 3A quarterfinal, won by Stillman Valley 21-20 in one of the best games in recent memory – right up there with the 2006 playoff pair of Sterling-Kaneland and Morrison-Westville.
Papoccia and Lalor’s brilliance isn’t so much in what they do as it is in what their teams don’t do.
The Comets and Cardinals simply don’t make mistakes – at least they didn’t Saturday. The game saw a total of two fumbles, each of which was quickly covered by the team that let it go.
The game barely needed referees. The first half featured one penalty for 1 yard. After halftime the teams combined for five penalties, 36 yards.
Newman threw two interceptions, Stillman one. Each had the same effect as a punt, and none led to points.
“You have to earn it against a team like this,” Lalor said. “Newman played great, just like we thought they would.
“It’s draining going against a coach like Mike,” Stillman’s coach continued. “You know they’re not going to make many mistakes, so you better not make many. You just have to capitalize a little bit here and there.”
Half of winning in high school sports is letting the other team beat itself. That’s exactly what these teams don’t do, and it’s a big reason why Lalor and Papoccia have combined for 352 wins against 114 losses.
It’s also a big reason Saturday was so memorable for everyone who witnessed this great game.
