GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY
It’s fitting, perhaps, that football players are
often referred to as hogs because they don’t
mind getting down and dirty to get the job
done. In Morton, the high school football boost-
ers are ready and willing to do the same.
And since it was created just three years ago,
Club Sooie has done much to boost support for
the Morton High School football program and
help it regain its competitiveness among central
Illinois powerhouses, said head football coach
Jason Thiry.
It was Thiry who started Club Sooie, an off-
shoot from the Morton Hogs JFL club that feeds
into the high school. While Morton High School
has a sports and activities boosters’ association,
as do many others in this region and throughout
the state, football is a different animal.
“
To stay competitive in football takes a lot of
money. School budgets don’t go very far any-
more and the school booster clubs are there for
all sports and can’t really do more for one sport
or activity over another. That’s just the nature
of it. So I asked football
supporters and alumni to
do a little extra and give
the football program ad-
ditional support. That’s
how Club Sooie started,”
Thiry said.
As a result, he added,
money raised by Club
Sooie during various
fundraisers have enabled
the school to improve
athletic facilities, including
those used by all sports
programs and not exclu-
sively football. That would
include weight training
facilities. More specific to
the football program, Club
Sooie has refurbished the
locker room, purchased im-
proved practice equipment,
headsets for the coaching
staff and game jerseys.
In addition, Thiry said, “Our kids have been
able to experience something they otherwise
would not have been able to experience. For
example, this summer all of our linemen were
able to participate in a football camp. Football
is expensive and Club Sooie wants to make sure
the lack of money will never stop a kid from be-
ing able to participate.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FANS GATHER ON THE
DECK OF THE PANTHERPLEX, A BUILDING THAT HOUSES THE HOME
LOCKER ROOM, COACHES OFFICES, CONCESSION STAND AND OTHER
AMENITIES THAT WAS BUILT THREE YEARS AGO BY THE 12TH MAN,
THE FOOTBALL TEAM’S BOOSTER CLUB. THE DECK OVERLOOKS
BABCOOK FIELD.
13
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