Fans gearing up for Huskies' championship game

Naperville North football player Danny Sagen, left, acknowledges the crowd Tuesday while entering the high school gym for a pep rally. He's joined by Keith Herbstritt, Brandon Sleik and Jason Brickett.

It's not easy being a flautist when the crowd is roaring.

Naperville North High School junior Rachel Von Arb said playing the flute with the school's band has only gotten harder as the football team has advanced through the playoffs and the crowds have grown larger and louder.

With the Huskies in Saturday's state Class 8A championship game, Von Arb expects the weekend gig to be her biggest challenge yet.

"I just try to play as loud as I can," she said after North's fall sports pep rally Tuesday. "Inside, it's easier to hear flutes because you don't have to worry about the wind. Saturday we're going to have the wind and a big crowd."

For the first time in 13 years, the Huskies find themselves in the championship game. It might have surprised some, but not senior wide receiver Alex Dieckmann.

"We've been saying 'State in Oh-Eight' since our freshman year because we wanted this," he said.

The Huskies enter Saturday's game with a 12-1 record, their only loss coming in triple overtime to Wheaton Warrenville South High School. They will take on a familiar DuPage Valley Conference foe, Glenbard North High School out of Carol Stream.

"We have two things to prove this weekend," Athletic Director Doug Smith told students. "First is that we are the best DVC team in that game and that's the team's job; your job is to prove you're the best fans in the DVC."

The game will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

The football team's introduction at the rally capped an exhaustive recitation of accomplishments this fall by North's athletic squads.

None of the school's fall sports teams finished lower than third in the conference. The girls golf and tennis teams also captured conference titles this year.

The girls cross country team also was recognized at the rally for its third-place effort at state more than two weeks ago.

"This is a team with no all-stars, just an incredible group of girls who ran an outstanding race as a team," Principal Ross Truemper said.