As baseball season comes to a close, the Marquee Sports Network is broadcasting high school football games on Friday nights.
But they’re doing it with a twist.
Instead of bringing professional talent to handle the broadcasts, the network is having students work the game both in front of and behind the cameras in what it calls a “Community Showcase.”
This new venture started Sept. 6 with the neighborhood battle between Marist and host Brother Rice high schools in Chicago, and the crew Brother Rice TV put the production on for people all over the nation to watch.
“The pressure was on — we were the guinea pigs,” BRTV faculty moderator Pat Creed said.
And the Marquee pioneers had a lot of excitement to call in Marist’s 34-27 overtime win over the Crusaders.
Brother Rice may have suffered a setback on the field, but it earned a big victory in the broadcast booth, as Creed sees it.
“After the game, I may have been the only adult on the Brother Rice side with a smile on my face,” Creed said. “They crushed it. They killed it. Marquee said the same thing. They were so happy with how the broadcast went. Our kids set the bar pretty high.”
Marquee has a slate of seven regular-season games in the Chicago area this season and will return to the area Oct. 11 when Joliet Catholic visits Mount Carmel.
On the air during that first broadcast, Brother Rice junior Brian Sheehan was the play-by-play man with analysts Charlie Moles and Joe Bowen at his side. The sideline reporter was Nolan Leonard. Working behind the scenes were Jay Jilek, Charley Snyder, Matt Olsen and Bryan Chesley.
The game had plenty of twists and turns for the crew to cover.
Brother Rice scored with 1 minute, 44 seconds left in regulation to take a 27-20 lead only to have Marist march down the field to tie it and send it to OT.
Marist scored in the overtime when John McAuliffe pushed and twisted his way from the 1-yard line for what turned out to be the winning score. Brother Rice was stopped on the 2-yard line on the final play.
“I felt excited – it was definitely one of the most fun broadcasts I’ve ever done,” said Leonard, an Oak Lawn resident. “Everyone across the country was watching and that was pretty cool. I thought I did a pretty good job.”
One thing the broadcasters had to keep in mind was to be as impartial as they could. Their hearts were with the Crusaders but there were RedHawks fans across the nation watching, too.
“That was a little challenging,” said Sheehan, an Evergreen Park resident. “If it wasn’t being broadcast on Marquee, I probably would have been more biased and shown more disappointment with Marist scoring.
“With it being on a national network, even though it wasn’t the team that I wanted to win, it was still a big moment in a big game.”
Sheehan said when McAuliffe crossed the goal line, he gave a “half yell” and tried to sound excited — but not too excited.
On the final play of the game, when the RedHawks held the Crusaders and then celebrated as Marist students stormed the field, Sheehan admits that some of his bias came out.
“I was like ‘oh, he’s short – Marist is going to win the game,’’’ Sheehan said. “There was this moment of silence in there and I took a moment to gather what just happened.
“I had to focus really quick to explain the end of the game and to give credit to Marist and how it was their third year in a row coming out with the win.”
Creed said even when games are not on Marquee, he expects his announcers to be professional.
“From the get-go, our boys are taught to be professional broadcasters,” Creed said. “From the word ‘go’ they are broadcasters, second they become Brother Rice students.
“I try to hammer into them to call every game down the middle. You get excited when Brother Rice scores. There is nothing wrong with that.”
But he draws the line with his students — they are forbidden to take pot shots at the opposition, or from “saying any nonsense.”
Creed was thankful the network gave BRTV the chance to do the game.
“They were very, very, very insistent that it would be high school students and driven by our kids,” Creed said. “What an opportunity. Marquee is offered nationally if you want to pay for it.
“Our kids were on a national television broadcast. That was amazing.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
