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  On this day in History... NORMAL, Ill. (March 5, 2005) — The Normal Community Ironmen secured the boys' basketball regional championship Saturday night, defeating cross-town rival Normal Community West in a hard-fought matchup. The Ironmen relied on a balanced scoring attack and strong defense to hold off the Wildcats in front of a packed gymnasium at Normal Community High School. West kept the game close throughout. The Wildcats cut the deficit to three with under two minutes to play, but Normal Community responded with key free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach. https://alanlookphotography.zenfoliosite.com

  On this day in history: BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (March 3, 2004) — The Champaign Central Maroons pulled away late to defeat the Normal West Wildcats 70-61 in an IHSA Class AA regional game Wednesday night at Bloomington High School. #bloomingtonnormalsportsphotos   #bloomingtonnormalsportsphotographer   #Mcleancountysportsphotos   #centralillinoissportsphotos   @alanlookphotography

2024 State Farm Intercity Basketball Tournament Champions - Normal Community High School Ironmen Earlier this week the last 2 games of the 2024 inaugural State Farm Intercity Basketball Tournament at the Shirk Center in Bloomington IL wrapped up it's activities. The CEO and president of State Farm, Jon Farney was on hand to receive a complimentary ball in thanks for the company sponsoring the tournament. Jon had played in the tournaments predecessor as a student athlete at Normal Community High School when the tournament had no sponsor and was simply known as the Intercity Basketball Tournament. Both iterations of this tournament pit the high schools of Bloomington Normal against each other. Those teams being Bloomington High School Purple Raiders, Bloomington Central Catholic Saints, Normal Community Ironmen, Normal Community West Wildcats and the University High Pioneers. The tournament is coed and the addition of the State Farm sponsorship enabled the playing of both brack...

  The Normal Community Lady Ironmen basketball team took home the hardware last night for the State Farm Intercity Basketball Tournaments girls bracket after defeating the Saints of Bloomington Central Catholic.  The Lady Iron defeated the Normal West Lady Wildcats, University High School Lady Pioneers and the Bloomington Lady Purple Raiders on previous days play leaving them in sole possession of 1st place. In other action on the late part of the bracket November 29th, 2024 were the Central Catholic Saints challenging the Normal Community Ironmen on the boys bracket.  Earlier play pitted the University High Pioneers against the Normal Community West Wildcats on both the girls and boys brackets.   Play continues on Saturday November 30th. Be sure to heck out all the photos and videos from the Intercity games that  Alan Look Photography  covered.

 Be sure to check out the photos from the State Farm Intercity Basketball Tournament from Alan Look Photography !  Here's a sample from the Wednesday night games between UHigh Pioneers and Normal Ironmen.  

Boys Intercity always has a couple good rivalry games.  For years, the Central Catholic Saints and the University High Pioneers have had a pretty good one.  This years seems no different, maybe even a little moreso since they are now in different conferences.  The whole game was a back and forth affair that had the Saints trailing most of the night.  They closed the gap in the 4th quarter and nearly won it in the last minutes with a foul to get the ball back strategy.  In the end, the Pioneers remained on top by 4. BHS and NCHS have had a rivalry for years, even before Normal West came to exist.  The game last night was between the West Wildcats and the Bloomington Raiders.  They also have a rivalry, but with 2 of the best players in the state - one on each team - the game took on a tone of its own.  The Shirk Center was 3 rows deep of standing room only during the 4th quarter of the earlier game.  At the start of this affair the SRO had dw...

Normal West was impressive last night with a 57-18 win over the University Pioneers.  They pulled out to an early 10 or 12 point lead and never relinquished it.  The Wildcats played what has probably been the quickest up and down game of the 4 games we've seen in the early season.  Speed is certainly one of the weapons they have in their arsenal. The Central Catholic v Normal Community game was all the Ironmen for the first quarter.  The Saints never felt out of it and pushed forward cutting the lead by halftime.  The final score at the buzzer was just a 2 point win 42-40 for the Iron.  Top scorers for each team were Saints Coffman and Iron Wong both with 12 each.

Yes, it was a chili night on Friday for the Chili Bowl between the Normal Community Ironmen and the Normal West Wildcats.  The temps were in the low 60's and there was a pretty good breeze blowing in from the north at Normal West High School's football field.  The effects were evidently felt more by the Wildcats than the Iron.  The Iron stormed ahead in the first half, but the Wildcats stayed in the game with a couple of pretty solid drives.  In the end, it wasn't enough for the hosts with the Iron taking the game and the Chili Bowl.  - Chimper 20150911 Chili Bowl - NCHS at NCWHS football photos - Images by Alan Look

Was it just  good offense on both sides of the line or a weak defense?  Who knows and it really doesn't matter as the West Wildcat offense put enough points on the board to take the game in the second half. Look for editorial and photographic coverage in the Normalite and Best Look Magazine .  Photos captured and supplied by the best look in Bloomington Normal Sports Photography - Alan Look Photography . 20140926 Homecoming - Danville at West - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper -

This is Alan Look Photography's 14/15th year at being the Best Look in Bloomington Normal Sports Photos .  Alan begin this career shooting for the Normalite in December of 1999. Over the past years he has licensed many sports images to clients locally, nationally, and internationally.  He's also captured many memories from some great local high school events.  Check out what he has to offer and check back each week to see more of the best in sports action photography in McLean County .  Look him up on FaceBook and find out how to get a discount on your next order of $15 or more. Find all the latest high school sports action here !  - Chimper -

Friday night, August 29th, The Normal West Wildcats opened their 2014 season against a new opponent - the Belleville West Maroons.  After storming the football field through a tunnel of band members and cheerleaders (resulting in one media casualty from a local television station) the Wildcats began their attack on the Maroons.  One down, 8 more to go for the Wildcats! Bloomington - Normal's best look in Sports Action Photography .  Check out Best Look Magazine each quarter for more images and stories. 20140829 Belleville West Maroons at Normal West Wildcats football photos - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper -

The opening night of High School Friday Night Football turned up some pretty nice games.  In Normal, the Wildcats started the season with a sophomore as starting Quarterback. Mitch Fairfield didn't disappoint   With the help of the Wildcat defense getting the ball for him on a number of turnover, they moved to a 28-7 lead at half time and only gave up one touchdown and extra point in the second half while scoring more themselves. Congrats to the Wildcats on starting the season off with the W. Alan Look Photography was on the sidelines covering the game for the  Normalite  and Best Look Magazine .  Check out his Wildcats v Maroons photo gallery, but also be sure to pick up a copy of the Normalite and the November issue of  Best Look Magazine  to see who gets featured and talked about.  - Chimper

Another busy weekend finally settling down.  Don't think we are quite caught up, but all the images are worked, sent to the publisher and posted online. Friday night at High Schools are always fun and work filled.  Adding a local celebrity appearance and the work just about doubles.  It's all good, I really enjoy seeing the local youth that I've photographed and followed make it above and beyond the high school level.   Cody White is one of those.  He was a multiple sport athlete at Normal Community West High School.  As a football Wildcat, he wore #5.  After graduation, he played for the Redbirds at Illinois State and for his senior year, he place the offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks ever in ISU history.  I believe it was 5 or 6 for the whole year.  Last year, he began the football season with the Houston Texans in the NFL.  THe first 4 games of the season he was on their practice squad.  After being approached by an...

Two great games at Shirk last night for the Boys intercity.  One always fun rivalry - West v Community, with a twist this year.  Three Seibrings played.  Two brothers for NCHS and  their cousin for West. Then, it was the title game between Uhigh and Bloomington.  Very up tempo.  Bloomington charged out to the lead, but University came back in the 4th quarter to claim the W and the award. Look for the stories in the Normalite and Best Look Magazine . Images as always Alan Look Photography

The night didn't disappoint.  Everything that makes a Chili Bowl exciting.  Stormy weather, The Wildcats and the Ironmen, lots of fans and an oblong ball that takes funny bounces.  Yes, they were all there tonight.  The Wildcats took the Ironmen at home and will get to place the Chili Bowl in their trophy case till next year.  I don't have a lot of stats or side notes.  I haven't a clue how many yards Edwards ran for the Iron or what happened to Jefferson just before the half.  I do know the Cats returned to the field after the break and Alex didn't show up till later on the back of the squad cart under a blanket - padless.  It did appear to be an injury to his leg.  I'm sure there will be more known tomorrow. Chili Bowl pictures will be available at Alan Look Photography later this weekend. John Power covered the Central Catholic slaying of Pontiac tonight.  His photos will be available in a few days as well. Be sure to check ou...

Normal Community Ironmen and the Normal Community West Wildcats duel in IHSA Regional Lots of tense moments, lots of tough decisions, lots of teamwork, lots of friends, lots of foes, lots of sadness, lots of joy. In overtime, the Wildcats hold on to a 2 point lead that had 2 opportunities to be a lose. Not a lot one can add to the action that happened inside the black lines or inside the Shirk Center. The stories will be told for at least a generation. you had to be there, or you need to read the story by Steve Robinson in the upcoming Normalite Newspaper . 20120302 NCWHS v NCHS Regional - Images by Alan Look