ChimpersCage

 Saints thrown overboard by Vikings in 1st round play of the IHSA 2024 Class 2A football playoffs. In the 1st round of IHSA 2024 Class 2A football playoffs, the Saints of Bloomington Central Catholic were sent to Downs to play the Vikings of Tri Valley. The event got off to a somewhat boring start but by the end of the first half, the Vikings were blanking the Saints 14-0. Action picked up in the 3rd quarter with long runs by both the Saints and the Vikings. In the end, the Vikings pushed the Saints overboard by a score of 42-28. The Saints move to the Sweet 16. Please visit our website to view and purchase game photos! https://alanlookphotography.zenfoliosite.com/2024-2025-high-school-sports/2024-2025-tri-valley-vikings?ct=2

I'm a little late with this post so by now all friends of Ironman football know that the Normal Community High School Ironmen football team beat the Peoria High School Lions in the last game of the season to take sole possession of the Big 12 Conference championship title. The NCHS athletics team finishes the regular season 8-1 , the Lions fell to 7-2. The NCHS Ironmen will continue post season play the weekend of November 1st against West Chicago on Dick Tharp field at Normal Community High School in Normal Illinois. #Ironsharpensiron #AlanLookPhotography Our website is now on Zenfolio! https://alanlookphotography.zenfoliosite.com/2024-2025-high-school-sports/2024-2025-normal-community-ironmen?ct=2 Kicker William Castro kicks the point after.  Castro is also playing this weekend on the NCHS soccer team in the post season series.

On September 15th, 2012 Jimmy Garoppolo visited Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University as the starting quarterback for the Eastern Illinois Panthers.  Who knew that 8 years later he would become one of 2 starting quarterbacks in the NFL's SuperBowl.  Jimmy of course is the 2nd starting Quarterback from Eastern to do well.  Ten Years before, another named Tony Romo completed his senior year at Eastern.  Tony went on to an NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys. Freelance photographer Alan Look was fortunate to have captured both players in action.  The image of Tony Romo was taken at Eastern during the Homecoming game in 2002 against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.  The image has been used by national media and in several books.  The images of Jimmy Garoppolo were both used by Upper Deck as trading cards for his rookie season.

Illinois State University Redbird Women's Volleyball hosted a 4 team volleyball this past weekend.  Participating visiting teams were #7 ranked Marquette Golden Eagles, #7 ranked University or Illinois Fighting Illini and the Knights from the University of Central Florida.  Events kicked off on Friday evening with the Knights and Golden Eagles followed by ISU v the Illini.  Both those matches went 4 sets with Golden Eagles defeating the Knights and ISU upsetting the Illini! On Saturday UCF took on the Illini in a morning match.  The Illini fell once again moving their record in the tournament to 0-2 and setting UCF's record to 1-1.  The evening matchups included a 5:30 match between UCF and Illinois State and the nightcap was Marquette and the Illini.  Both matches went 5 sets, both thrillers with ISU taking the win over UCF and the Illini besting Marquette. Sunday afternoon, the final match between Marquette and Illinois State was nothing short of epic...

The local football season kicked off today with the Illinois State Redbird Red-White scrimmage.  A healthy combination of fans and students attended the event and the preliminary activities which included the annual student promo photo on the field in Hancock Stadium with the Big Red Marching Machine, cheerleaders, flag corp, and Redline Dancers forming ISU all wearing red shirts. High School football will follow in 13 days with the first Friday Lights games. Get out this fall, support your local teams and see some of the great talent that passes through our communities! Red-White game gallery

To many of the festivals hosted in Normal, the Make Music Normal festival is pretty young.  That doesn't keep it from being a great event.  The festival set in the more mature business district of the town provides an inviting rustic, quaint and appealing venue.  The festival seems to be growing every year.  This year it sported 6 stages in about a 3 block area of North, Broadway and Beaufort streets, including the round a bout area.  Providing the entertainment for the festival are a large number of bands from both the twin cities, central Illinois area and the nation at large.  The festival gives music lovers a place to see the local entertainment outside the usual bar and restaurants and without a cover charge.  Along with the entertainment are a number of vendors selling assorted eats and drinks, including wine and beer.  The music genres are varied and include something for just about everyone.  Folk to pop to rap to indie rock and c...

--> Sports fans love a good player tribute or memorial.   They flock to places like stadiums, the various hall of fames, hometowns of heroes and museums to see artist’s renditions of the athlete and their careers.   There are simply hundreds of places to visit to pay homage to the many great athletes of the world.   Bloomington Illinois has added a venue in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery!   A cemetery is not your standard variety venue. Many cemeteries feature stone art.   Many old stones were carved with scenes of nature or animals and the way those are depicted generally has a meaning.   There is some of that art in Evergreen Memorial, but there is also new art that just grows with the trees.   It all began in 2015 when a tree died near a spot where a plane had crashed during the Memorial Day ceremonies of 1948.   Instead of cutting down the tree and removing the stump, management decided to have it carved into a memorial com...