Don Beebe’s Team Wins State Title

29th November 2011  |  IL, Aurora

The Aurora Christian Eagles coached by former Chadron State College great Don Beebe won the Illinois Class 3A football playoff championship on Saturday by defeating Mount Carmel High 34-7. The state championship was a first for a team from Aurora, which has six high schools, since the football playoffs were begun 36 years ago. It also was the first time an Aurora Christian team had won a state title in the 32 years that the school has been open. The Eagles finished the season with a 13-1 record. Their only loss was to Montini, which became the Class 5A state champion last weekend with a 70-45 victory in the finals.

“Coaching the state championship team was way better than winning the Super Bowl,” said Beebe, who was a wide receiver on six NFL teams that played in the Super Bowl, including the Green Bay Packers that won the crown in 1997.

“That’s because this championship meant so much to the players, their parents, the whole school and our entire city,” Beebe said.

The Eagles were led by quarterback Anthony Maddie, who rolled up 5,978 yards in total offense this season, the second highest total in Illinois high school history. The 6-2, 203-pound senior competed 61 percent of his passes and threw for 52 touchdowns. He also ran for 15 TDs and returned both a punt and a kickoff to the end zone. He has signed to play for Western Michigan after turning down scholarship offers from two Big 10 Conference teams because he wants to be a starter all four years.

Beebe’s son, Chad, a 5-8 ½, 158-pound junior, missed much of the season because of collarbone problems, but caught 38 passes for 628 yards and eight touchdowns in four games early in the playoffs after “we prayed for him and he was healed,” in Beebe’s words.