By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
A new prep football season will officially start for Mahomet-Seymour High School on Aug. 30 when the Bulldogs play at home against Marion in the first game of 2019.
That game will continue with an ongoing theme:
— There’s a new head coach;
— There’s new traditions;
— There’s new ideas.
The non-profit Bulldog Gridiron Club is a supplement to the M-S Booster Club (which supports all Bulldog activities) and was formed this summer. It has hit the ground running at full speed.
“Our mission is to enhance the reputation and tradition of Mahomet-Seymour football through financial and community outreach,” organization president Nikki Gallier said.
The goal is not just to benefit those students who are playing football, Gallier said, but to “collaborate with the band and football cheerleaders.”
The Bulldog Gridiron Club is not school-affiliated – much like support-based parent groups for band and drama – but is school-approved.
First-year Bulldog coach Jon Adkins, who moved his family to the community before the end of May, is receiving support that he called unexpected.
“What coach in America doesn’t want a group of individuals who form together and take on big tasks like that,” Adkins said, “and they venture out on their own and do fundraising.
“At the end of the day, they are there for me in times of need. It’s definitely a blessing.”
Among the projects the Bulldog Gridiron Club is undertaking are:
— A meal-initiative program that will cover all levels of M-S football, varsity, junior varsity and freshmen for away games;
— Creating themes for every regular-season home varsity game;
— Starting a scholarship program;
— Reviving the Blue Dot Society, which was started 36 years ago and recognizes four-year football-playing members (and others who have transferred to M-S and are voted in by that year’s senior class) who sign their names in a book;
— Weekly chalk talks with Adkins where community members can ask questions of the coach;
— A fundraising component which already includes a Facebook page with a link to where persons can donate money to the 501c organization.
“We want to bring back the excitement that this is the place to be on Friday nights for the student body, families and community members,” Gallier said. “We want to get the feeling buzzing in town and make it a thing that no one wants to miss.”
In the past, the football program was supported by a parent-group known as The Sideliners, but it has been inactive the past couple seasons.
“With a new head coach, the timing was right to rebrand,” Gallier said.
Adkins said he is as impressed with the volunteers from the Bulldog Gridiron Cub as he is with the 90-plus students who participated in 12 days of practices and one seven-on-seven event in June. More team workouts are scheduled to resume on July 9.
“It’s a tremendous group of hard-working people,” Adkins said. “At every program I’ve been at, there have never been meals done at the freshmen and JV levels.
“That’s one of the tasks that this group has chosen to take on and I wasn’t expecting to have that.”
Gallier is one of several officers in the fledgling organization.
Mike Buzicky is the vice-president, Lisa Frerichs is the treasurer and Lindsey Peters is the secretary. All have children who will be involved this fall with either football or cheerleading.
“We are an excited group who are putting out 110 percent effort for our kids who are giving their 110 percent,” Frerichs said.
For Frerichs and her husband, Jeff, it’s an expanded role for something they did informally last year with the M-S JV squad.
“We started preparing healthy snacks (fruits, veggies, hummus, pasta salad, egg bakes, cheeses, etc.) for the JV team’s away games,” Lisa Frerichs said. “After the games, we found a locally owned restaurant to make a hot meal for the players and coaches for a reasonable price.
“Because we were supporting the community we played in, the local owners were very supportive and really went all out; Angelo’s in Taylorville provided lasagna, salad and bread and Niemerg’s Steak House in Effingham made BBQ, mashed potatoes and green beans.”
Arranging those details for 34 junior varsity athletes provided challenges that will be far greater now for an overall program that Adkins hopes will have more than 100 total participants this fall.
The three M-S football teams will play a total of 13 away games in a two-month span, starting in late August.
“Now we are doing meals sometimes three nights a week for 115 players, coaches and our cheerleading squad for away games,” Lisa Frerichs said. “Thursday night dinner is an additional night for around 50 varsity players.
“Obviously, Jeff and I cannot donate all of the food for the meals even though we wish we could. We also cannot prep, prepare and deliver; we need help. Donations for food and help with prep is a considerable donation to keep our players, cheerleaders and coaches fed.
“The kids get to school in the morning, eat lunch and some won’t eat again until after the game late into the evening. We can do better than that for them.”
M-S will have five regular-season home varsity football games. Each Friday night will have at least one specific theme.
— Aug. 30 vs. Marion, Dawgapalooza as well as Youth Football Night and Teacher Appreciation Night. All youth-league players who wear their uniforms will be admitted free and will have the opportunity to form a tunnel that the Bulldog players will run through en route to the field. Additionally, seniors will select their most influential teacher and they will be recognized;
— Sept. 13 vs. Mattoon, Military Night. All veterans and active service members from any branch will be honored and admitted without charge;
— Sept. 27 vs. Mount Zion, Homecoming as well as the night for the third-annual M-S Foundation Hall of Fame inductions. Also that evening, Blue Dot members will be invited back and will be recognized collectively;
— Oct. 4 vs. Lincoln, Cancer Awareness Night will serve to honor cancer fighters and survivors;
— Oct. 25 vs. Peoria Richwoods, Senior Night. All M-S seniors and their parents will be honored during a pre-game, on-field ceremony.
Lisa Frerichs emphasized that it’s not just students in football that will be showcased each week.
“Friday Night Lights is a special time for high schools and an opportunity to show team spirit with our community,” she said. “We want all the families to come out to see our amazing, multi-talented Marching Band and experience the camaraderie and energy from our players, cheerleaders and coaches.”
The revitalization of the Blue Dot Society is of particular interest to one of its members, 1998 M-S graduate Patrick Quinn.
“The Blue Dot means you went through a series of training, conditioning, weightlifting, football games, team dinners, loyalty, and you know the Bulldog Way inside-and-out,” Quinn said. “When I signed my name in the Blue Dot Society book, I had no idea what it would lead to 20-21 years later.”
The Blue Dot Society was formed during Frank Dutton’s coaching tenure in 1984 and continued during Tom Shallenberger’s coaching career, but was discontinued in 2007 when Keith Pogue took over.
Quinn is optimistic that the best days are still ahead for the Blue Dot Society at M-S.
“I ultimately would like to see the Blue Dot Society become a Foundation that gives back to deserving members,” said Quinn, who started a Facebook page for the organization. “It would be nice to see someone go to college or trade school with a good amount of scholarship money.
“The deserving athlete would be someone who is a symbol for the program each year. It’s important to keep this tradition alive.”
Former football assistant Brad Stipp, who spent 12 years on the coaching staff, said the timing for the annual inductions was significant.
“It was done after two-a-days, at the beginning of the season, so you wore the blue dot on the back of your helmet,” Stipp said.
Quinn lives in the St. Louis area and has worked the past six years at CBS-affiliate KMOV News 4 as a news producer and assignment editor.
He has fond memories of his time associated with his high school football program.
“This might sound like hyperbole, but there hasn’t been a year where I have not thought about a former teammate, the good times and the bad,” Quinn said. “The values I learned by playing football in the Bulldog program, still hold up today.
“There are people I work with each day that count on me, and count on me being a good teammate. That is important to me, being a good teammate. The best part is that I have been able to thank my coaches for everything they’ve done for me.
“I was not the greatest football player, but I still cherish the relationships the Blue Dot has created. If one of the guys called me asking for help, I’d say, ‘Sure. I’ll be there. Just tell me where and when.’ “
Adkins said working with the Bulldog Gridiron Club is truly a two-way street.
“It’s definitely a give-and-take situation,” Adkins said. “They’re asking me, ‘What ideas do you have,’ and at the same time, they have suggestions.
“It’s a great relationship. We both want the same common goal: success for the M-S football program.”
There will soon be another visible sign of newness.
Adkins is spending time this week repainting the walls of the locker room which football players share with wrestling and track athletes. What was brown with some blue/gray will feature an orange bottom with a blue stripe and white along the top.
“That goes along with the theme of change,” Adkins said.
And that is a season which has already begun.
