According to game results at the Sangamon Elementary Super Bowl Thursday, the Denver Broncos have a good chance of winning Sunday.
The annual game, which excites sleepy children to pop out of bed before school, has been a Sangamon tradition for years.
“The kids always asked about the Super Bowl,” Principal Mark Cabutti said. “They wanted to play a Super Bowl game. So a day or two before the real Super Bowl, we play and make our predication. Our accuracy has been pretty good.”
Cabutti allows the students to choose which team they want to play for. Teams were split fairly evenly between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos this year.
In an energy field game, which included three interceptions, the second grade students ended the lunchtime game tied 21-21. The first grade game ended up with the Broncos up 14-7.
When Cabutti became principal at Sangamon Elementary, the playground was filled with old wooden equipment, including a merry-go-round, which Cabutti pushed. After a few fundraisers and a contribution from the Mahomet-Seymour School District, Sangamon was able to purchase the playground equipment they have today.
“When the kids voted for what they wanted, one of the things that kept coming up was a field,” Cabutti said. “They wanted an open space to play soccer and football. That’s when we decided to put grass (on the southeast side of the playground). “
Band Director Dick Watkins donated sod, and the maintenance crew painted lines for a soccer field and a football field, depending on the season. Because there is so much traffic on the field during the school year, the grass gets torn up. The field is reseeded every summer.
When the field gets muddy during the school year, Cabutti plays on the blacktop during lunch recess with students.
Around the same time as Sangamon received a new playground, Cabutti also had hip replacement surgery with the restrictions that he could not push the merry-go-round or play basketball with students.
“Football became the natural sport to play because I can stand there and play quarterback,” he said. “I don’t have to run a lot.”
Cabutti said after teaching for 10 years it was important for him to stay connected with students during the day.
“As a principal, the administrative part of the job can become so great that you lose sight of the children,” he said. “(Recess) is a time every day when I know I’ll get to be with them, and enjoy them. I get to build a relationship with all the kids. I get to see them, talk, visit with them and they get to see me.”
Cabutti also said his presence at lunchtime recess also helps teachers get instruction started immediately when students return to class.
“When I was a classroom teacher, there were days I would spend sorting out playground problems before I could start teaching,” he said. “Hopefully I can deal with the issues right there on the spot so the teachers can start teaching as soon as they come in because they aren’t sorting through a lot of recess issues.”
