Borharts share state moments

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

EAST PEORIA – Ashley Borhart and her father, Jason, hadn’t really been trying to one-up one another this week.

The elder Borhart was a member of Marengo’s 1992 Class 3A state runner-up football team, and the younger Borhart is a junior on Marengo’s softball team, which entered Saturday’s IHSA Class 3A state final already guaranteed at least a second-place finish.

The two teams represented Marengo’s best athletic finishes in the history of the school until the Indians handed Ashley Borhart permanent bragging rights.

Marengo beat LaSalle-Peru, 1-0, to win the IHSA Class 3A state championship and the school’s first team state title in any sport, eclipsing the 1992 football second-place finish.

“I don’t know if I’d [rub it in], but it’s nice that he had a chance to win a state title, and now I had that chance,” said Borhart, who played sporadically for the Indians this season and did not start Saturday.

“I’m glad a Marengo team finally came through.”

Jason Borhart saw parallels this season between that football team and the Indians’ softball team, particularly in the Indians’ Northern Illinois University Supersectional victory.

The Indians won in the eighth inning on Alysa Grude’s walk-off home run to secure their place in the state semifinals. Jason Borhart kicked the walk-off field goal in the third round of the 1992 playoffs to secure the Indians’ spot in the state championship game, where they lost to DuQuoin, 14-10.

“She one-upped me, which is a good thing,” Jason Borhart said. “I’m proud of them. They did a fantastic job.”

A champion’s welcome: Marengo’s fire and police departments met the team at the outskirts of town Saturday night and escorted the Indians’ charter bus back to the school in honor of their state championship.

First though, Marengo coach Dwain Nance bought the team a steak dinner at the Texas Road House in East Peoria to celebrate the monumental accomplishment.

Couldn’t do it alone: Nance has had designs on winning a state title since taking over the program in 2007 but gave most of the credit for Saturday’s win to his assistant coaches, Mike Roudabush, Shellie Kamminga, Randy Voss, Wayne Montgomery, Hal Simons and Matt Langton.

“We came in and we had expectations of winning [a state title], but I didn’t know when it would come,” Nance said. “It came today, and what a great feeling. They work so hard and get our kids prepared to play in games like this. I can’t thank them enough.”

Extra innings: Marengo and Glenbard South, which took third place with an 8-4 victory against Bethalto Civic Memorial on Saturday, are the only teams to make two appearances in the Class 3A state finals. The four-class system began in 2008. ... Marengo’s Larissa Pfeiffer tied a Class 3A record for most hits in a title game (2).

... Taylor Carlson’s sacrifice fly that drove in the winning run tied a Class 3A state record for most RBIs in a state title game (1).