After spending more than 24 hours in the press box at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, I finally got to see the curtain come down on the 2008 football season.

CHAMPAIGN -- Dave Villarreal put it best when describing champions -- those who won football games this weekend and those who didn't.

CHAMPAIGN -- Playing in a state final was ''a dream'' for St. Francis quarterback Jeff Reckards. It was a dream that the 6-foot, 160-pound senior had seen up close through his uncle, former Driscoll coach Mike Burzawa.

CHAMPAIGN -- After knocking off Downers Grove South, Bolingbrook, Brother Rice and Mount Carmel, Hinsdale Central coach Mike DiMatteo asked, ''Who's next, the Bears?''

In 2002, Hinsdale Central's John Whitelaw was the Red Devils' ball boy. Now, the junior quarterback is the leader of a team headed to its first football state championship game.

A couple of guys named Charlie have turned the landscape of high school football into their own playground.

You could get a migraine listening to the exchanges between football fans of the DuPage Valley Conference and the Chicago Catholic League Blue.

You might call De La Salle's road trip last week to Belleville West a long day's journey into morning.