Kankakee McNamara vs. Geneseo- 1978 IHSA Boys Football Class 3A Championship Game

Mac football is
winning football!

My football fandom began in approximately 1977 when my future high school, Kankakee Bishop McNamara, began its rise to gridiron greatness and powerhouse status. In 1977, Mac went to the Illinois state playoffs for the second time in state playoff history, beating cross county rival Herscher 15-6 in the first round and then being soundly thumped in the second round by the Geneseo Maple Leafs by an obscene score of 55-8. Yet, that was only the start of the storied school's journey to gridiron greatness as the returned hungry in 1978 to begin the first of many runs to the state finals.

In 1978, Mac dominated their opponents in the playoffs as the Fightin' Irish marched toward the state finals on a quest to avenge their blowout loss at the hands of Maple Leafs the year before. It was in this year that Mac had arrived and began its journey as a state football powerhouse. Under the leadership of now retired coach Rich Zinanni, for nearly 50 years, the Irish won five state titles and made a total of eight state final appearances under the legendary head coach. Since his retirement the Irish have yet to regain the gleam of champions, but hopefully someday soon they will, for McNamara football is about winning, and second place will never do. Which I know first hand, for I played for the Fightin' Irish in the early '80s as a second and third string end and tackle....