Full Text of HR0106 99th General Assembly
HR0106 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are pleased to congratulate
the Illinois State | 4 | | University football team, the Redbirds, on its remarkable | 5 | | 2014-2015 season,
finishing with a record of 13 wins and 2 | 6 | | losses, and making it to the NCAA Division I Football
| 7 | | Championship; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds are coached by Brock Spack, who is in | 9 | | his
sixth year with the program, Offensive Coordinator Kurt | 10 | | Beathard, and Defensive
Coordinator Spence Nowinski; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds kicked off the 2014-2015 campaign on | 12 | | September 6th at home with
a win over the Mississippi Valley | 13 | | State Delta Devils; the win against Mississippi Valley State
| 14 | | started a 7-game win streak; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds only regular season loss came on | 16 | | November 1st against the University
of Northern Iowa Panthers, | 17 | | 42-28, a team they eventually met again in the post season; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds won their next 4 contests to finish | 19 | | the regular season with a record
of 10 wins and 1 loss, winning | 20 | | the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the first time in | 21 | | 15 years; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, In the first round of the NCAA Division I Football | 2 | | Championship on December
6th, the Redbirds again faced the | 3 | | University of Northern Iowa Panthers; they avenged their | 4 | | earlier defeat, winning by a score of 41 to 21 and advancing to | 5 | | the
quarterfinals; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds faced the Eastern Washington Eagles | 7 | | in the quarter-final match-up on
December 13th; it was a | 8 | | high-scoring shootout between 2 offensive driven teams, with | 9 | | the
Redbirds prevailing 59 to 46; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds win over Eastern Washington was | 11 | | celebrated with heavy hearts,
with one minute remaining in the | 12 | | game a fan in the stands suffered a medical emergency; that
man | 13 | | was John Rodgers, father of Eastern Washington offensive | 14 | | lineman Jake Rodgers; after the
game, many of the Redbirds | 15 | | players were calling home to talk with their own fathers and | 16 | | praying for
the Rodgers family; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, For the semifinal match-up, the Redbirds traveled | 18 | | to New Hampshire, going coast-to-coast in one week to face the | 19 | | top-seeded University of New Hampshire Wildcats on December
| 20 | | 20th; trailing the Wildcats through the first 3 quarters
and | 21 | | being down 18 to 6 to start the fourth quarter, the Redbirds | 22 | | refused to go down in defeat and responded with
15 unanswered |
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| 1 | | points, taking the lead 21 to 18 and advancing to finals; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds family learned on December 26th that | 3 | | John Rodgers,
father of Eastern Washington offensive lineman | 4 | | Jake Rodgers, had passed away from heart
complications; his | 5 | | death shook the Eastern Washington family and stayed with the | 6 | | Redbirds; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds players and coaches wanted a way to | 8 | | honor the Rodgers family,
deciding to wear a number 65 decal on | 9 | | their helmets, lineman Jake Rodgers number, when they
faced | 10 | | North Dakota State University in the championship; Eastern | 11 | | Washington Coach Beau
Baldwin in response, "The ISU football | 12 | | program and Coach Spack are not only incredible on
the field, | 13 | | but are amazing men of character as well."; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds made their first ever appearance in | 15 | | the NCAA
Division I Football Championship Game on January 10th | 16 | | to face the North Dakota State
University Bison in Frisco, | 17 | | Texas at Toyota Stadium; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Illinois State University alumni and fans from | 19 | | near and far hosted watch parties to
cheer on their Redbirds; | 20 | | over 80 watch parties in cities across the United States, and
| 21 | | as far away as Guatemala and Australia, had fans tuned in to | 22 | | see the conclusion of this
miraculous season; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds knew the contest against the North | 2 | | Dakota State Bison
would be tough; the Bison were appearing in | 3 | | their 4th straight championship game, winning the
prior 3; the | 4 | | Redbirds were not afraid and welcomed the challenge; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, The Redbird defense stopped North Dakota State on | 6 | | its first offensive drive, with
Alex Donnelly forcing a Bison | 7 | | fumble in the red zone; the Redbirds drove to midfield before
| 8 | | having to punt the ball away; the Redbird defense came up big | 9 | | again, stopping the Bison in 4
plays before taking over; the | 10 | | Redbird offense took over, capping a 5-play, 38-yard drive
with | 11 | | a 13-yard touchdown pass from Tre Roberson to Jon-Marc | 12 | | Anderson, putting the Redbirds first on
the board, going up | 13 | | 7-0; North Dakota State responded by scoring on a 41-yard field | 14 | | goal; the
score at the end of the first quarter was ISU 7 - NDSU | 15 | | 3; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, In the second half, the Redbirds were unable to | 17 | | penetrate the Bison defense to find
the red zone and score; | 18 | | North Dakota State had one successful drive scoring a touchdown | 19 | | on a 6-yard pass,
the score at the end of the half was NDSU 10 - | 20 | | ISU 7; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, The Bison opened the second half with key play on | 22 | | the kickoff recovering the ball
on the Redbird 19-yard line; |
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| 1 | | the Redbird defense held the Bison from a touchdown forcing | 2 | | them
to settle for a field goal; the Redbirds had difficulties | 3 | | on the next drive going 3 plays and
punting the ball away; the | 4 | | Bison then marched 71-yards downfield in 8 plays, scoring on a | 5 | | 7-yard
run, putting the Bison up 20-7 with 7:28 remaining in | 6 | | the third quarter; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds on their next trip out on offense | 8 | | began to click with a 41-yard pass
from Tre Roberson, finding | 9 | | James O'Shaughnessy towards the sideline for a touchdown; Nick
| 10 | | Aussieker kicked the extra point and the final score of the | 11 | | third quarter was NDSU 20 - ISU 14; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, The fourth quarter began with the Redbird defense | 13 | | holding the Bison from a
touchdown and settling for an extra | 14 | | point, making it a 2 possession game with 11:20 left to play; | 15 | | the Redbirds were back on offense, charging down the field when | 16 | | Tre Roberson connected
again with James O'Shaughnessy on a | 17 | | 3-yard touchdown pass, cutting the NDSU lead to 2 points; the | 18 | | Bison followed with a drive that ate up nearly 6 minutes of | 19 | | clock before the
Redbirds forced them to punt; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds were back on offense down by 2 with | 21 | | 2:22 left to play; the Redbirds
flew down the field trying to | 22 | | score; on the fifth play of the drive, quarterback Tre Roberson | 23 | | broke
free on a run, rushing for a 58-yard touchdown, a career |
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| 1 | | long; an extra points by kicker
Nick Aussieker put the Redbirds | 2 | | ahead ISU 27 - NDSU 23 with 1:38 to go; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, The Bison took over on offense, down for the first | 4 | | time since the first quarter;
the Bison stampeded down the | 5 | | field gaining 3 successive first downs, stopping the clock each
| 6 | | time; on the seventh play of the drive, the Bison running back | 7 | | found a hole and scored; the
Redbirds blocked the extra point, | 8 | | but the damage was done, the Bison led NDSU 29 - ISU 27; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds came back on offense and tried to | 10 | | muster one last charge with 0:37
seconds remaining, but the | 11 | | Bison intercepted the ball and ran out the clock, defeating the
| 12 | | Redbirds in a thrilling championship match-up between 2 great | 13 | | football programs, NDSU 29 -
ISU 27; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds had an amazing season, winning their | 15 | | first conference title in 15 years,
and making it to the NCAA | 16 | | Division I Football Championship Game; along the journey, the
| 17 | | Redbirds defeated 7 nationally ranked opponents and set 16 | 18 | | school records, including
most wins (13), most points scored | 19 | | (574), must touchdowns (76), and most rushing yards
(3,619); | 20 | | and | 21 | | WHEREAS, The Redbirds graduate 20 seniors, who will leave | 22 | | behind a strong program they
helped take towards new heights |
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| 1 | | and will have many returning starters with goals to build on | 2 | | the
2014-2015 campaign's success; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, While the Redbirds were setting records and | 4 | | scoring on the football field,
they also scored high in the | 5 | | classroom, having similar success in their coursework with a
| 6 | | cumulative fall GPA of 2.87, setting an in-season record; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois State University Redbird football | 8 | | team was a model for success, setting
many team records on the | 9 | | field, showing their strong moral character, and excelling in | 10 | | their
academics; therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 12 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 13 | | congratulate the Illinois State University football team, the | 14 | | Redbirds, on its successful 2014-2015 campaign, making their | 15 | | first appearance in the NCAA Division I Football Championship | 16 | | Game, and we wish them great success as they continue to build | 17 | | their football program; and be it further
| 18 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 19 | | presented to the Illinois State University
Redbirds President, | 20 | | Larry Dietz, Athletic Director, Larry Lyons, Head Coach, Brock | 21 | | Spack, the
entire coaching staff, and the entire 2014-2015 | 22 | | Redbirds football team as a symbol of our respect
and esteem.
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