Clock Strikes Midnight On Cinderella Cats

Neither team was supposed to be there, but for different reasons.

Rockford Lutheran is a 2A school, but due to the convoluted IHSA rules, failure to win at the 2A level allows them to drop down into the 1A tournament – much to the chagrin of teams like Orangeville, who deserved far better to end their season.

And then you had the RR/SM Wildcats. A team that had struggled mightily during the season – losing at home to Stockton at one point, and getting run off their own floor by the Eastland Cougars earlier in the season. Part of the struggles were in trying to overcome the loss of Ann...