For the first time in school history, the Aurora Central Catholic football program will travel to Wisconsin for a football game. The Chargers will make the journey 160 miles north to Oostburg High School, for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, September 1st. The two-year agreement between the two schools was finalized Friday morning, and ends the Chargers prolonged journey of trying to schedule a week two opponent for the 2012 campaign.
Oostburg High School, located in the town of Oostburg, Wisconsin lies just south of Sheboygan, 45 miles north of Milwaukee. The Flyin’ Dutchman, members of the Central Lakeshore Conference, finished the 2011 regular season 7-2, before falling in the first round of the WIAA Playoffs. Oostburghas an enrollment of roughly 350 kids.
Javier Liz returns in the secondary for the Chargers in 2012. Liz had 22 tackles, and an interception last season.
“Oostburg is a solid football program,” ACC Head Coach Brian Casey said. “It will be a challenge, but great opportunity for our program, and a neat experience for our varsity kids. We have been able to done some research on them, and I think we are very similar programs, so that should make for some excitement.”
The journey to this point was a wild, and at times frusterating one for Casey and ACC Athletic Director Jeff Johnson. TheChargers were contracted to once again play at Marengo High School for fourth consecutive season. However, Marengo school officials broke that contract due to the expansion of the Big Northern Conference. One week following the conclusion of the 2011 regular season, ACC reached a tentative agreement with Escanaba High School from the upper peninsula in Michigan, only to have the Michigan High School Athletic Association reject the proposal. Senn Achievement Academy from Chicago was then slated to be the opponent, however after having the agreement and contract for over three weeks, Senn Administration would not sign off on a road-trip to Aurora. Bringing us to the two-year, home and home contract that was signed with Oostburg.
“I think the best part is knowing we have a game to play that weekend,” Casey said. “We were sorta scrambling around trying to find someone that made sense, we did not want a bye-week. We were getting to point where we were checking open dates in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Dakota’s. Fortunately, Oostburg was in a similar position as we were (opponent broke contract), and we are very similar in enrollment so it was a great match.”
The two-year contract, which runs through the 2013 football season, is a varsity contest only. The Aurora Central Catholic sophomore will have their open date filled in the near future.
“We are going to try to find a way to get our Freshman and Sophomores to play on the Friday night of that weekend (8/31),” Casey said. “There are a few schools that have their varsity teams playing either out-of-state or in a ‘showcase’ event, so we will continue to look to make sure both levels have an opponent.”
