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Maroons get rematch with Pioneers in sectional title game

Jun. 6—CHAMPAIGN — Six consecutive regional championships and eight total in the last decade have defined the expected level of success for Champaign Central.

Stacking postseason wins has become the standard for the Maroons. The 2017 team pushed it all the way to the Class 3A state tournament before an eventual fourth-place finish. The 2023 and 2025 teams also won sectional titles.

This year's Central team is pursuing the same. The Maroons (32-6) will play Normal U-High at 10 a.m. Saturday in Mount Zion with a super-sectional berth on the line.

While the Pioneers (27-5) took home an 18-2 victory against Central during the regular season, that game was nearly 2 1/2 months ago. The Maroons have lost just four more times since and are riding a 15-game winning streak into the rematch in Saturday's sectional championship game.

"I'd like to think we're a different team — a better team — but we've got to show up and prove it Saturday," Central coach John Staab said. "We've got an opportunity to do a good thing, but it's going to take a monumental effort. It's going to take all 18 guys to come in locked in and performing their jobs."

Staab has been a constant in Central's success not only in the past 10 years, but for more than two decades. The Maroons went 9-20 in his first season as coach in 2002, but only have six losing seasons total in his 24-year tenure.

Increased familiarity with winning has bred more success. So has a constant approach with a coaching staff that's had little turnover for nearly a quarter century. Strong senior classes out front as leaders has also become common for the Maroons.

"Our seniors kind of set the tone, and we've got six good ones again this year," Staab said before listing off Tre Cole, Wilson McDaniel, Ian Weber, Bryce Clark, Mark Johnson and Isaac Huddleston.

"They've stayed the course for four years," Staab continued. "They don't all make it to seniors. It takes a special kid to endure four years of the expectation and the work. Really blessed to have those six leaders this year. Half of them don't play very much, if at all, and yet you wouldn't know it. They're team guys, and they show up every day and do what they can to make the team better. Really selfless dudes.

"Certainly, we've had talent for sure, but talent alone doesn't win. You need everything to be pulling in the right direction. A combination of those things, in my mind, is why we've been so successful."

That combination helped Central turn around a season that started with three losses in its first five games, including the blowout loss to U-High. Back-to-back home wins in April against Effingham and Big 12 rivals Normal, Staab said, was a turning point in the season.

A 10-9 win against the Flaming Hearts and a 9-8 win against the Ironmen two days later were both come-from-behind victories for the Maroons.

"Those two wins kind of got us going, and we've played pretty good baseball the past month-and-a-half, two months," Staab said.

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