Oak Forest Celebrates Second-Place Finish in State

Oak Forest High School didn’t waste any time in celebrating its state runner-up baseball team.

Shortly after at Silver Cross Field in Joliet on Saturday afternoon, the Bengals celebrated their season with a parade through Oak Forest and a trophy presentation at the high school.

“I want to congratulate you on a great season,” District 228 Superintendent Bill Kendall said to the team on the stage in the school cafeteria. “I see you’re not real happy right now, you’re down. A couple years from now you’ll realize what you did. You did a heck of a job.”

Kendall and new Oak Forest principal Brad Sikora both congratulated the Bengals on their fantastic season. They said they appreciate not only the Bengals’ play, but also the way the players conducted themselves on the field.

“I’m proud of you for how you performed and what you did,” Kendall said. “But I’m more proud of how you handled yourself. When you were winning, you were classy as can be. When you started to struggle a little bit, you were still classy.”

Before the pep rally at the school, the Bengals’ caravan rode through town with fans cheering. Oak Forest pitcher Kyle Funkhouser said he appreciates the community in Oak Forest.

“Even at football games we get packed stands,” Funkhouser said. “Sometimes there’s not even room to sit against a rival school. And even baseball games, we get pretty good crowds against Lemont and Tinley and our rival schools.”

While Oak Forest finished the season 27-8-1 and made it to state for the first time since 1985, many of the players were understandably disappointed with the outcome of Saturday’s game.

“I wish we would have finished on top,” first baseman Tom Livingston said. “But second place is all right.”

Livingston is only a sophomore, so he’ll be back next year. He said Oak Forest’s two seniors—Bobby Sheppard and Tim Barry—taught him about perseverance.

“Just not to give up,” Livingston said of the lesson learned.

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