Princeton pep band to play at state tournament: Boys basketball notes

Shaw Local

The Princeton pep band has been one of the best-kept secrets in north central Illinois.

The secret will be out Thursday.

Steven Olson’s band has been selected to play during the Class 1A and 2A semifinal games on Thursday at the State Farm Center in Champaign. Olson submitted an audition video last year along with other bands from around the state.

The PHS band was originally selected to play at the state volleyball tournament last fall, then the IHSA moved its performance back to the boys’ basketball tournament to align with the recognition for the 1976 Tiskilwa band’s 50th anniversary on Thursday.

“This is a huge honor for the band and my students,” Olson said. “Pep band is just one element of our band program, but we take a lot of pride in the way that we perform as a pep band and in bringing the music and energy to games at PHS. We are very excited to bring the same enthusiasm to the schools participating in the IHSA state tournament.”

Olson said about 75 students will make the trip to perform. Due to the limited size of the U of I band section, the Tigers will split into two groups with half of the band playing at a time covering the four games.

Howard, York make 4A state finals

Kevin Howard played on Princeton’s 1994 Class A Sweet 16 team. Now he’s taking it a step further as an assistant coach for York.

York punched its ticket to the 4A State Final 4 by defeating St. Ignatius 58-56 in overtime in Monday’s Chicago Supersectional at UIC. It’s York’s first supersectional victory since 1982.

The Dukes (32-4) will face Marist (31-5) in Friday’s first 4A quarterfinal at 2:30 p.m. at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Howard, who was head coach at Princeton in 2018-19, is in his third season on the York staff. He said the Dukes are “really big and physical.”