It was a short bus trip, and Mike Noll was short of breath.

Big things were ahead for McHenry football and the kid coach, who was now in charge of running a high school program for the first time. Not that anyone knew what to expect.

Take a deep breath, Coach.

“I remember riding the bus over,” Noll said. “It was a Saturday game. I remember struggling to breathe on the bus on the way over. I was so wound up.”

McHenry beat host Johnsburg that day to open the 1988 season, and the 25-year-old head coach had win No. 1 in his debut.

The Warriors went on to win six more games that season and made the playoffs for the first time in school history, after winning five games in the past three seasons combined.

“When you look back, I was so young,” Noll, 63, said after his Richmond-Burton Ro

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