Prairie Farms Holiday Classic returns to Collinsville this week
by Mark Jurgena
COLLINSVILLE — It’s Holiday tournament time!
For the 39th time, the Prairie Farms Holiday Classic will be held at Fletcher Gym in Collinsville this week.
Sixteen teams from three states will converge on Collinsville to compete for one of the most prestigious crowns in the state.
“The PFHC is an event our community looks forward to every year,” said CHS athletic director Clay Smith. “The field of teams is always competitive and play a high level of basketball. There is nothing better than seeing Fletcher Gym packed with basketball fans cheering their teams on. We are so grateful to Prairie Farms for all they do to help make this a top event in the state.”
Yesterday was the opening day of the tourney with eight games.
Collinsville squared off with Decatur (Eisenhower) last night however results were unavailable at press time.
“The tournament is shaping up pretty good from top to bottom,” said CHS coach Darin Lee. “A lot of good first round games. Decatur (Eisenhower) will be a tough test for our first round game.”
Two-time defending champions Decatur (MacArthur), Quincy, O’Fallon, Collierville, Tenn. and the host school are considered favorites to win the title this season. Belleville East and Belleville Althoff also are in the discussion.
“How you measure Collinsville is if you’re competitive at Collinsville you’re going to be competitive in the postseason,” said Althoff coach Greg Leib. “Collinsville is going to show you a lot of things you need to get better at. You better bring your A effort because even the questionable teams are still pretty stinking good!”
One thing is for sure, whoever wins the title will solidify their ranking among the state’s elite ballclubs.
Two “new” teams are in this year’s field. Eisenhower makes its return while Carbondale, hosts of a holiday tournament themselves for over 50 years, plays at Collinsville for the first time.
Other area teams competing in the tourney are Granite City and Triad. Rockford (East), Mundelein and Lincoln are other Illinois schools competing for the crown.
“We’ve been going there for years,” began legendary Lincoln coach Neil Alexander. “I’ve had a lot of other people contact me about coming to their tournament. But our fans like coming there, we really enjoy it. I think it’s a pretty special place to play.”
In addition to the Tennessee squad, two Missouri schools, Oakville and Florissant (McCluer North) round out the field.
The tournament continues all day today (Thursday) and tomorrow then concludes tomorrow night with the championship game at 7:30 p.m.
50 years ago…
Darin Lee was there.
Okay, let’s back up for a second.
It was 50 years ago.
On Saturday there was a Facebook post on the Illinois High School Glory Days website by Jeff Collins. He posted a picture of the Bloomington Pantagraph newspaper from Dec. 23, 1973.
Collinsville was listed as playing at the Carbondale tournament. Their first round opponent was the same as this year, Decatur (Eisenhower).
However, let’s take it a step further. The coach of Carbondale High School was David Lee, the Hall of Fame coach of current Collinsville coach Darin Lee.
Yes, the current Kahok mentor remembers attending that tournament. Collinsville finished runner-up that year to Alton.
