Eastern Illinois and its neighbor school about 45 miles to the north – the University of Illinois – never have met on the football field.
At 6 p.m. today, though, Steckel will make his collegiate debut for the Panthers against the Illini at Memorial Stadium in Champaign after missing the past two seasons with an Achilles injury that led to four surgeries.
During preseason workouts as a freshman in 2004 for the NCAA Division I-AA Panthers, Steckel tore his left Achilles tendon, which required surgery, and he missed the season. Since then, he has endured three additional surgeries because of infection or the wound tearing open, he said.
But after his fourth surgery, Steckel sought help from a wound specialist in Crystal Lake. The injury was treated with various dressings and ointments, which have been a success.
Steckel said he made it through all of EIU's spring practices, an entire summer of training and the team's fall camp without any trouble. And through all the off-season workouts, Steckel enjoyed sweating with his teammates again.
Steckel expects to get some work tonight in his first college game. He said he will start on the Panthers' punt team and is a regular in the team's goal-line and double-tight end formations.
The Panthers are coming off a 9-3 season in which they won the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-0 record and made the I-AA playoffs. In the preseason, EIU was ranked as high as No. 14 in national polls. Illinois, meanwhile, went 2-9 last season with an 0-8 Big Ten Conference record.
"[Tonight's game] is really special, because it's Illinois," Steckel said. "A lot of the guys at Eastern were either recruited by Illinois and never got [a scholarship offer] or thought they should have been recruited by Illinois. There's a lot of emotion there."
Perfect start for Purdue: Huntley grad Sammi Mader, a junior outside hitter for Purdue's nationally ranked volleyball team, helped the Boilermakers go 4-0 last weekend and win their own Mortar Board Premier tournament.
Purdue, whose media guide features Mader and senior Brittany Dildine on the cover, is ranked 16th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
Fack finds the net: George Mason junior soccer player Sarah Fack scored the game-winning goal Sunday for the D-I Patriots in their 4-1 win against Coastal Carolina.
Pitching prowess: Cary-Grove grad Chase Sonen, a junior pitcher at D-II St. Joseph's (Ind.) College, made the all-star team and ranked in the top five in five categories while playing in the Florida College Instructional League this summer.
Chamberlain, a four-year letterwinner at Whitewater, earned numerous honors in college, including the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Judy Kruckman Scholar Athlete Award for 2004-05. Chamberlain, who played No. 1 singles and doubles in her last two college seasons, was a two-time WIAC first-team honoree who earned league titles during her career at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles.
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