Sean Hammond’s story below was originally published by the Northwest Herald on July 24, 2017:


Crystal Lake South assistant football coach Scott Busam needed help, so he had head coach Rob Fontana send out a group message to the entire football team.

Busam’s uncle, Fred Prokop, and his family live in a house next to Riverfront Park in Algonquin. Prokop and his family had fallen behind sandbagging around their house as the Fox River continued to rise on Thursday.

Busam said he sent out word that they needed help and then went to work at his uncle's house, not knowing if anyone would show up.

Little by little, Gators football players came out to help until there were more than a dozen players moving around sandbags and re-stacking walls that had already been breached.

“This was straight up: We have problems and I need help,” Busam said. “Those guys showed up. And that was after what I thought was a brutal morning (football) camp that day.”

Because of all the rain, the Gators practiced inside Thursday, which meant lots of conditioning drills. Senior running back Kyle Leva called it the “toughest day of conditioning.”

Click here to finish story on Northwest Herald website