The game was intense — the Lyons Township High School Lions were up against their arch rivals, the Hinsdale Central Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs were, on paper, the better team. It was late February this year and the Bulldogs were on a 25-game winning streak, all ready for another one. But there it was, seconds to go in the fourth quarter, the Lions up by three.
With 30 seconds on the clock, Hinsdale gets a three-pointer, and LTHS takes control. There’s 16 seconds left and a player shoots — misses — the Bulldogs get the ball, shoot — another miss. With two seconds left, Lyons Township’s Owen Carroll grabs the ball and launches it from half court. The ball flies through the air, the buzzer sounds and the ball sinks through the net.
Hinsdale’s winning streak is over. The Lions win the game. From the booth, Lyons Township announcer Aidan Brandstedt howls, overcome with excitement. Fans flood the court. And LTTV cameras capture every last bit of it.
The half court shot made sports broadcasts in Chicago and NBC5 used LTTV footage, giving a nod to Brandstedt’s announcing, too. Well, his screaming anyway.
“I don’t think I even sat down at that game,” he said.
That footage would go on to win a Crystal Pillar Award, or a regional student Emmy. In November, it won national recognition from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the Live Sporting Event or Game category.
This is the first time these students have won a national student Emmy Award.
“When we won the Chicago Midwest chapter (of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), I had a feeling that this entry could go the distance, but I didn’t want to jinx it,” explained Bill Allen, the LTTV advisor. “We didn’t find out for months we were finalists for the national award and then we were top three.”
The parallels between the halfcourt shot and the TV team’s win aren’t lost.
“To say you won an Emmy in high school is crazy,” said Brandstedt. “It’s kind of surreal. It just feels kind of nice to see our hard work pay off.”
Brandstedt, a senior, has been announcing games since his freshman year.
Besides Brandstedt, Lyons Township winners included Fendrick Markus, Emily Schuler and Filip Sokolowski . Schuler directed the event coverage and she’d only been in the program a matter of months. She said it helped that all the camera operators caught all the action — they didn’t miss anything. Consequently, watching the footage, the audience immediately grasps the whole event — the tension in the crowd, the buildup on the court, the desperate last-chance shot and, finally, the massive explosive release from the bleachers as they empty onto the court.
“Every single camera had amazing shots,” she said. “We were able to get amazing replays right off the bat. … It was so high energy and the people were screaming through our headsets, everybody was in the fieldhouse. It was a little chaotic but every single camera got it.”
From that high to the big broadcasting award this fall, it’s been a year for Schuler.
“It’s a national award. It’s a student Emmy Award. It took a while to think about how big that is,” she said.
Both students would like to continue their TV and media work into college and beyond.
“I want to be a sports broadcaster,” Brandstedt said. Throughout high school — and during summers — he’s announced games and next fall he plans to study communications at University of Missouri.
Schuler said she’d like to do something in media, but isn’t quite sure yet, and she’ll be going to the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.
“I am thinking film and television, directing and writing,” she said. “I would be happy doing broadcasting.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
