Rangers fans pack the street for tickets to tonight's Sectional championship

About 100 devoted Rangers fans lined the street next to Rich Herrin Gymnasium Thursday, waiting for tickets to go on sale for tonight's championship game.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Rangers are not only in the IHSA Sectional, they are a part of the Super 16.
Tawana Shew began her ticket quest at around 8:30 a.m.
"I've been a fan all my life," said Shew, a 1973 graduate of Benton Consolidated High School.
While Shew is fan in general, she has a special place in her heart for her special friend, Timmy Henson. Henson has been one of the senior leaders of the team.
"I think if they keep playing as a team, they'll win," Shew said.
Bobby Smothers graduated from Thompsonville High School in 1973 and lives in Johnston City, but he says he has been a Rangers fan "forever."
In line for his tickets since 10 a.m., Smothers said he's only missed three games this season -- one for illness and the other two because he was attending the Rangerettes games.
Smothers believes the Rangers will pull out a win against Centralia.
"Why, yeah!" he exclaimed. "I think losing those two games has helped them to keep going. It makes them know defeat."
The Rangers are 31-2 on the season, losing only to Murphysboro and Pinckneyville.
Edna Hale, who said she has been a fan "all my life," thinks the Rangers stand a good chance for victory as well. She joined the line about 11 a.m. to get tickets for her son, Randy.
"He's working," she said, "and he wanted to make sure he got tickets."
Hale will watch her Rangers on the court while listening to her grandson, Ryan Rudloff, in the pep band.
"My grandson is a senior," she said of Rudloff, a saxophonist. "We are just all excited,"
Tickets went on sale at 1:30 p.m. The Rangers will take the court Friday at 7 p.m. against Centralia with high hopes of capturing the crown in its own IHSA Class 3A championship game.