'It's a big number': How Metamora's grade school basketball team went viral on TikTok

PEORIA — Metamora has a basketball team putting up big numbers.

No, not that one.

The eighth-grade boys team at Metamora Grade School is at the end of a three-year run in which they have played like a dynasty. The on-court run includes a three-year cumulative middle school record of 68-1, a seventh-grade IESA 3A state championship and a berth in the IESA 3A state championship game Thursday.

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And now a viral video that has drawn 1.6 million views on popular social media app TikTok. Yes, the Redbirds are TikTok famous, thanks to Metamora resident Dana Pace, who has made highlights videos for the team and put them on his account.

One of them has captured a lot of attention, a strong hype video set to music.

"It was really just wanting to do something for our kids and parents on the team," said Pace, director of information technology at Horace Mann Insurance in Springfield. "But 1.6 million, I'm so surprised. It's a big number."

Another video has 836,000 views, and the account and all its videos combined have surpassed 2.6 million views.

Pace's son, Rush, is the starting point guard on the team. Dana Pace started taking videos of the games with a purpose in mind.

"I wanted to create clips for him, to help teach him the game," Pace said. "I started sending clips to parents on the team for their kids, and they liked it."

Parents and the coach asked Pace to do it again this season, so he made the videos, put some music to them and began posting them on TikTok. It has captured people's attention.

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"Complete strangers commenting on it, saying that the players are so unselfish and take care of each other," Pace said. "From there, people started following to see those updates."

Now Metamora is in the championship game with a chance to repeat their state title under head coach Eric Wendte and assistant coach David Roose. The player roster includes: 1 Brady Karch; 2 Rush Pace; 3 Tanner Curtin; 4 Parker Emery; 10 Collin Morrison; 11 Kayden Turner; 22 Sam Koch; 30 Brady Jones; 31 Adam Pavesich; 33 Cameron Beekman; 43 A.J. Ioerger; and 45 Jeffery Reyes.

Pace, Morrison, Turner, Koch and Jones are the starters, and all five are moving up to Metamora's state powerhouse high school team next season. The team went 13-0 in its sixth-grade season, then 28-0 and state champs in seventh grade and now 27-1 as eighth-graders. They won state quarterfinal and semifinal games last weekend in Tolono and return there Thursday against Quincy St. Peter.

Pace, who had a wedding video business in Peoria in the mid-2000s, will be there to capture it all.

"It's a talented group of kids who have been playing together since third grade," Pace said. "That sixth-grade year was the first where they were all together on one team. We could tell that team was special. Three of those kids played up on the seventh-grade team that year. So last year, seventh-grade year … every win was double-digits.

"I started videoing the games because I wanted to collect plays to help Rush. I sent clips of the other kids to their parents. It grew into a routine."

Did he ever think it would take off on social media like this?

"No way," he said, laughing.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Watch: Metamora grade school boys basketball team goes viral on TikTok