By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

Geneseo High School was host to the Thanksgiving Shootout that included seven area schools and ended with one undefeated school – United Township High School in East Moline.

The Maple Leafs did not fare well in their opening season competition and finished the Shootout with a 0-4 record.

GHS Varsity Coach Brad Storm said, “Starting out 0-4 with three more really tough games coming up in the next 10 days doesn’t seem like there should be any reason for optimism right now. However, we have to keep reminding ourselves that we only played seven players in the four shootout games, none of which had any real varsity experience. Plus, four of those seven were new to varsity and one is new to our program so they haven’t played together much. We are probably the least experienced team in the entire State, even when we have all nine players on our roster able to play.”

Coach Storm said he felt his players did make some good strides throughout the Shootout…”Maybe our worst game was the 2-point loss to Chicago Intrinsic, when we had a big lead and let it get away, with inexperience really showing,” he said. “The biggest takeaway for players might have been that they really need to listen and focus on what we want them to do. We came back Saturday night and maybe had our best outing so far, despite a 12-point loss to Kewanee. We hadn’t seen a 1-3-1 like that and with players still really learning skills and how to play, that was tough. But, they listened and tried to do things we asked and gave Kewanee a tough game, probably surprising to everyone.”

“The guys really played hard and were given a tough task with only seven players available to play four games,” he added.

Coach Storm said, “We know that we have a long way to go, and we know that we are behind in skills. We know that we are short on numbers and experience. We know that most of our opponents will be bigger and stronger. But, we also know that we have a lot of room to improve if we keep working. If we can keep a good attitude and stay together in a positive way, we will continue to get better and that will be a fun journey”

He said if people go to the games “only” to see the Maple Leafs win, they might be disappointed often this season with the schedule Geneseo plays…”But, if they come wanting to see good character kids working hard to get better and to do the best they can to represent themselves, the team, and their school – then I think most times fans will see that out on the floor.”

For Geneseo, GHS freshman Landon Nordstrom led in scoring two games as well as sophomore Owen Parker in the other two games. GHS junior Lonnie Catour had the highest on-court rating for the Maple Leafs. Senior Jacob Harris led in rebounding overall.

THE RESULTS:

-United Township – 4-0.

-Rockridge – 3-1.

-Kewanee- 3-1.

-Rock Falls – 2 -2.

-Chicago Intrinsic – 1-3.

-Erie/Prophetstown – 1-3.

-Geneseo – 0-4.