By Keith Brake
Geneseo Current
Last season ended with on two high notes and one sour one for the Green Machine.
On the good side: A 5-5 record and Geneseo's first trip to the Class 4A playoffs since 2017.
The flip side: That 300-miles plus ride home after a first-round loss to Carterville, a very reputable southern Illinois program that many Leaf fans knew little or nothing about.
What's next?
It could be good. Geneseo's young varsity team is young no more.
Larry Johnsen Jr. welcomed 23 seniors to practice this fall.
“This year, we're going to have three-year starters for us,” Johnsen told assembled coaches at the Western Big 6 football banquet in mid-August at the Rock Island Botanical Center.
The Maple Leaf head coach was quoted the next day in the Dispatch/Argus/Quad-City Times.
“I know we only have, technically, six returning starters on offense,” Geneseo's coach said. “But we have a lot of guys who have a lot of playing time.”
By the same reckoning, Geneseo returns five starters on defense.
“We are looking for a strong start with two non-conference games against teams with winning records last year,” Johnsen said.
That would be this opponent, Noble/Comer, which came back from a 52-6 loss to Geneseo to post a 6-4 record; and Grayslake Central, which beat the varsity Leafs 24-14, and also won the sophomore game over a club that won the Western Big Six title at that level.
“It's really important for us to get off to a good start and get going right into Western Big Six conference play,” Johnsen said, “so we'll find out real fast where we're at with the guys we have right now.”
This is Noble/Comer's third trip here from Chicago after 49-0 and 52-6 defeats.
Geneseo's coaches have been impressed by how head Coach Tyler Tucker, the Comer staff, and the players go about their business. They're out to execute the basics and play good football – which proved out by how well they finished last season.
In this game, the Geneseo defense will need to keep the Catamounts' speed in front of it.
When the Leafs go on offense, Comer will have to contend with Geneseo's strength and explosiveness, which have been enhanced by work with strength training coach Angelo James, who helps with student-athletes in other sports as well.
A question Geneseo will answer this season: Does this year's team fly off the ball on offense, and to the ball on defense, like some previous Geneseo teams that are stuck in our memories?
Time may bring the answers. Meanwhile, these 23 seniors will be making memories of their own.
