By Keith Brake
Geneseo Current
Find the horse, saddle back up, and move on
There has been some enthusiasm in the two communities prior to Friday night's Geneseo vs. Assumption battle at Bob Reade Field.
Both teams stirred up that excitement with their improvements heading into the final weeks of last season.
The Maple Leafs carried a “we belong here” attitude into their two playoff games.
It was the same with Assumption, which put things together before falling to Iowa Class 3A champion Dubuque Wahlert in the quarterfinals.
Then came last week and a low bridge for both.
For the Knights, it was a 36-13 loss at Solon, a traditional eastern Iowa power.
For the Leafs, it was a 41-14 humbling at the hands of Rochelle, an old rival from NCIC Conference days.
Whoever wins between Geneseo and Assumption will get credit for a major emotional comeback in just one week.
The Maple Leafs will be looking for exactly that as they swing into Western Big 6 play against Rock Island and Moline the next two weeks.
We saw Geneseo's scrimmage against Pleasant Valley before the season started, and the Leafs looked pretty sharp in drills against the Spartans.
Both teams were organized beyond what they had been when Geneseo and PV scrimmaged last season.
We expected to see two tough lines run into each other and we did, but the Leafs moved the ball quite a bit better than last year.
Then, Pleasant Valley beat Bettendorf when they met in their season-opener on Saturday morning.
For Geneseo, Rochelle was . . .Rochelle+plus. If you can imagine Team X playing a Geneseo team from the 70's, that's about what it looked like.
Rochelle plays in Class 5A now and they made it to the quarterfinals last season.
You can expect the Hubs to make another deep run this season. They're air-tight up front, their backs are precise and hit their holes very quickly.
But it was not a complete wash-out for the Leafs. Geneseo's offense improved as the game went on. The Leafs generated 200 yards rushing, which isn't bad considering Rochelle had just over 300.
That tells me Rochelle was playing against another pretty good team.
It also tells me that Geneseo aspires to be good and the kind of effort that they put into that will determine it.
Things can work out. Geneseo isn't far removed now from playing in Class 5. The Leafs could meet Rochelle again, and they'll want to be ready . . .
Friday's game? Expect a mix of pass and run from Assumption.
Geneseo takes its snaps from under center, and is run-first, but not run-only.
