By Keith Brake
Geneseo Current
Geneseo Football Coach Matt Furlong wanted his first Leafs team to be playing its best football during weeks seven through nine of the season.
He said last week's 34-13 win over Rock Island, was, “start to finish, our best performance of the year. And we wanted to do that.”
“For the most part, we played clean. We did have some penalties and a fumble – things we can work on.”
Geneseo made the playoffs qualifying 244th out of 256 teams chosen.
“And our (playoff draw) was not a bad one,” the coach said.
Instead of being sent south like the last two years, the Maple Leafs were sent northeast, into Chicago, “where we definitely have a chance to get to round two,” he said. Back to first round opponent Chicago Sullivan in a bit . . .
Leafs limited Rocks' speed
“We took away their effectiveness with their spread, their outside zone runs and their toss plays,” Furlong said. “They were trying to get their good running back the ball out in space.”
It didn't happen often enough for the Rocks. So . . Geneseo finished a 5-4 regular season. It's noteworthy that just one sub-.500 team made it into this year's field of 256.
The Leafs are the 16th seed in the north division of Class 4A. They'll be taking on the top seed, Chicago Sullivan, at 1 p.m. Saturday at Winnemac Stadium on the city's far north side.
Sullivan is 9-0, one of just two northern bracket teams with that record. The other 9-0 team is seeded number two. The seeding order is all determined by number of wins and playoff points earned. It leads to some early round mismatches.
With 16 playoff appearances, Sullivan is a fairly regular playoff team. But, they've never won a game. That's right, 0-16. Most of them were not close.
Sullivan's enrollment is 580. Not big, but one team in their league, Curie, counts 3,019 students. Four others have 1,392 or more.
Furlong spent 19 years at Cary-Grove, a northwest suburb just 38 miles from Sullivan's neighborhood. He knows something about the relative strengths of the city's many leagues.
For example, he said, Sullivan tends to be organized better than Chicago Comer, a team the Leafs have been playing in the early season.
“Sullivan's defense has size and speed and an aggressive style. We'll have to execute our best stuff,” Furlong said.
“On offense, they spread you out and run the ball out of it,” the coach said. “They have good skill kids.”
“On offense, too, they play physical and aggressive and try to hit you with the big play.”
The Bulldogs' defense is yielding just four points a game. Just one team has scored more than one touchdown against it.
On offense, they're scoring a modest 22.5 points a game.
A pastoral setting in the city
Winnemec Stadium is at 5105 N. Leavitt St. “If you're going to play a game in Chicago, it's a good place to play,” Furlong said.
The stadium is located in a leafy 22-acre park about 2.5 miles north of Wrigley Field and 8.5 miles north of downtown. The stadium was remodeled fairly recently, and if you're worried about finding a seat, don't be. It's plenty big. I would guess 8,000 seats, maybe more, and more than they'll need for this one.
You might worry more about finding parking, because the park, owned jointly by the Chicago Public Schools and the City, has numerous venues, for soccer, baseball, hiking and biking. I'd suggest looking it up on the Chicago parks website.
