Fans have their favorite plays of all time, but what about coaches? Do they have a favorite call they’ve ever made? The Daily Chronicle asked each of the five head football coaches in its area about the favorite call of their careers.

In this installment, Genoa-Kingston coach Cam Davekos recalls going against his team’s tendencies for a touchdown in a playoff win against St. Francis in a 2021 second-round game.

When first-year coach Cam Davekos and his Genoa-Kingston coaching staff prepped for a 2021 second-round playoff game against St. Francis, they noticed something.

Whenever the Cogs were in their favorite formation in the wing-T, the result was essentially one of two plays.

So they installed a new wrinkle and rolled it out against the Spartans. It resulted in a 19-yard touchdown catch by Ethan Wilnau in an eventual 21-3 win.

“Normally, we’d fake it to the back we’d have in motion and we would run a post wheel, a two-man concept,” Davekos said. “We would try to take advantage of the middle or take advantage of the running back out of the backfield, running the wheel. Our tendency was one of those two.”

So the staff threw in a tight end delay. That drew the corner off Wilnau long enough for quarterback Nolan Perry to hit him for the touchdown.

The Cogs went up 7-0 and the defense took care of things the rest of the way, forcing five turnovers.

“We were thinking they were so aggressive they would jump on that tight end delay,” Davekos said. “They did, and it worked, and it was a thing of beauty.”

Davekos said the play is steeped not only in on-the-field significance, but also in emotional significance.

Travis Frederick, head coach of the Cogs from 2011 to 2014, was the defensive coordinator at the time. And Bill McCarty, Davekos’ coach when he played at G-K, was on the staff helping with the transition from Chad Wilmarth to Davekos.

“[McCarty] was up in the box, obviously on staff with me,” Davekos said. “That was a special day for us, and I will remember that play for, I think, forever.

“It was a special one.”

McCarty coached the Cogs from 2005 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2016. He led the Cogs to the quarterfinals in 2016, a feat Davekos and the team repeated with the win over the Spartans.

And it was in big part thanks to a tight end delay on a wheel route. After that, Davekos said the team put the pedal to the metal.

“It hit exactly the way we thought it would for a touchdown,” Davekos said. “I think that play is one of my favorites, because it showed how our kids took what we usually do, were able to adjust and adapt and kind of enhance our normal scheme.”

The Cogs ran into eventual Class 4A champion Joliet Catholic in the next round, losing 42-7. They’ve made the playoffs twice since, losing in the 3A first round both times.

Davekos said that the 2021 group understood the game, and it showed in how they adjusted and reacted when Davekos and the staff dialed up the play.

“In practice that week, we had a group of seniors and juniors that just understood our goals and missions throughout the year,” Davekos said. “They took constructive criticism to heart and were always there to get better.”