Sterling leaps into rivalry week with game at Geneseo looming

Sterling and Geneseo have been lacing up the cleats and going at it on the football field for decades in one conference or another.

On Friday in Geneseo, they meet again, with the Warriors coming in on a two-game winning streak, the Leafs off a two-game losing streak.

“We’re going to take it pretty seriously,” Sterling running back Antonio Tablante said. “We’ve been working hard all week in practice. We’re not taking anything lightly.”

Not only is it a rivalry game, it’s a rivalry game on the road. The Golden Warriors make the trip to Bob Reade Field after three straight weeks of home games.

“It’s a really good high school rivalry,” Sterling coach Jon Schlemmer said. “I think the games since I’ve been here, 13, 14 years, it’s just a little different feel. We have a lot of respect for their program. They’ve won state championships, they’ve been in state championships. The coaching staff knows what it takes to win big games. The preparation has to be really good for us to be able to compete on Friday.

“We got off the bus Week 1, but it’s been a while since we got off the bus to play Lakes. [Geneseo] is a cool place to play. They’ve got a cool stadium. They do things right there. But every time you go there, you know you’ll have to compete with their crowd a little bit, which is what high school football should be when you get on the road.”

But Schlemmer’s team has played in hostile environments before, and he expects the Warriors to be ready for it. Sterling has not lost a road game since Week 9 of the 2018 season, a 35-7 setback at Sycamore in their final NIB-12 game.

Geneseo got off to a 2-0 start, cruising to nonconference wins over Chicago Noble/Comer and Sandwich by a combined 107-7. But in Western Big 6 play, the Leafs have lost two straight, dropping a 22-17 game to United Township before losing 28-7 at Galesburg.

“They do so much formationally, they make it tough as heck on you,” Schlemmer said. “Our kids have to get aligned right, and that’s something that, if you get out of position, they have good enough athletes with [AJ Weller] their quarterback, for a young kid throws a pretty good ball, they do a lot of motions, a lot of shifts, and a lot of formations we don’t normally see.”

The Leafs have totaled 186 rushing yards and 269 passing yards through two conference games, putting them sixth in the league in total offense. Weller is 50-for-81 passing with five touchdowns. Jaden Weinzierl leads Geneseo in rushing with 44 carries for 261 yards and four touchdowns.

“A lot of jet sweeps, [so we have to] get to the main guy, try to force their quarterback out to make tough plays,” AJ Kested said.

The Leafs’ defense shows some different fronts, with a 5-2 setup at times.

“Their defensive line is one of the better ones we’ve seen,” Schlemmer said. “I think that’s a strength of what they do defensively. They’ve got kids up front who really know how to play and are really good football players. We talk all the time about winning the line of scrimmage, and that’s nowhere as important as it is when you play Geneseo.”

Tablante said the key to moving the ball against a 5-2 is ”running to the outside and attacking gaps.”

Since losing to Montini in Week 2, the Golden Warriors have won one close game and one not-so-close game, having to score 18 points in the fourth quarter to beat Galesburg in Week 3 before a Week 4 win over Alleman in which Sterling was in control from the start. Over the span of three quarters – the fourth quarter of the Galesburg game and the first two quarters of the Alleman game – Sterling outscored its opponents 67-0.

“Our defense has been really stepping up, making big plays, interceptions, turning them into pick-6s, we’ve had a couple of those,” Kested said. “Our offense is starting to click a little more. Linemen are getting off the blocks and making holes for running backs.”

For Sterling, the Week 2 loss recedes further and further into the rearview mirror with a 2-0 start to conference play and a chance to improve to 3-0, and beat a longtime rival in the process.

“I think they have to be ready for us,” Tablante said. “They haven’t played Sterling football yet.”