Rock Falls prepares to face potent Genoa-Kingston attack

With Rock Falls coach Kevin Parker away from the team for family reasons this week, defensive coordinator Bob Mitton and JV head coach and varsity defensive backs coach Alex Leaf step in.

The Big Northern schedule sends the interim coaches a challenge in Week 5, with the Rockets taking on Genoa-Kingston.

“We had a conversation [Tuesday] before we took the field for practice and reiterated where we currently sit and where we are moving forward,” Leaf said. “We know we’re going into the meat of our schedule with Genoa-Kingston, and then Byron right afterward. Really at this point what I told the kids is it’s a moment you have to reflect on why you’re here, what you’re here for, and at the end of the day you’re playing a sport that you love.”

Genoa-Kingston sits at 3-1, and will come in trying to bounce back from a loss after falling to Byron Week 4 in a battle of BNC powers.

“We have to be ready for smash-mouth football,” Rock Falls lineman Ryan McCord said. “We’re going to prepare for that with defense. They’re all very prepared before the game starts. They all know what they’re doing.”

Until getting into a defensive slugfest with Byron in Week 4 – a 7-3 Tigers win – the Cogs were averaging close to 30 points per game.

“Watching them on film, they like to stay traditional and they like to use their running backs and run the ball,” Leaf said. “They will pass from time to time, but pretty much stick to that double-tight formation. They like to run off-tackle, their sweeps, their leads, their counters. So really we’ve got to put as many men in the box and from there be able to come up and make an open-field tackle in the secondary.”

For both Winnebago (Week 1) and Byron (Week 4), the lowest offensive output of the season so far came against the Cogs. Genoa-Kingston’s defense has allowed 30 points in total this season.

“We haven’t strayed away from our original game plan of having a balanced rushing and passing attack,” Leaf said. “So we’ve got to continue to find those openings. Their defense is fast. They’re going to be all over the field, so we have to push the ball out quick.”

Leaf said one of the keys for the Rock Falls offense will be putting together longer drives. The Rockets were able to do that in the Week 1 win over Rockford Christian with an 11-play drive to open the second half.

“We’ve been just trying to stick with the basics,” Rock Falls running back Booker Cross said. “We can’t win any games if we don’t have the basics down. We’ve been practicing footwork, basic technique, finding the holes, finding the cutback lanes.”

Week 4 was a close one for the Rockets, but ended in a 14-8 loss to Rockford Lutheran. Rock Falls was able to come up with stops on defense, with Cross recovering a fumble and Baraka Boards intercepting a pass, but the Crusaders also came up with some big plays on offense, such as the 46-yard touchdown to put Lutheran in front.

“Defensively we were very good,” Cross said. “We held them to only 14 points, but we would have good defensive drives and then we would have brain farts and give up one big play. I feel like if we can eliminate those big plays, we can potentially hold them to fewer points than us.”

“I think we’ve proven time and time again we’ve had some stops when we need them as our team comes together,” Leaf said. “We had that goal-line stop, four plays inside the 5, we recovered the ball, we had some other stops. Our defense rallies when it needs to. Coach Mitton and I have talked about this, and we’ve got to try to eliminate those highs and lows. We have too many moments of we’re doing well, and then we allow one or two plays to change our momentum.”