Geneva's returnees relish leadership role

Geneva certainly lost the majority of its starters on both sides of the ball from its 13-1, Class 7A runner-up last year.

One player the Vikings can count on is Bret Shannon, who is going from one of the three junior starters on a senior-dominated team last year to a senior leader from his linebacker spot.

"My senior season, I'm very excited coming back after last year and working all year long," Shannon said. "It's exciting to be back."

Shannon said he started lifting weights the Sunday after the Vikings lost 33-14 to East St. Louis in their bid for the first state championship in school history.

"Losing that game gave me the motivation I needed," Shannon said.

"I'm trying to be more of a leader this year and the team is a lot of fun this year. A lot of seniors are stepping up and there's going to be some juniors stepping up."

Shannon likes Geneva's secondary this year, and he said junior Andrew Mariotti has been impressive on the defensive line. And of course there's third-year starter Frank Boenzi, who has many Division I schools looking at him, also on that line.

"I think he's ready to come back and dominate," Shannon said of Boenzi, who missed three playoff wins last year with mono.

Geneva coach Rob Wicinski knows the Vikings have their work cut out after so many key graduation losses but also sees a lot of potential.

"We hope there a few guys who are going to step up because we lost quite a bit last year and trying to replace that is virtually impossible," Wicinski said. "But we're going to try to do the best we can."

Tough test: One of the challenges for that Geneva defense will be an Oct. 16 game at Kaneland, the final look the Vikings will have at the Knights before the schools go their own ways next year to new conferences.

Junior Joe Camiliere is back at quarterback for the Knights after throwing for 2,551 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. He also rushed for 465 yards and 5 scores.

"He looks like he's real confident," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "He's got a year of experience under his belt. Who knows how good he can be?"

Fedderly is entering his third year as head coach after taking over for Joe Thorgesen. Only four seniors started in the Knights' playoff loss to Sterling.

"I'm really happy with what I see," Fedderly said. "We've got about 20 seniors, 20 juniors, we've got a veteran team. We've got a lot of experience coming back."

Better prepared: St. Charles North Mark Gould was pleased with how quickly his team picked up finer points of the North Stars' schemes as practice began, which he says is due in large part to the IHSA's move a few years ago that allowed 25 days of practice in the summers.

"We do so much in the summer now, there's a nice flow in," said Gould, whose North Stars are gunning for an eighth straight playoff appearance.

"You backtrack a little bit, but you almost don't have to go to zero. You can get into things real well because summer programs have advanced so much. Every summer you get more and more in."

Gould can't wait to see his defense take the field. He said linebacker Jake Juriga's brilliance last year left his junior linebackers "a little in (Juriga's) shadow."

Connor Mohs also flew under the radar in 2008, helping pick up the slack in the secondary when Mike Lefelstein was injured.

"He's a real good free safety," Gould said of Mohs. "He goes after the ball. He plays gung-ho back there. I think people will notice his play."

Nose guard Josh Peters helps anchor the line, giving the North Stars a complete defensive unit.

"Defense, we're thinking if not the best (we've had), then ranking up with the class that went 8-2 (in 2004). Good speed and physical," Gould said.

When the defense is on the sidelines, the North Stars have the area's leading returning running back in Jordan Huxtable.

Huxtable rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns in a breakout junior year. Gould said Huxtable worked even harder in the off-season after St. Charles East slowed him down late in the year.

"I think a couple games we had that were some of the tough games, he didn't have the yards he had in other games really stuck in his mind," Gould said. "That was his motivation all off-season. He's gotten much stronger, he's gotten thicker and he's gotten faster. We're looking for him to have a nice season but we think we have some other backs so teams can't key on him."