Cummins, Streamwood soak up success

It had been six years, but Streamwood coach Cal Cummins remembered how to dodge a Gatorade shower.

After his Sabres scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns Friday to defeat Larkin 22-12 and secure the school’s first playoff bid since 2002, three Sabres stalked their coach along the perimeter of the postgame huddle, determined to give him an ice bath.

However, the sly football coach saw the posse coming and dodged a full dousing.

“I ducked,” Cummins said through a grin. “I still have a few moves. They got a little bit on my back, but they missed mostly.”

Cummins honed his bucket-dodging skills as head coach at Freeport, where he reached the playoffs 10 times in 17 seasons, including six straight appearances between 2000-2005.

None of his first five teams at Streamwood won more than 2 games. That all changed this season when the Sabres opened the season 5-0. The Sabres rebounded from consecutive losses to St. Charles East and Geneva to nab the fifth playoff berth in the program’s 33-year history.

“It’s a great feeling for the school, for the program, for the kids that have been committed the last few years,” Cummins said. “These senior and junior groups have been two groups who have really kind of bought into the things we’re trying to do.

“We always say that success is a way of doing things and if you do the right things long enough, good things happen. And this is a good thing.”