Scouting the St. Edward Green Wave
The St. Edward football team would prefer to control its own playoff destiny this time around.
The Green Wave needed help to make the playoffs last October but found themselves on the outside looking in when the Illinois High School Association announced the 256-team postseason field. The Elgin Catholic school finished the season 5-4 but was denied an at-large bid due to a lack of playoff points (wins by opponents).
An overall younger St. Edward team hopes to remove the uncertainty from the October 20 selection show. The goal is to win the revamped Red Division of the Metro Suburban Conference title and grab the league's automatic playoff berth.
The realigned MSC Red Division includes 2018 playoff teams Elmwood Park and Ridgewood along with Fenton, Chicago Christian and Guerin.
"I don't want to have to worry about the record, and I don't want to worry about playoff points," 14th-year St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "Our goal is to win the conference. That gets us in. That's what our focus has been all summer."
St. Edward will play nonconference games against Tinley Park and Chicago Hope Academy and MSC crossovers against Wheaton Academy and two-time Class 3A state champion IC Catholic Prep.
"We've got some pretty tough preseason opponents and IC right there in the middle of our schedule, but our goal right now is to win the Red and get that week 10 game for our seniors," Rolando added.
St. Edward enters the season with a largely inexperienced group. Of the 33 players on the varsity roster, 12 are sophomores and eight are freshmen.
Only six members of the Green Wave are seniors, but that group includes veteran leaders Nick Wright and Sydney Muhammad. Both are three-year starters.
Wright (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) doubles as the team's defensive leader at linebacker and leading returning rusher. As a junior, he led St. Edward with 94 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, a recovery and 2 defensive touchdowns. Offensively, Wright was the team's second-leading rusher with 489 yards on 64 carries (7.6 avg.) and ran for a team-best 7 touchdowns.
Muhammad likewise played both ways. The 5-11, 180-pound cornerback made 36 tackles, intercepted 5 passes, broke up 6 more and recovered a fumble. At wide receiver he managed 11 receptions for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns.
"Both of those guys are captains and really doing good things for us," Rolando said.
Senior Jake Floyd was in the mix at linebacker last season, when he made 18 tackles. Junior Anthony Holte started some games at defensive back and returned one of his 2 interceptions for a touchdown.
Holte takes on a larger role this fall as the team's starting quarterback. Backing him up will be sophomore Zeke Rolando, who begins the year at wide receiver. The younger Rolando played quarterback throughout eight years of youth football. He will also see time in the defensive backfield.
The team adds junior linebacker James Brisco, a transfer from St. Charles North. Brisco will also be in the mix at running back/wide receiver along with sophomores Joe Sacco and Anthony Kirkwood.
The majority of the Green Wave will see action on both sides of the ball and special teams at least part of the time as St. Edward competes for a playoff return after a two-year absence.
"St. Edward football players play both ways," Rolando said. "They don't come off the field. When you do take them off the field, they are mad at you. We just have to prepare them to play iron-man football. I see us being competitive. We don't have a lot, but I like the kids that we have. We've got kids who have put in the work."