Green Machine to face #1 seed Carterville in 4A playoffs

Geneseo may have lost the game to Moline last Friday, but players and coaches aren’t looking back, only ahead to what they accomplished in making this year’s postseason play a reality.

Geneseo is in the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and will face No. 1 seed Carterville (9-0) in Class 4A. Geneseo will travel to Carterville for the game at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.

On Oct. 21, the Moline Maroons defeated Geneseo, 42-13, which gave the Maroons a perfect season in the Western Big 6 Conference. The game was at Bob Reade Field at Geneseo High School.

The Craterfield twins, GHS juniors Caine and Caleb, contributed to Geneseo’s two scores.

Just before halftime, Geneseo’s Caleb Craterfeld intercepted a pass and ran the ball to the eight-yard line. Geneseo’s quarterback AJ Weller threw to Luke Johnsen who took it into the end zone, giving Geneseo a score before halftime.

Geneseo scored a second time in the last minutes of the game when Caine Craterfield took the ball into the end zone.

Coach Larry Johnsen Jr. said, “We knew coming into the game that the key was going to be the line of scrimmage play. Moline is a really big and physical team, and I thought they did a really good job of finding open gaps on offense.”

Coach Johnsen also credited Moline’s defense and said they “did a good job against our run game. They were really aggressive in coverage that allowed them to have extra guys to stop the run.”

In looking ahead to the upcoming playoffs, he said, “Going into the playoffs, we’ve faced a lot of different teams that have shown us a lot of different things, and hopefully that prepares us. We are excited to extend the season and hopefully we can get back on track.”