Q & A With Coach Goshe

PREVIEW

Patch.com: It’s rivalry week in Grayslake. North has a great passing game with A.J. Fish throwing to Josh Cokefair and Charlie Pine. They also have a solid running back in Andrew Soulis. They are 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

Coach Goshe: They’re a bigger school and a higher class than we are. They are a solid 5A school so we've got our hands full playing them.

Patch.com: It’s going to be a massive crowd Friday night.

Coach Goshe: I’d almost want to host the game at North because they have the seating capacity for this type of game. People better get there early because it’s going to be packed. I don’t know if they are going to bring in extra bleachers or what. Five years ago we could, but now that success is happening for both programs, we just can’t house it. It’s a good problem to have, though.

Patch.com: Offensively what has to happen for the Rams to score against North?

Coach Goshe: We have to execute. We have to stay to our assignments and get our attitude and effort squared away. Plus the kids know each other. They have some talented players on defense.

Patch.com: Do you think this will be a low scoring defensive battle or more of a shoot out?

Coach Goshe: We’re not scoring much lately and they are scoring a ton. It all will depend on who gets momentum and sustains it. Penalties and turnovers will play a big factor. Whoever gets down to business first will be successful. You are going to see two different styles going at each other. You will know early on who is going to dominate and impose their style on the other team. Turnovers will be key. They are devastating at the high school level. Emotions will need to be under control. Our defense will definitely be challenged because North can score fast and often. They have a lot of sets to throw at us offensively. They stretch the field vertically and horizontally.

Patch.com: Coach Cat is going to be busy and intense this week.

Coach Goshe: Coach Cat is intense every week and he puts his time in.

Patch.com: Will home field be an advantage for the Rams?

Coach Goshe: We will have some familiarity here and our super fans will be there. But North doesn’t have to travel far so the advantage is minimized. It’s a must win game for both teams. We need to come out with a chip on our shoulder and earn our respect every week. We are still just Grayslake Central in the eyes of many.

RECAP

Patch.com: How do you bring the kids back mentally and emotionally after the thorough whipping they took last week?

Coach Goshe: First, you must understand that there are going to be some ups and downs in the season. More than anything else you want to stay consistent, stay the course. You don’t do anything that’s too crazy or too extreme or else that makes things worse. For us it’s a matter of getting back to our normal routine. We talk about the loss, confront it and then we move on because if you dwell on it, that will only make it worse.

Patch.com: In practice, are the kids more focused this week than they were last week?

Coach Goshe: With one day under our belt (on Tuesday), I would say yes. The kids looked at Woodstock North incorrectly. As coaches, we knew that. But no matter how many times you tell a kid, they’re still a kid. You can warn them until your blue in the face, but until that reality hits and they get that life lesson, they won’t listen. So we looked at the game last week as a great life lesson about the necessity of being prepared and how that correlates to success. The lesson applies to more than just football. If you are not prepared for your job when you go to work, you are less likely to be successful and it may even cost you your job.

This is what we preach. We told the kids that they didn’t heed our advice and warnings and now they know what can happen. The least surprise over the loss came from the coaches.

Patch.com: So what are you expecting from your senior leaders this week?

Coach Goshe: They should rebound. They need to get the hunger back. They have a lot to prove yet and should not be satisfied with where they are. There are plenty of people who don’t believe in them at all. The seniors have responded appropriately so far, but it’s still early in the week. We’ll know better on Wednesday and Thursday.

Patch.com: What happened with the defense last week at Woodstock North?

Coach Goshe: Missed assignments, missed tackles. Guys not taking correct angles. Guys trying to be heroes. All the things we preach not to do, they did and got burned on it by a good team. We call it going into the mansion. You’ll see it in the movies like the teenager who wants to kill Freddy Krueger on his own and one at a time they go into the mansion and get slaughtered. When they figure out to go in together, they get the job done. All the things we saw in the game, we saw in practice last week.

We looked at film and told them, "Do you remember on Tuesday when you did this? Here you are doing it in the game. Do you remember on Wednesday when you didn’t do this? Well, here it is in the game."

Patch.com: The offense appeared to be a bit out of sync. Part of that has to be credited to the Thunder defense, but what did you see happen on the field?

Coach Goshe: Same thing. Missed assignments. All it takes is one guy not to handle his assignment and a good team will take advantage of that. Different guys would miss their assignments. In the film session we would ask someone before a play what their assignment was and they would get it wrong. Everyone would look at him in disbelief and say, "What are you talking about? That’s not your assignment on that play."

Patch.com: How many hours do the coaches put in looking at game film after a game?

Coach Goshe: Each coach probably spends at least six hours on the weekend times 12 coaches plus they look at film some more during the week. We meet Sunday nights to talk things over starting at 7 p.m. and go for 3-5 hours. Doesn’t leave much time for family time.