Q&A with The Coach

Previewing this week's game @ Prairie Ridge, Friday Oct. 8 at 7:15 p.m.

Patch.com: You face Prairie Ridge on Friday night and they shut out Grayslake North 31-0 last weekend. Your Rams are a hungry team, however, and I think Prairie Ridge has to be nervous about coming here especially after the way you played Crystal Lake Central.

Coach Goshe: I don't know if Prairie Ridge is nervous about playing anyone. Just like Crystal Lake Central is not nervous to play anyone. These teams are so well coached. In our opinion, Prairie Ridge is the best-coached team in the conference. Their staff has Hall of Famers all over it. If you watch the film there are so many things that they do well that challenge us as a coaching staff. This is a tough week for us as a staff because they do so many things that we have to get our kids prepared for.

I think Prairie Ridge knew last year that we were a team on the rise and ready to be reckoned with. It was a war last year. We match up well against Prairie Ridge year in and year out. They run a nice option scheme and we have smart enough and disciplined enough kids to stay home on option responsibilities and make the plays they need to make. Going into any week, I don't know if anyone is shaking in their boots at this point.

Patch.com: So they won't be surprised by how hard we play?

Coach Goshe: They will be well prepared. They are 5-1 and this is probably the last possible game for them to decide who is going to win the conference championship.

Patch.com: They're 3-0 in the conference coming into this game, right?

Coach Goshe: Yes. They are undefeated. This is like a conference championship game for our kids and then we have to play Grayslake North. The scariest thing about Prairie Ridge is that offensively they have always been an offensive force. But this year more than any other year something happened to them. It used to be that you could score on them and make games interesting. If you could get some stops and score then you could close the gap and make games interesting. But this year their defense is tremendous. It's the best defense that Prairie Ridge has had since I have been in the conference. They are arguably the best defensive team in the conference. They held Crystal Lake Central to 6 points. We have our work cut out for us on both sides of the ball.

Patch.com: Sounds like you have to have a good week of practice. So is everyone healthy?

Coach Goshe: Yes. Got to have a good week of practice. Keeping everyone healthy is important in a school our size.

Patch.com: How is running back Joey Valdivia?

Coach Goshe: He's got that twisted ankle and he's going to have it all season long and he just has to deal with it. How he deals with it is going to determine how much he plays.

Patch.com: You had a good crowd out there last Friday night. Do you expect the same this Friday night?

Coach Goshe: No doubt. Our town supports us. They come out in droves. It's nice that the expectations are higher. We've never had an issue with attendance and we travel well, too. Our fans come out for us. It's high school football in the Midwest, c'mon! This is Friday Night Lights! It goes beyond the game; it's an event. It's nice to see the town support it. I just wish they all had places to sit.

Patch.com: Hopefully we can expand the bleacher sections.

Coach Goshe: We are packing them in and it's standing room only. It's getting tough for people to watch the game. It's a good problem to have.

Patch.com: Maybe they could make a mini-bowl around the football stadium.

Coach Goshe: Well that's for the athletic director, the principal and the superintendent to worry about. I have enough to worry about just coaching the team.

Recapping last week's loss to Crystal Lake Central (21-17):

Patch.com: Coach, I can't remember the last time I saw a Grayslake football team play with such confidence throughout the entire game as the team did last Friday against Crystal Lake Central.

Coach Goshe: We were very business like and that's what we preach. There will be ups and downs in a football game at the high school level and how you deal with those ups and downs is a big part of the game. By our kids taking that business like approach play in and play out is exactly what we preach. Because if you go too high or too low, all those peaks and valleys leave you vulnerable to things. We want to be very business like and understand that we have to constantly battle so we can have a chance to win the game.

Patch.com: On both sides of the ball, the team seemed very confident about what they were supposed to do.

Coach Goshe: No doubt. We felt as a staff that we had a pretty good game plan offensively and defensively.

Patch.com: The kids looked like they knew exactly what to do. If things didn't work out, they seemed to know exactly what they had to do to correct it.

Coach Goshe: It was a well-played game on both sides of the ball for Crystal Lake Central and for us. It's really how a game should be, to be honest with you. If it's not, like that then something's wrong. This consistency has been a goal of ours for the last four years. So we're finally at that point and it's nice to see.

Patch.com: That is very good to see. As a community, I think that all the fans that are coming out and starting to see that.

Coach Goshe: It's nice because the expectations are being increased. The first few years I was here the expectations did not even exist and that was frustrating. Kids will rise to the level of performance that we place on them. As our expectations have risen, the performance of our kids has risen up as well. In my opinion it's nice that there are some higher expectations for our program. That's how you rise as a community. The expectations out in Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South and Prairie Ridge are high and the kids have risen up to them. The idea that 'We're Grayslake Central or Grayslake North and woe is me' is just garbage. And we've finally been able to beat that out of everybody, players, everybody from top to bottom.

One of the most frustrating things for me is to come in to school and for people to say 'Well you played them close.' Well, whuppedy do dah. It's not Disney World. Playing them close is not what we want to do. We want to go out to compete to win. So we have kids that are very upset because we didn't get the win and rightfully so. At that point for us, if the scoreboard didn't go our way, then we look at attitude and effort. Both of those were there. So as a staff we say that our attitude and effort was there, we just have to get the scoreboard straightened out.

Patch.com: The offensive line (LT Charlie Risinger, LG Conner Hirt, C Nick Celeslie, RG Jon Sell and RT Brandon Seiler) held their blocks and gave your QB Ray Beckman time to pass.

Coach Goshe: They played their most consistent game of the year. When we looked at the film and graded them our lowest grade was a 66% and our highest was a 75%. Anytime you have all of your guys right around the 70% range then they've played a very consistent game. If you can get guys into the 80% range then you've played a dominating game up front. So in terms of consistency, that was the best consistent grade out that we've had all season. There was nothing spectacular but at the same time they didn't shoot themselves in the foot.

Patch.com: There were very few penalties.

Coach Goshe: I think the game was very well played all the way around. The only turnover by both teams was on the last play of the game.

Patch.com: Your defensive line for the most part did a nice job.

Coach Goshe: They gave us stops when we needed them. They stopped them before the end of the first half. They stopped them twice in the second half, once after a blocked punt gave them great field position.

Patch.com: That pass deflection at the end of the first half was huge. It looked like that really convinced your team that they could win this game.

Coach Goshe: That was huge. They threw at BJ (#2 Bryant Jennings) which I couldn't believe because their wide out wasn't more than half a yard away from him because you're not going to beat BJ. He will be right on you because he's that good of an athlete. Thankfully they threw to his side of the field and he was able to make a play and knock the ball down.

Patch.com: Why were there so many squib kicks (short tumbling line drive types of kicks) on the kickoffs? Were you trying to exploit a weakness that you saw on film?

Coach Goshe: No, we just take what the other team is giving us. If they're playing up then we kick it deep. If they play back and put kids that we don't think can handle the ball as well, then we squib kick it. Our kicker (#3) Jon Gurchak is a very talented kicker and we can dictate who we want to get the ball and how we want the kick to go – bouncing or popup quickly or if they are cheating up kick it over their heads. This allows us to dictate the kicking game so that it never hurts us.

Patch.com: So you did not feel that you were giving them much better field position that way?

Coach Goshe: No, because it's a risk/reward thing. You're hoping that they will fumble a squibber, but on the other hand if you kick it deep to a stud (like #21 Gage Harrah) and he takes it in for a touchdown, then you're going to be kicking yourself that you didn't squib it instead. I'd rather kick it to the closer kid who's not a risk to return it for a touchdown and give up those 10 or 15 yards of field position.

Patch.com: You passed a bit less in the second half than you did in the first half. Was that an adjustment in your game plan?

Coach Goshe: It was an adjustment based on an adjustment that Crystal Lake made. Offensively, you have to take what the defense is giving you. They were a three deep team in the first half and they changed over to a two-deep team in the second half, meaning that they had the potential for four-deep. They were backing guys out (from the line of scrimmage to shut down the passing game) which means we had to run the ball to pull the extra guys back in. You take what the defense gives you. In the first half they were giving us pass so we had to take it. In the second half, they started taking that away because we were hurting them on it. So we were forced to run the ball. That's a credit to their coaching staff. They made the adjustment to what was hurting them and that's the chess game that goes on during the game.

Patch.com: Your linebackers were very active last Friday and made a lot of great plays.

Coach Goshe: Between Chris Loeffl, Kristian Meehan, Deondre Nabriet, Jake Paust and Kyle Engdahl, they really played well. When you face a team with a running style like Crystal Lake Central, we have to ask our guys to sacrifice themselves and they did. As a result we were able to get a lot of stops against this team that other teams weren't able to get.

Patch.com: Previously you had stated that their running back Gage Harrah was a load to tackle and it would take more than one person to bring him down. Even with two people on him he was still dragging guys forward.

Coach Goshe: He's very impressive. He's a junior so we'll be seeing more of him. He's a great athlete. He's very powerful. He's a 215 wrestler at running back so he's a load.

Patch.com: Still you held him to one touchdown the first half and one in the second half. He picked up 180 plus yards, but only scored once in each half.

Coach Goshe: He's their bread and butter. They have three very good running backs very similar to us. If you worry too much about taking one guy away the other ones will hurt you. They pounded Gage, pounded Gage, pounded Gage, but the other ones didn't really hurt us too much. So defensively we played a fundamentally sound game and gave ourselves a shot to win.

Patch.com: If Jahard Nelson could have come down with that pass in the first half it might have been a different game. I still can't believe he got up in the air that high to even get a hand on that ball.

Coach Goshe: We had three scoring drives and they had three scoring drives. The difference is that they had three touchdowns and we had two when we kicked the field goal after the incomplete pass to Jahard. Had he caught that then we could have kicked a go ahead field goal when we drove down to the five-yard line. But it is what it is.

Patch.com: When the ball was on the 5-yard line with fourth and two, it appeared that your line got the one yard that their surge should get.

Coach Goshe: They did, but to Crystal Lake Central's credit they fired a corner that you can't account for and he wound up making the tackle that kept us a yard short of a first and goal. Our line blocked everybody they were supposed to but they blitzed an extra man. Their cornerback made a great play.

Patch.com: I believe that they only passed once in the entire game and that was incomplete.

Coach Goshe: Actually they attempted two but we sacked the QB on the other one.

Patch.com: Crystal Lake Coach Fralic said afterwards that they have to develop a passing game.

Coach Goshe: Yeah, I don't think so. Their personnel dictates what they will do. They're a ground and pound team and that's what they do and they're good at it. You can go a long way being excellent at what you do which is running the football. Even still they were a load for us to stop. I think they are going to win out and go 7-2. I don't know how much he wants to get away from running the ball because 7-2 is a pretty good season. Then they can make some noise in the playoffs so I don't think developing a passing game is that critical. Not with the talent they have.

Patch.com: I am still befuddled by that call at halftime by the official for delay of game. Is that a new rule?

Coach Goshe: No, it's been around forever.

Patch.com: So when is everyone supposed to be off of the field?

Coach Goshe: When the halftime clock runs out.

Patch.com: Then they put on three more minutes.

Coach Goshe: Then they put the three-minute warm up on. Usually, everyone clears off with a few minutes to spare before the clock runs out.

Patch.com: Shouldn't there be an allowance for something like a Homecoming?

Coach Goshe: We actually can ask for an extended halftime which is an extra five minutes for something special like that and we did. Instead of the normal 15 minutes we asked for and received the approval for a 20-minute halftime. We just didn't meet the time deadline.

Patch.com: Still seems unfair.

Coach Goshe: Well, I will go to my grave before I give our kids an excuse.

Patch.com: To your credit you didn't do that.

Coach Goshe: No. Our kids don't want it. Our staff doesn't want it. Our parents don't want it. We don't want an excuse we want to go out and earn it. We just have to deal with the adversity and move on. We work too hard with those programs (Pom squad, cheerleading & marching band) to point fingers or anything like that. We're a family here so we have to deal with it. It's like if your brother gets a speeding ticket you have to support him. Next time, don't speed. The worst part is that it took away from the game a bit and how well it was played.