It's Leave it to Geever show
BOLINGBROOK -- Brad Geever continues to be paid the ultimate compliment by his coach.
In one breath, John Ivlow calls Geever the worst athlete on his Bolingbrook High School football team. In the next, Ivlow calls Geever his best run-pass option and one of his greatest gym-class finds.
Geever, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior quarterback, will never make anyone forget ex-Raider and current University of St. Francis standout Javon Stewart. What Geever will do is get the job done -- in his own way.
He passed for two touchdowns and ran for another in Bolingbrook's 48-0 victory over Joliet Township in the Southwest Suburban Blue opener for both teams on Friday night. He combined for 206 yards total offense as the Raiders (5-0, 1-0) celebrated homecoming in style, the crowd erupting when principal James Mitchem donned a pair of dark sunglasses and danced with the pom pon squad on the field at halftime.
"His ma jumped me behind the concession stand today and started yelling at me about saying that," Ivlow said. "I told her, 'I'm sticking to it. He's still the worst athlete on the field.' But he's a great high school quarterback. He makes the right reads. He's not going to hurt you. And, again, this is his second year of playing high school football.
"That's a credit to Matt Monken, who found him in gym class, and Jerry Blew, who worked with several great quarterbacks at Riverside-Brookfield over the years. He works with our quarterbacks now. And he's done a great job with him."
Geever completed 4-of-7 passes for 103 yards. He threw a shovel pass that John Seigler turned into a 31-yard touchdown and a 34-0 lead for the Raiders at halftime. Then, after Bolingbrook to the kick to start the second half, Geever hooked up with Orlando Thomas on a 22-yard scoring play that put the running clock into play and set the Raiders' regulars to the bench.
Geever earlier turned a broken play into a 12-yard run. He also broke free on an option keeper and burst 72 yards to the JT 5 before he was pulled down from behind -- much to his surprise.
"I should have scored," he said. "My job is to suck in the defense. If I don't do my job, I give it to the running back. They started to key on him. So, we went back to the option. I just didn't see the guy coming behind me."
He finished with 103 yards on five carries and topped all rushers. And, to think, he once envisioned himself as a baseball or basketball player, not a football player.
"I was playing catch with Barry Wolff in gym class, our senior quarterback," Geever said. "We were playing catch -- just throwing the ball around. And one of the coach's brought me down to Ivlow's office. I just wanted to see what it was like. I came out, and it's been an amazing experience."
He directed a Bolingbrook offense that amassed 397 yards and took advantage of field position and turnovers to crack JT early. Alex McNulty came up with an interception on the second play from scrimmage. Moments later, Chris Williams galloped 27 yards down the sideline on a punt return.
"Yeah, I've been doing a lot better than last year, if you haven't noticed," Williams said. "Last year, I was having trouble catching the ball. This year, I'm not having any trouble. And I'm getting good blocks."
Seigler scored two touchdowns on four touches. He ran for 61 yards on three carries and caught the one pass for 31 yards and a TD. Jamel Martin rushed for 74 yards on 10 carries.
The Raiders' defense pressured JT's Justin Stephenson into an 8-for-18 passing performance. He threw for 83 yards. He sacked or tackled for losses four times and threw one interception. He also took a shot to the knee in a scramble to come up with a loose ball near his own goal line and left the game at halftime.
Bolingbrook finished with a 4-1 edge in takeaways and limited JT to 77 yards total offense.
"We had that interception and the short field," JT coach Jason Aubry said. "It hurts when you continue to play on your side of the field the whole game. We couldn't get anything going. We had a few open receivers. We eventually started moving the ball. But it was a little late when we started to hit those receivers.
"Justin (Stephenson) banged up his knee a little bit. I'm not sure what the deal is -- we're going to get him evaluated."
JT's Ronald Jordan had six catches for 91 yards. D.J. Foster made three grabs for 51 yards. John Woods played in Stephenson's place in the second half and completed his only pass -- good for 9 yards.
