Corey Krakowski shines at Indians' deep safety

Minooka senior Corey Krakowski had his eye on claiming the Indians' quarterback job this year. Krakowski, though, became the solidifying force as the deep safety in Minooka's 4-4 defense.

(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff Photographer)

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He trained during the offseason, a cold and bitter winter followed by a warm and soothing summer, to be Minooka's quarterback. Mitch Brozovich, the junior achiever and heir apparent, was supposed to be shelved by labrum shoulder surgery.

He planned and prepared, both mentally and physically, to be the quarterback of the Indians' offense. But by the sweet summertime, Brozovich began writing a personal script straight out of a Frank Capra-era Hollywood movie studio.

Suddenly, a bittersweet feeling could have been the wave that swept under Corey Krakowski, a competitive 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior. Instead, the deep safety took a deep breath and went back to being the quarterback of the defense.

That's life.

That's football.

"I do like quarterback because you always have the ball in your hand," Krakowski said. "That is what's great about it -- you're the leader of the thing. But defense is fun, too. You get to hit somebody and you're still involved in every play.

"Either way," he nodded, picking up his muddied, black-and-orange Indians helmet from the gym floor, "I just love playing football."

For the first time since reaching the Class 6A semifinals in 2003, Minooka (8-2) made the football playoffs. Now, this time, the Indians need to be like the Beatles' "Let it Be" album, taking the long and winding road to East St. Louis (8-2).

Saturday's second-round kickoff in 7A is 3 p.m. And while Minooka is coming off a 44-25 victory over Edwardsville, also the Indians' first postseason win since 2003, the key from August to November has been team-first players like Krakowski.

"I think kids with less character would not have handled it as well as he did," Minooka coach Bert Kooi said. "Corey was going to do whatever was best for our football team. If it was quarterback, then it was quarterback. If Mitch was better, then Corey would come back to our defense."

CAN YOU BE the quarterback? Kooi asked that pointed question of Krakowski -- who already had started seven varsity games as a junior at deep safety -- after Brozovich injured his shoulder last spring in baseball tryouts.

Only if Kooi counted Nostradamus as a relative could he have predicted the swiftness and excellent extent of Brozovich's recovery. Try 97 rushes for 827 yards and 9 touchdowns and 34-of-71 passing for 477 yards and 5 more TDs.

Plan B started with a C.

"I figured, 'Why not?'" Krakowski said. "I heard about Mitch's shoulder and our coaches came up to me and were like, 'Corey, can you work at quarterback?' So I worked on throwing the ball every day in the gym after we lifted weights."

"He worked his tail off to fill the void that we felt we were going to have at the beginning of the year," Kooi confirmed. "Corey put in a great deal of time, energy, effort and everything else into redefining and redeveloping his skills because he really hadn't played quarterback since he was a Brave."

Atlanta Brave? No, Chanooka Brave. Krakowski remembered his youth football days and battled for the quarterback job heading into Minooka's preseason camp, not for any of the "me" but for the true "we."

"My main concern was that Mitch wasn't going to be able to do the things that I thought I could do healthy," Krakowski said. "And, well, Mitch has proved it. He has been able to do things, quite frankly, I don't know if I could even do. I'm very proud of him."

Likewise, Krakowski was not too proud to rejoin defensive coordinator Chris Ferko's 4-4 unit. Senior

inside linebacker Matt Powers and senior defensive tackle Cody Jones, teammates and classmates, warmly greeted his return to the Minooka dark side.

"We always kind of had the feeling he would come back to us on defense," smiled Powers, the Indians' leading tackler with 150, including 54 solos. "He has a lot of confidence at that safety spot and he doesn't ever get fazed. He makes pretty solid decisions."

"Corey takes charge when he's out there," said Jones, an 83-tackle, 37-solo machine. "If there's a change in formation, he recognizes it right away. He tells the corners where they have to go, he makes the calls and he tells everybody what's going on. He's the leader of our defense."

DEEP SAFETY . A mistake in Minooka's base defense means deep trouble. It is a position similar to sweeper in soccer, the last line of defense before the goalkeeper -- except that for Krakowski, who wears No. 2, he is the lone one for every shot at the goal.

"Especially with us, it's probably even tougher," Kooi said. "He has to be the master communicator. He has to recognize formations, get guys lined up, make adjustments in our blitz schemes. He has to know our defense better than anybody else, and that's Corey's strong suit."

As Brozovich's backup, Krakowski puts two hats to that suit, but as Powers noted, "since we were little, he has played quarterback and defense, and he's played safety his whole life." Offensively this year, Krakowski has 7 rushes for 38 yards and a TD, plus 3-of-6 passing for 36 yards and a TD.

"When he wasn't going to be playing quarterback, everybody knew they were going to bring him back to our defense," Jones said. "He's too good of an athlete, he's a smart player, and he has been playing football for a long time. He'll do anything the coaches ask -- he's that type of kid."

What more could Kooi or Ferko ask for? On a team of tackling piranhas, Krakowski ranks tied for third with Jones at 83 stops via 24 solos and 59 assists. He also has the highlight of a 96-yard interception return.

"I love defense," Krakowski said. "At safety, you get to see the whole field, you get to watch the play develop, you get to watch the quarterbacks' eyes and see where he's going to throw. You can pick where you're going to be. It's hard because you're on an island, but it's a fun place to be."

That's life.

Some people like islands.

Some people, as well, might look at reputed 7A title contender East St. Louis as another island. Powers and Jones used the phrase "they're not invincible" to describe the Indians' approach to Saturday's matchup, and look no further than CK.

"We don't have the athletes of an East St. Louis, but we do have a football team, and how do you beat great athletes?" Kooi said. "You beat them by being a great team. I think we've established we have a great football team in the truest sense, and Corey is a great example of that."

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