Leon stars as Genoa-Kingston
rolls past Rockford Christian
Forward nets 5 as Cogs complete undefeated conference season
By Len Eisele
ROCKFORD -- Genoa-Kingston capped off their undefeated conference season and championship with a 7-1 win over Rockford Christian.
Junior Leon was involved in all the goals except one.
“Junior was on fire today,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “He was on a mission today. They were trying to shut down Eagan (Reams), but they can’t shut down both of them.”
The victory was Genoa-Kingston’s first in three years against Rockford Christian. With the win the Cogs improved to 16-1-0, which includes their 7-0-0 league mark in the Big Northern Conference. The Royal Lions fell to 5-7-0, 3-4-0.
“It feels really good,” Leon said. “All my three years of playing high school, I’ve never beaten these guys. It feels finally good to beat these guys.
“This was the only team that I was waiting to play, so I could cross them off my checklist. I’ve beaten every team (in the conference) now.”
Eagan Reams was the focus of the Rockford Christian defense, but he still set up the first goal of the game. The senior snuck the ball behind the Royal Lions’ backline to midfielder Leonardo Rocha, who put his shot home from 12 yards in the center of the box in the 18th minute.
“I knew they’d have some sort of game plan, so I was just drawing in defenders and finding Junior (Leon) was really what was working. So we just stayed with it,” Reams said. “It definitely makes a statement for us. This was our last conference game and to finish undefeated in conference and to win like that is a statement for everyone else.”
The game then erupted in a flurry of goals with three coming within the span of a minute.
Leon took control of a throw-in from Rocha, quickly turned and fired a high shot into the top left corner of the net from 20 yards from the inside left center outside the top of the box. That goal came in the 21st minute.
“It was just play as a whole team,” Leon said. “Try to just outplay them as a team and that was basically the main goal coming into this game. I’m sure it worked, because the score was 7-1.”
Less than 30 seconds later, Leon again struck pay dirt from 18 yards.
“Junior got open on his own,” Tate said. “He’s very good at getting open on his own, and he had the hot hand today.”
The Royal Lions answered back quickly when forward Isaac Love picked the pocket of the Cogs defense and fired in a hot from 22 yards to put Rockford Christian on the board with the game still in its 21st minute.
“I trapped it with my chest, and I just chipped the goalie because he was off his line,” Love said. “That was great. Our defense stepped up, our offense stepped up, and our midfield stepped up.
“Unfortunately, they scored another goal, which dampened our hopes a little bit. That definitely slowed our momentum down.”
It all but completely stopped when Leon found the Cogs all-time leading goal scorer Reams streaking behind the defense. The senior took the pass with no one except the goalkeeper to beat. He fired a shot from eight yards out into the left corner of the net in the 25th minute.
“We expected that we were going to be a dangerous team,” Royal Lions coach Eron Harvey said. “And we had bursts where we held with them. But there was a 10-minute stretch in the first half where they just overwhelmed us.
“As someone who appreciates soccer, a lot of those were good, quality finishes that I can appreciate, even though they’re happening against me. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s a fun team to watch.”
Reams missed the game against Rockford Christian in the spring due to COVID exposure. The Cogs lost the match 4-2 on April 6.
“I knew they’d come back and have a game plan for us, but we executed,” Reams said. “We’re a strong team, and we can do big things this year.”
Two minutes later, Leon completed the first half hat-trick with a rocket shot from 14 yards. The junior lost control of the ball for a moment but recovered and quickly turned and rifled the hardest shot of the day past a diving Jamison Graber.
“I just want to thank all these guys,” Leon said. “They made a great team and made me play good. We were playing for conference. That was the only key. These guys motivated me to play better.”
Leon wasn’t finished with his scoring barrage in the first half, adding another goal just over a minute later for a 6-1 halftime lead.
The second half played out more evenly, but the Royal Lions couldn’t keep Leon out off the scoring path.
He fired in another long shot from 18 yards on a pass from Reams with just over four minutes left in the game.
Starting lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Breck Pearson
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Reams
FW Junior Leon
FW Julian Lara-Para
Rockford Christian
GK Jamison Graber
FB Noah Reese
FB Alex Bugarin
FB Cody Olson
FB Niko Rosado
MF Connor Curry
MF Jonathan Thomas
MF Chayton Vuong
FW Cameron Davis
FW Chatham McIlroy
FW Isaac Love
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jorge Leon, jr., F, Genoa-Kingston
Scoring summary
First Half
Genoa-Kingston - Rocha (Leon) 18th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Tomlinson) 21st minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (UA) 21st minute
Rockford Christian - Love (UA) 21st minute
Genoa-Kingston - Reams (Leon) 25th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 27th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Rocha) 28th minute
Second Half
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 76th minute
rolls past Rockford Christian
Forward nets 5 as Cogs complete undefeated conference season
By Len Eisele
ROCKFORD -- Genoa-Kingston capped off their undefeated conference season and championship with a 7-1 win over Rockford Christian.
Junior Leon was involved in all the goals except one.
“Junior was on fire today,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “He was on a mission today. They were trying to shut down Eagan (Reams), but they can’t shut down both of them.”
The victory was Genoa-Kingston’s first in three years against Rockford Christian. With the win the Cogs improved to 16-1-0, which includes their 7-0-0 league mark in the Big Northern Conference. The Royal Lions fell to 5-7-0, 3-4-0.
“It feels really good,” Leon said. “All my three years of playing high school, I’ve never beaten these guys. It feels finally good to beat these guys.
“This was the only team that I was waiting to play, so I could cross them off my checklist. I’ve beaten every team (in the conference) now.”
Eagan Reams was the focus of the Rockford Christian defense, but he still set up the first goal of the game. The senior snuck the ball behind the Royal Lions’ backline to midfielder Leonardo Rocha, who put his shot home from 12 yards in the center of the box in the 18th minute.
“I knew they’d have some sort of game plan, so I was just drawing in defenders and finding Junior (Leon) was really what was working. So we just stayed with it,” Reams said. “It definitely makes a statement for us. This was our last conference game and to finish undefeated in conference and to win like that is a statement for everyone else.”
The game then erupted in a flurry of goals with three coming within the span of a minute.
Leon took control of a throw-in from Rocha, quickly turned and fired a high shot into the top left corner of the net from 20 yards from the inside left center outside the top of the box. That goal came in the 21st minute.
“It was just play as a whole team,” Leon said. “Try to just outplay them as a team and that was basically the main goal coming into this game. I’m sure it worked, because the score was 7-1.”
Less than 30 seconds later, Leon again struck pay dirt from 18 yards.
“Junior got open on his own,” Tate said. “He’s very good at getting open on his own, and he had the hot hand today.”
The Royal Lions answered back quickly when forward Isaac Love picked the pocket of the Cogs defense and fired in a hot from 22 yards to put Rockford Christian on the board with the game still in its 21st minute.
“I trapped it with my chest, and I just chipped the goalie because he was off his line,” Love said. “That was great. Our defense stepped up, our offense stepped up, and our midfield stepped up.
“Unfortunately, they scored another goal, which dampened our hopes a little bit. That definitely slowed our momentum down.”
It all but completely stopped when Leon found the Cogs all-time leading goal scorer Reams streaking behind the defense. The senior took the pass with no one except the goalkeeper to beat. He fired a shot from eight yards out into the left corner of the net in the 25th minute.
“We expected that we were going to be a dangerous team,” Royal Lions coach Eron Harvey said. “And we had bursts where we held with them. But there was a 10-minute stretch in the first half where they just overwhelmed us.
“As someone who appreciates soccer, a lot of those were good, quality finishes that I can appreciate, even though they’re happening against me. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s a fun team to watch.”
Reams missed the game against Rockford Christian in the spring due to COVID exposure. The Cogs lost the match 4-2 on April 6.
“I knew they’d come back and have a game plan for us, but we executed,” Reams said. “We’re a strong team, and we can do big things this year.”
Two minutes later, Leon completed the first half hat-trick with a rocket shot from 14 yards. The junior lost control of the ball for a moment but recovered and quickly turned and rifled the hardest shot of the day past a diving Jamison Graber.
“I just want to thank all these guys,” Leon said. “They made a great team and made me play good. We were playing for conference. That was the only key. These guys motivated me to play better.”
Leon wasn’t finished with his scoring barrage in the first half, adding another goal just over a minute later for a 6-1 halftime lead.
The second half played out more evenly, but the Royal Lions couldn’t keep Leon out off the scoring path.
He fired in another long shot from 18 yards on a pass from Reams with just over four minutes left in the game.
Starting lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Breck Pearson
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Reams
FW Junior Leon
FW Julian Lara-Para
Rockford Christian
GK Jamison Graber
FB Noah Reese
FB Alex Bugarin
FB Cody Olson
FB Niko Rosado
MF Connor Curry
MF Jonathan Thomas
MF Chayton Vuong
FW Cameron Davis
FW Chatham McIlroy
FW Isaac Love
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jorge Leon, jr., F, Genoa-Kingston
Scoring summary
First Half
Genoa-Kingston - Rocha (Leon) 18th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Tomlinson) 21st minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (UA) 21st minute
Rockford Christian - Love (UA) 21st minute
Genoa-Kingston - Reams (Leon) 25th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 27th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Rocha) 28th minute
Second Half
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 76th minute