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Mark Morgan had a plan when he took over as Back of the Yards football coach in the fall of 2021.
The Bobcats hadn’t fielded a team in two years, skipping the spring 2021 pandemic season. Getting the program back on its feet took some heavy lifting.
Back of the Yards went 1-7 and 2-7 in Morgan’s first two seasons before improving to 5-3 last fall.
They beat Gage Park 14-8 in Week 7 at Stagg Stadium and head into Week 8 in a four-way tie for the Public League Blue Central lead with Solorio, Kelly and Washington.
Marko Franco ran for a pair of touchdowns and a conversion against Gage Park (2-5, 1-2), and that’s been a familiar sight this season for the Bobcats.
“Marko’s our bread-and-butter guy,” Morgan said. “He’s a good kid, very strong. He loves the game, wants to play.”
The Bobcats don’t pass often, Franco noted, so “they depend on me. I like to run the ball as much as I can and score.”
He might be his own toughest critic.
“I feel like I could have done better this game,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities where I made the wrong move.”
But Morgan had no issues with Franco’s effort.
“Give me a team of Markos and we’re where I want us to be,” he said.
Where is that? A destination school.
“I really like what we can be,” Morgan said. “We’re in the heart of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, 47th and Damen. It’s a great school. It should be a place where kids want to come and belong, study and have some fun extracurricularly.”
The long-term goal is to move up from the Blue to the White.
“Build up, get the numbers to where it’s solid,” Morgan said. “I love the kids we get. We do get some inexperienced kids. … We can teach them hopefully the right way to play the game.”
Kennedy keeps rolling
Kennedy had plenty to celebrate in Week 7: homecoming, senior day and clinching the Public League White Southwest title with a 39-0 shutout of Longwood at Rockne Stadium.
Kamarion McCarter ran for two touchdowns and Joseph Dahl scored on an interception return and on a 24-yard pass from Julian Cuevas. Jonathan Castro ran for a TD and Victor Leal had a scoop-and-score after Xavier Guzman forced the fumble. Also contributing big plays were Jovani Navarrete with a blocked punt and Leal with an interception.
“It was a pretty entertaining game,” Kennedy coach Robert Albano said, ticking off the extra touches. “I had a live band, I had one of my managers sing the national anthem, the parents pitched in for a tunnel and fog machine, the cheerleaders made a banner for us to rip through.”
And even though the game was on a Saturday morning, around 250-300 Kennedy fans made the trip to the West Side stadium.
“It’s been wonderful,” Albano said of the community support the Crusaders have received.
Kelly’s arrow pointing up
After winning one game combined over the past two seasons, Kelly (3-4, 2-1 Public League Blue Central) earned one of its biggest victories in recent years in Week 7.
Senior quarterback Josiah Velez threw a touchdown pass to junior Alejandro Herrera and junior Rogelio Rivera kicked both a PAT and a field goal in a 10-8 win against Solorio at Stagg Stadium. Herrera’s younger brother Jesse had an interception from his defensive line spot.
“This is probably our best game this entire year,” Kelly coach Eric Villarreal said. “That’s been the proudest moment for me. This is all their hard work paying off.”
Though the Trojans have a number of players back from last year, they’re still young with just four seniors: Velez, running back/outside linebacker Awwal Ogunsolu, defensive tackle Ray Zambrano and special teams contributor Edrian Calderon.