Libertyville’s season comes to an end

Updated: October 29, 2011 6:16PM

When it was over, Libertyville football coach Randy Kuceyeski gathered his players in a team huddle and thanked Them for making his 18th and last season as Wildcats football coach a memorable one.

But in truth, it was Kuceyeski who deserved to be thanked.

The coach has been battling throat cancer since the spring, yet walked proudly onto the field with his squad each game night, and coached his final group of players up to where they qualified for the playoffs with a 5-4 record and hung with unbeaten powerhouse Rockford Boylan for a quarter on Saturday before succumbing 40-0 in the first round of the Class 7 playoffs.

Though Saturday’s result was not desired, every playoff team but the champions ends its season with a loss. And for this group, getting Kuceyeski to the playoffs one final time was what really mattered.

“Nobody wants it to end like this, but I’m proud of the way you came out and played all the way to the last whistle,” he told his players in the huddle. “I want to thank you guys for being part of my last year.”

And then, still looking ahead for the program and still coaching, he offered these words to the underclassmen on the squad.

“Sophomores and juniors, you have a helluva future. Don’t be satisfied with just making the playoffs,” the coach said. “That should not be your goal. Shoot beyond that.You’re capable of doing that.”

And then, it was over. The coach and his wife, Martha, embraced at midfield and walked off the field together.

“This isn’t the way he wanted his last season to be,” Martha said about Randy’s illness. “His focus has always been on the boys. It’s been hard because a lot of the focus has been on him because of the cancer.

“I know that having to miss practices every other week when he was in treatment was really tough for him.

“My husband is my hero in so many ways.”

The coach knew his team would have to play perfectly to beat Boylan, which won the Class 6A state title last year, and moved up to 7A this postseason.

Libertyville actually had the first chance to score, but its first drive of the game ended with a missed field goal from 35 yards out.

Then, late in the first quarter, Wildcat QB Jack Deichl’s (-15-for-25, 148 yards, 1 pick) pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage, deflected off one Boylan defensive back, and was picked by another, who returned it 49 yards to the Libertyville 1.

That set up the first score and relaxed the Titans while taking some of the steam out of the Wildcats.

As for what turned out to be his final week as coach, Kuceyeski said it was different.

“It was emotional, Every day I thought about how this could be my last week on the field,” he said. “I didn’t want to approach it that way, but you always think about it.

“It was time for a change. These guys are ready. They have a great future no matter who takes over.

Nobody wants to go out this way (a 40-point loss) but I’ve been very fortunate in the players I’ve coached and the coaches I’ve worked with over the years.”

As for the Wildcat players, the final word goes to senior captain Luke Mathewson.

“We were excited to be here for ourselves and Coach Kuz, but we weren’t satisfied. People will look at the score and think we were just happy to be here. But we gave it our all. We played all the way to the final whistle.

“There’s more to life than football,” he summed up. “This season really prepared us for that. I wouldn’t trade all the lessons I’ve learned this year for a state championship.”

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