Trailing 24-0 to host New Trier and chances of a playoff appearance in his final high school season gone, running back and captain Mike Ciss stood on the Glenbrook North sidelines encouraging his teammates.
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After the Trevians scored to make it 31-0, Ciss and the Glenbrook North offense put together a nine-play, 84-yard drive to get on the board. On the Spartans’ final two drives with the starters on the sidelines, sophomores Andrew Smith and Quinn Clark connected for a touchdown to cut the lead to 31-13 to account for the final.
Nobody on the Glenbrook North sideline seemed unaffected by falling to 3-5 on the season after starting 3-0.
Coach Matt Purdy said that Ciss’ actions were exactly what he’d expected.
“You see a lot of things on social media, guys pouting and whatnot,” he said. “Mike’s not that kid. Mike will have a great week of practice next week. He’ll get the guys squared away.”
Ciss said that the encouragement is part of being a captain for the Spartans.
“Even if we were down, I had to keep the guys’ spirits up to try and get back in the game,” Ciss said. “The other captains and I keep telling the guys that we need to finish the season strong. It’s not the spot that we wanted to be in, but we need to finish the season strong and with pride.”
Junior quarterback Dylan Buckner said that attitude was reflected by all four captains: Ciss, Louis Schaller, Quinn Sybert and Andrew Koulogeorge. Buckner said their positivity throughout the game carried into conversations over the weekend.
“We have a group chat for the team,” Buckner said. “The kinds of texts that were going through this weekend were all positive, nothing negative. It was all, ‘Yeah, we lost, but let’s look to the future. Let’s play this last game hard and for the seniors who are going to leave.'”
Jakub Rudnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press