QUICK READ: Catching the sounds during the heat of battle

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Reporters’ ears detect the darnedest things, and sometimes I set mine to funnel in all musings that are even remotely funny.

Since laughs can be limited on high school sidelines during the heat of battle, the trick is to venture toward either end zone from the 20 yard-line, where players and coaches are forbidden but chain gangs, special guests and media roam free.

It was in this region during Friday’s Geneva-Kaneland football game in Maple Park that I heard a photographer wonder above Tim McGraw, “Since when did we slip below the Mason-Dixon line?” His fair question was funny, too, and set the table for Vikings defensive tackle Frank Boenzi after Geneva’s 27-24 overtime victory:

“How do you get in the mood to play football with country music on?”

The lyrics “Skippin’ rocks on the river by the railroad tracks” sounded about Peterson Field more than once as McGraw paid tribute to a former love in “Something Like That.” Songs from the Kaneland loudspeaker took a similar tone for most of the night, and I only heard the hard-rockin’ AC/DC standard “Back in Black” once.

Thank goodness no one sang a word about physically appealing tractors, though it still seemed like there was more country per capita than during other Kaneland home games. A fellow reporter suggested a possible self-played David and Goliath strategy as the Vikings from the suburbs battled the Knights of the not-so-wild west, but he only had John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Small Town” to back him up.

Vikings punter/tight end Jack Delabar wore cowboy boots to school on game day, too, doing his part to shoot down the theory.

I heard a Knights cheerleader sound off against the country football movement during another trip inside the 20 this season. As Kenny Chesney’s “Summertime” blared over the loudspeakers during a cool halftime drizzle in Week 5, she shouted abruptly that summertime was over.

Kaneland returned to the field and “Back in Black” came on again.

Only “In the Mood” could have been better.

Closing time: Kaneland’s Matt Reusche (fifth, 16:03) and Trevor Holm (sixth, 16:07) ran closely enough during Saturday’s Western Sun Conference boys cross country meet to give the Knights a second-place team finish, their highest in four seasons of the WSC.

Reusche and Holm also became the first Kaneland boys’ All-WSC competitors at Kishwaukee Community College in Malta, adding a notch to the program’s belt before the upcoming state series and before Kaneland joins the new Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference next season.

“It’s time we step up and meet the challenges ahead of us,” Knights coach Chad Clarey said.

For the girls, Andie Strang finished 13th for the fourth-place Knights in 19:37. It was her third straight all-conference medal.

Geneva swept the boys and girls team titles for the third straight season behind individual champions Kevin Sparks (15:27) and Kelly Whitley (18:16).

• Kevin Druley is a sportswriter for The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5347 or kdruley@kcchronicle.com.