Strange, this football business; how life can vary from week to week.
Just a few days ago Kevin Donley took his Saint Francis football team to a place where his Cougars had never played before and left Marshall, Mo., with a 28-14 victory over Missouri Valley in the first round of the NAIA playoffs.
A week later, as the Cougars (9-2) embark into the playoffs’ second round, he will be visiting a most familiar area.
Donley will be returning to Georgetown, Ky., on Saturday for an NAIA quarterfinal playoff game with No. 3 Georgetown (11-0) – a school where the 14-year Cougars head coach coached from 1982 to 1992 and led it to the 1991 national championship.
This is the seventh time the two teams have met in the playoffs, and each team has won three games.
“I had a lot of great years there,” Donley said. “My kids basically grew up there.”
Since a 40-13 home loss to Marian, Donley’s current kids have shown signs of growing up. The win over Missouri Valley was their fifth straight.
Georgetown takes an 11-game streak into Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game.
Donley doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary when he returns to his old, Kentucky home. After all, Georgetown coach Bill Cronin was an assistant for Donley, and Georgetown offensive coordinator Craig Mullins played quarterback at Georgetown for Donley, and followed Donley to California University of Pennsylvania, where he was the offensive coordinator.
“Their staff and our staff talk weekly,” Donley said. “I talk to Bill about every couple of weeks.”
This time, though, Donley doesn’t expect bands and banners upon his return, even though he was inducted into the Georgetown Hall of Fame in 2004. Donley, whose record is 140-30 at Saint Francis, was 75-43-1 at Georgetown, where he finished with seven consecutive winning seasons.
“They’re not going to like me very well for a couple hours on Saturday,” Donley said. “As I said, I’ve got many fond memories there. We won a national championship. That stays with you forever. So a lot of them are like brothers and sons.”
