COAL CITY — Coal City and Geneseo have never met in varsity football, and according to Mapquest, slightly more than 108 miles separates the two high schools.

If you think that means the Coalers are unfamiliar with the Maple Leafs, think again. Even before they learned that Geneseo had defeated Sandwich 17-0 Saturday and become their second-round opponent in the Class 4A playoffs, many Coalers were at least vaguely familiar with an established western Illinois program that is in some ways similar to their own.

Geneseo is a four-time state champion, with its last title coming in 1982, and the most recent of its five runner-up finishes was in 2009. It last missed the playoffs in 1995 and has failed to qualify just three times since 1974. Coal City, which began its program more than 60 years after Geneseo started its own, has a state title and a second-place finish to its credit and is making its 23rd playoff appearance since 1987.