Kevin Gebon’s teammates don’t let him forget what they expect from him. At a crucial moment in a game, the Poly Prep senior quarterback is given a friendly reminder of exactly what the guys around him want him to do.
“In the huddle one of the linemen will say, ‘We are blocking up here — Kevin’s got us,’ ” Gebon said.
It is his teammates’ confidence in him as a playmaker, more than his own, that he takes the most pride in.
Gebon, also a linebacker, gets it done on both sides of the field for the Blue Devils, ranked No. 6 in the city by our sister publication, the New York Post. Gebon’s propensity to make big plays and a little support from the Poly community earned him the top spot in last week’s NYPost.com poll asking, “Who is the city’s best football playmaker?”
“It means a little bit,” he said of winning.
“It’s just nice, [but] going out there and making the plays tells me more than a poll [that] I’m a playmaker.”
Gebon garnered 2,704 votes, good enough for 46.27 percent of the 5,844 votes casts.
John Adams wide receiver Shane Hubbard was second with 1,553 votes and Brooklyn Tech’s junior James Gales was third with 893.
Gebon said random people were coming up to him in school and telling him about the poll and that he appreciated their support. He threw for 141 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 90 yards in a loss to Catholic High School Football League power Iona Prep last week.
“When I saw that, it was nice,” he said of the interest people took.
The biggest plays Gebon make don’t always have to do with scoring points. In a scrimmage against Fort Hamilton two weeks ago with Poly trailing 20-0 at the half, Gebon ran over a Tigers defender on the opening drive after the break and it gave the Blue Devils an emotional life. Poly would rally for a lopsided win. Gebon is also a superb run stopper up the middle at linebacker.
“The best play he had all day was when he ran those guys over and got everybody jacked up,” Poly coach Dino Mangiero said after the game.
Starting slow is something Gebon has talked about with his teammates and will try to reverse heading into Saturday afternoon’s game with The Peddie School.
“Hustle, attitude, demeanor, things like that,” Gebon said of stuff they will try to keep positive right from the start.
He knows his teammates will again be looking right at him in the huddle to set the tone.
