GENEVA – On senior night at Burgess Field, Geneva coach Rob Wicinski and his team experienced one of the strangest games of their lives against Larkin.
The abnormality of the Vikings’ 69-27 win Friday night began just 1:38 into the first quarter when Larkin quarterback Kyle Newquist’s punt traveled negative-12 yards and was picked up by Matt Malecha for an 8-yard punt return touchdown.
Connor Quinn would run in a 4-yard touchdown to extend Geneva’s lead to 13-0. The margin would remain the same for the rest of the quarter before a 48-point second quarter.
Quinn would add three touchdowns in the second quarter – on runs of 4 and 33 yards and a 63-yard reception from Matt Williams – before a wacky last minute of the half. Geneva was driving down the field late in the quarter when Larkin’s Justin Banks returned a fumble by the Geneva quarterback 72 yards for a touchdown fumble with 10.2 seconds remaining.
The Royals (3-6, 2-4 Upstate Eight Conference River) would miss the extra point and then poorly execute a squib kick to give Geneva enough field position and enough time remaining to allow Williams to find Ben Rogers in the end zone for a 38-yard hail mary catch to end a crazy first half with the Vikings up 41-20.
“It was kind of wild,” Quinn said. “It was definitely a wild one for us. It was back and forth and a track meet out there.”
Sixty-nine points scored was the most longtime Wicinski could remember during his tenure as the Vikings’ head man. Although there were mistakes Wicinski felt Geneva (7-2, 6-0 Upstate Eight Conference River Division) could have avoided, he was especially pleased with the four turnovers his defense forced and the field possession it set up for the Vikings’ offense.
“It’s a fine line,” said Wicinski regarding the sportsmanship of accumulating such a large point total. “But the defense had opportunities. They scored a lot of points. That’s how you get to 69, when your defense is scoring a lot of points. I’m just really proud of the way the kids played and the way they handled themselves throughout the year.”
Looking back to the beginning of Geneva’s 2010 campaign, Wicinski likes the way the Vikings’ first two weeks – losses to Morgan Park and Rock Island – set the tone for conference play and the way it kept Geneva under the radar.
“I really believe that we were up to speed for our first test in conference because of those two games,” Wicinski said. “But it could have really fallen apart. We were catching a little bit from the people around the community, but I kind of liked it. We were under the radar and we just went back to business.”
Now, with a UEC River championship under their belts in the division’s inaugural year, Geneva’s focus shifts to the opening round of the playoffs, which begin next weekend.
After going 7-2 during the regular season with losses to two quality teams, logic would point to Geneva hosting a first-round playoff game at Burgess Field. But whether the Vikings receive a home game next week, Geneva feels positive about where they are as a team heading into the playoffs.
“We’re definitely excited about (the playoffs) as a team,” Quinn said. “It’s one of our goals to make a run in the playoffs every year. We’re going to see what we can do.”
GENEVA 69, LARKIN 27
FIRST QUARTER G – Malecha 8 punt return (Moore kick), 10:22 G – Quinn 4 run (Kick failed), 4:34 SECOND QUARTER G – Quinn 33 run (Moore kick), 7:52 L – Whitehead 13 pass from Newquist (Kick failed), 6:42 G – Quinn 3 run (Moore kick), 4:25 G – Quinn 63 pass from Williams (Moore kick), 2:15 L – Cooks 69 run (Whitehead Conversion), 1:08 L – Banks 72 fumble return (Kick failed), :10.2 G – Rogers 38 pass from Williams (Moore kick), 0:00 THIRD QUARTER G – Cella 18 run (Moore kick), 7:54 G – Frederick 24 fumble return (Moore kick), 7:41 G – Nobregas 19 run (Moore kick), 7:26 FOURTH QUARTER G – Favis 5 run (Moore kick), 11:02 L – Villafane 1 run (Tapia kick), 1:23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – Geneva: Quinn 13-139, Nobregas 6-63, Cella 4-27, Williams 3-24, Woodworth 3-21, Favis 2-21, DuVair 1-3, Berthold 1-2. Larkin: Cooks 15-102, Mosley 10-48, Villafane 2-14, Lawton 1- negative-5, Newquist 5- negative-9. PASSING – Geneva: Williams 5-13-98-2-1. Larkin: Newquist 3-8-74-1-0, Villafane 3-5-33-0-0, Lawton 0-1-0-0-0. RECEIVING – Geneva: Quinn 1-63, Rogers 2-42, Cella 1-25, Berthold 1-6. Larkin: Whitehead 5-106, Villafane 1-8, Norwood 1-6.