Geneva topples St. Charles North in River showdown
Geneva's football team came ready to play Friday night against St. Charles North.
Senior quarterback Daniel Santacaterina marched his team 73 yards in 7 plays, capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Pace Temple, as the Vikings (4-0, 2-0) grabbed a 7-0 lead on the game's opening possession.
Geneva built a 17-0 first-quarter lead on the way to a 31-13 victory over the host North Stars (3-1, 1-1) in the battle of Upstate Eight Conference River Division unbeatens.
The Vikings received a bit of a motivational boost after the North Stars won the opening coin toss.
“They deferred (the kick) and we kind of took that as a shot at our offense,” said Temple, who caught 3 passes for 50 yards, including the TD toss from Santacaterina on the Vikings' opening drive. “We kind of got an edge and knew we had to get it going. The passing game was clicking early.”
Santacaterina (16-of-30, 252 yards) was a perfect 4-of-4 passing for 71 yards on the initial drive.
“We took what the defense gave us and made plays,” said Santacaterina. “I had solid protection up front.”
After Brendan Hines booted a 27-yard field goal to make it 10-0, the Vikings upped the margin to 17-0 just 15 seconds later on Temple's 32-yard interception return.
“I've been sitting, sitting, sitting the past three games waiting to jump on a hitch (pattern),” said Temple, who finished with 6 receptions for 100 yards. “The first time, I thought it was a hitch and it wasn't. The second time, I decided to go for it.”
Geneva coach Rob Wicinski was pleased with the way his team jumped out to an early double-digit advantage.
“That's what we were preaching all week — that we wanted to get off to a good start,” said Wicinski.
Early in the second quarter, the Vikings gambled and struck gold when Santacaterina connected with Ryan Skibinski for a 71-yard pass play on 4th-and-11 from their own 14-yard line.
Two plays later, Justin Taormina (24 carries, 88 yards) scored on a 10-yard run as the Vikings took a 24-0 halftime lead.
“I'm not sure the defense is thinking on the sideline that we're going to throw the ball on 4th-and-11 at about the 5-yard line,” said Santacaterina. “But if it works, it works. That's a package we have. It was a huge play by 'Ski (Skibinski).”
North Stars coach Rob Pomazak insisted his team wasn't fooled by the unconventional fourth-down play call.
“If you scout them, you know they're going to do that,” he said. “We worked extensively on that all week. Our kid bumped and run, fell behind his man and that is what cost us. It was a pretty gutsy call but when you gamble and you win, it looks good. It was disappointing for us.”
Temple caught an 18-yard TD toss from Santacaterina late in the third quarter to make it 31-0 before the North Stars added a pair of fourth-quarter scores.
Sophomore Tyler Mettetal hauled in a 16-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Nathan Didier to get the North Stars on the board and Didier added a 33-yard TD run with 1:32 remaining.
St. Charles North outscored Geneva 13-7 in the second half.
“They (North Stars) do a lot of things that cause us trouble — you could see that in the second half,” said Wicinski, whose team is 4-0 for the first time since 2011. “But I'll take a hot start and fizzle out as opposed to no start at all.”
“I thought our defense was on the field too much,” said Pomazak, whose team received solid play from defensive end Jordan Bergren and linebacker Carson Schmitt. “They're too good of a team to pin yourselves in a hole.”