Geneva remains unbeaten with win over West Chicago
The margin didn't quite mirror the action in Geneva's entertaining homecoming victory yet the Vikings remained unbeaten, 41-12 over West Chicago on Friday at Burgess Field.
West Chicago's Peyton Seidler passed for 263 yards, 147 of them and a touchdown to Alex Mitchell, but twice in the third quarter the Wildcats failed to capitalize at or inside Geneva's 20-yard line.
“Coach (Ted) Monken, man, I've got nothing but kudos for him,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said of the Wildcats' veteran. “I've been seeing him for years. He's gonna be in good shape. He'll get them figured out. This isn't his first rodeo.”
Geneva (7-0, 5-0) hogtied the Upstate Eight Conference River Division win with 2 fourth-quarter touchdowns including Daniel Santacaterina's 36-yard strike to Mike Landi, who joined Mitchell with 147 yards receiving.
Completing 11 straight passes spanning the first and second quarters, Santacaterina finished 16 of 21 for 303 yards with touchdowns to Landi, Pace Temple and Jack Wassel, Wassel's first of the season.
“I feel like it's hard for Dan to pick who to go to,” said the 6-foot-7 Landi, whose breadbasket catch had Geneva up 34-12 on the third play of the fourth quarter.
“Not just me and Pace,” Landi said, “we've got Ryan Skibinski — who's hurt right now — and Jack Wassel coming up, both juniors, very, very talented juniors. He's got too many options.”
It appeared Geneva might run away with it before Seidler started exploring his options for West Chicago (3-4, 2-3).
West Chicago's Mikey Bibbs recovered an onside kick to start the game — it wasn't even disguised — but Geneva got the ball right back. The Vikings led 13-0 on Justin Taormina's 8-yard run and Wassel's 41-yard catch.
Mitchell caught a tipped ball for a 20-yard West Chicago touchdown only to see the Vikings answer when a deep slant to Landi set up Taormina's second touchdown run, a 4-yarder. The junior totaled 73 yards rushing.
Geneva led 27-6 at 6:28 of the second quarter on Temple's 7-yard grab when West Chicago upped the tempo and Seidler went to work. He completed 9 of 12 passes to four receivers on a 75-yard drive. Tight end Zach Ullman scored on an 8-yard slant for a 27-12 halftime score.
“Their defensive front is physical enough that they were able to stop our run consistently with their interior,” Monken said. “So we felt we needed to get the ball to the perimeter and they were giving us places to throw the ball.”
West Chicago's first third-quarter possession stalled on Brock Perry's second interception deep in Geneva territory. The Wildcats shut out Geneva from first-and-goal at the 5 yet again stalled at the Vikings' 20-yard line.
Sean Chambers' 59-yard interception return with 7:42 left closed the book.
“We've got to work to get better next week to keep rolling,” said Seidler, who ran for a team-high 47 yards. “But this offense, we've got a lot of firepower and we just need to be able to click and put it together.”