Geneva hammers Elgin

Geneva won the toss and elected to receive in order to get right to the business of continuing its domination of Elgin and staying unbeaten.

The Vikings scored on their first three possessions, established a running clock for the second half to make up for the half-hour late start and chalked up a 45-10 victory Friday night in Elgin. Boost the Geneva records to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Upstate Eight River Division, add a fifth consecutive triumph over the Maroons and know their playoff future is secure for the 11th time in 12 seasons.

"Today was all about business," said Justin Taormina, who contributed 3 rushing touchdowns and ran a screen pass in for another score. "The key was the same things we try to take care of during practice. I always credit my offensive line, they worked their blocks and opened up the holes for me to run through."

For Elgin coach Anthony Mason and the Maroons, the learning process continues. Now 0-5 and 0-2, Elgin has three of its final four games on the road starting with a visit to Streamwood.

Geneva's Luke Swanson's 38-yard kickoff return set the Vikings up on the Elgin 42. Four plays, plus a Maroon offside penalty later, Taormina scored his first touchdown 4:50 into the game. The Vikings stopped Elgin and a poor punt enabled the Vikes to take over on the Elgin 27. Taormina was denied the end zone because of a holding penalty, but ultimately scored from 4 yards out for a 14-0 lead.

A Maroon fumble gave the Vikings the ball on their own 38 and quarterback Sean Chambers promptly connected with Ryan Skibinski for a 38-yard touchdown pass and a 21-0 lead.

"We had some issues on discipline last week, but we really improved and did what we were supposed to do," Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. "After a big win, keeping focus was important. No question Justin is a weapon, anytime we can get him space to work."

Elgin's Shareick Morris fumbled a kickoff at the goal line, but grabbed it and raced up the sideline, was stood up, but continued on downfield to get pushed out of bounds. Tack on a personal foul on the Vikings and the Maroons were set up for a first-and-goal at the Geneva 8.

"Shareick is gifted because he's a good athlete and we've got several," Mason said. "They provide bright spots, but we need more discipline, accountability. We need to set a better foundation to continue to build from. Geneva is a well-oiled machine, we've got some newcomers to football and sometimes we're still working on who to block."

Unfortunately for Elgin, the Maroons had to settle for a Miguel Delgaldo 27-yard field goal to make it 28-3 for the first quarter.

Before the home side could get optimistic about trailing by 18, Alec Keating's 98-yard kickoff return returned the momentum to Geneva.

Taormina's 2-yard touchdown followed by a fifth Brendan Hines PAT kick made it 35-3. Then Taormina caught a 15-yard screen pass to get to the end zone again. As the regular holder, Skibinski took the snap and rolled right before a high toss snared out of the air by Collin Lee for 2 points for the 40-point margin that would lead to a running clock for the second half. But with 1:00 left, Geneva upped the tally to 45-3 as Steve Kemp and Danny Quirin combined to bring Terrance Miller Allen down for a safety.

With Geneva's reserves taking over for the second half, Taormina finished with 95 yards on 14 carries while Chambers completed 5 of 9 passes for 66 yards in one half. Skibinski snared four of those passes for 51 yards.

Having sat for the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, Elgin's Terrance Miller Allen scrambled long enough to hit a wide-open Lavion Baldwin for an 80-yard touchdown strike. Delgaldo's PAT kick completed the scoring.

"We have playmakers and Lavion's one of them, so it's my job to find them," Miller Allen said. "I saw him break free and being down 40, I figured why not take a shot. I trust him to catch it. We have to get back to work Monday on making more of these plays."