Geneva avoids St. Charles East upset bid
In the words of the late Yogi Berra, “it was déjà vu all over again.”
Two weeks after edging St. Charles North 42-41 on a last-second touchdown pass from Sean Chambers to Ryan Skibinski, the Geneva senior duo combined for another late backbreaking play against St. Charles East Friday night.
Skibinski caught a 28-yard TD pass in the right corner of the end zone from Chambers with 2:12 remaining as the Vikings (6-0, 3-0) rallied for a 27-26 Upstate Eight Conference River Division homecoming triumph at Burgess Field.
“We felt like we could beat them to the outside,” said Skibinski. “We were talking about that play for two series and we finally ran it on the last series. It ended up working out for us.”
Trailing throughout the game, the Vikings began their game-winning drive working with the wind from the Saints' 41.
“We were talking in the huddle before the drive saying, ‘we've got to make this happen or else we're going to lose,' ” said Skibinski.
“The ball was tailing on Sean (Chambers) a little bit,” said Vikings coach Rob Wicinski, whose team has won 8 of 9 games against St. Charles East dating back to 2007. “It wasn't the best night to throw the ball but when he needed to make the passes he made them.”
For 3-plus quarters, the Saints (2-4, 2-2) had success running the triple option against the Vikings' defense.
It took St. Charles East just 3 plays to march 76 yards with the game's opening possession, capped by a 39-yard touchdown run by freshman Justin Jett (19 carries, 126 yards) just 1:09 into the contest.
Geneva capitalized on a muffed punt to tie the game a few minutes later as Chambers connected with Jack Wassel (5 receptions, 81 yards) on a 26-yard TD pass on 4th-and-7.
The Saints responded with a pair of touchdowns on their next 2 possessions — a 2-yard TD run by Jett and a 4-yard scoring jaunt by Cam Canales — to grab a 20-7 lead early in the second quarter.
“Sometimes you don't bring your ‘A' game but I knew St. Charles East would come out here and compete,” Wicinski said of his team's slow start.
The Vikings narrowed the gap to 20-14 on a 6-yard TD run by Justin Taormina (34 carries, 182 yards) with 3:20 left in the second quarter but the Saints compiled a 5-play, 62-yard drive of their own, capped by a 23-yard TD pass from Zach Mitchell to Dante Macaluso to make it 26-14 with 1:05 left.
After forcing a 3-and-out series, it appeared that the Saints would take a double-digit lead into halftime.
However, a fumble — the Saints' third turnover of the first half — resulted in a momentum-changing, 14-yard TD pass from Chambers to Wassel with 6 seconds remaining as the Vikings pulled within 26-21.
“I thought we'd be OK even chasing two touchdowns but when we were chasing one, we were walking on pillows and high on our toes,” said Wicinski.
“That's on me,” Saints coach Bryce Farquhar said of the decision not to take a knee with 37 seconds remaining. “I saw a formation and I got greedy.
“Our defense was phenomenal tonight,” added the coach. “They (Vikings) had three scores on three turnovers. I'm proud of the kids. I'm really proud of the effort.”