Clutch kick caps Geneva football’s comeback

GENEVA – Geneva kicker Ben Moore is careful to follow assistant coach Dave Carli’s directive about how to proceed as soon as he boots the ball.

“He always tells me to keep my head down, and wait for the crowd to tell me if it’s good or not,” Moore said.

On this night, the Burgess Field crowd let Moore know, loud and clear. Moore kicked a game-winning, 35-yard field goal as time expired on Friday, completing a dynamite comeback by the Vikings for a 31-28, Upstate Eight crossover win against South Elgin.

Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said he thought about taking a late shot into the end zone, but instead allowed the clock to wind down before calling timeout with less than two seconds to go. “You’ve got to have faith some time,” Wicinski explained. It was rewarded.

“He stroked it, man,” Wicinski said. “I wish I hit my golf ball that well.”

The comeback from a 21-6 third-quarter deficit extended Geneva’s winning streak to six on a night when the Vikings (6-2) clinched a playoff berth and the UEC River title outright because of second-place Batavia’s loss to St. Charles North.

South Elgin (6-2) led 28-21 and was on the verge of making it a two-possession game with 8:35 to go when Geneva senior Kyle Bender tipped South Elgin kicker David Reisner’s 28-yard field goal attempt, deflecting it wide.

Geneva then drove to the South Elgin 7 yard-line, but after quarterback Matt Williams was dropped for a loss on third down, the Vikings faced fourth-and-7 at the 9 yard-line. Following a South Elgin timeout, Williams rolled to his right and found senior Russ Acton for a touchdown. Moore’s PAT made it 28-all with 2:43 to go.

“Great blocking by the linemen, and Williams had a great ball, right to me,” said Acton, who earlier caught a 61-yard TD pass that cut the deficit to 21-14 after a two-point conversion. “I couldn’t drop it, it was such a good throw.”

With the game tied, a Geneva defense that allowed the Storm 473 yards of offense saved its best work for money time. Senior Connor Quinn (25 carries, 183 yards rushing) backed Wicinski’s contention that he’s even better defensively, snuffing out two straight South Elgin plays, one with the help of defensive lineman Drew White, and the other a batted-down pass on third down, to force the Storm to punt with about 1:45 to go.

“We told [Quinn] if we’ve got to go to the fourth quarter and you’ve got to go both ways, you’ve got to be mentally prepared to do that,” Wicinski said. “He loves to play football, so he doesn’t care. He gets upset when he has to come out defensively, so that’s a nice problem to have. You’re not putting the screws on him to get out there.”

From there, it was Quinn’s turn to continue outmuscling South Elgin defenders. A shaky Storm punt handed Geneva the ball at its own 47 yard-line with 1:36 left, and Quinn carried on four of the next five plays, stampeding into field goal range.

Then it came down to Moore, who was nonplussed by waiting out an attempted freeze timeout by the Storm.

“I see it all the time in the college and the pros,” Moore said. “No surprise.”

Geneva faced a 14-6 halftime deficit after having difficulty corralling South Elgin speedster Bradley Birchfield throughout the first half. Birchfield rushed 16 times for 112 yards in the half, including a 5-yard touchdown run for the Storm’s first score early in the second quarter.

South Elgin went ahead 14-6 when a breakdown in the Vikings’ secondary resulted in Storm receiver Domico Failla sprinting all alone underneath a 41-yard touchdown heave from quarterback John Menken (9 for 12, 197 yards passing, two TD passes, one TD run).

Geneva started the game’s scoring on a 14-yard touchdown strike from Williams to junior Tyler Hickey late in the first quarter. Moore’s PAT was no good.

Both teams suffered key injuries in the second half. A hobbled Birchfield gave way to Adolfo Pacheco (12 carries, 118 yards) for most of the second half, while Vikings defensive lineman Andrew Mariotti missed much of crunch time with an apparent ankle injury.

GENEVA 31, SOUTH ELGIN 28

South Elgin    0    14    14    0    –    28

Geneva    6    0    15    10    –    31

First quarter G – Hickey 14 pass from Williams (kick failed), 2:38 Second quarter SE – Birchfield 5 run (Reisner kick), 9:29 SE – Failla 41 pass from Menken (Reisner kick), 3:12 Third quarter SE – Pacheco 5 pass from Menken (Reisner kick), 6:49 G – Acton 61 pass from Williams (Quinn run), 5:19 SE – Menken 1 run (Reisner kick), 3:43 G – Quinn 2 run (Moore kick), 2:26 Fourth quarter G – Acton 9 pass from Williams (Moore kick), 2:43 G – Moore 35 field goal, 0:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – South Elgin: Birchfield 23-148, Menken 7-10, Pacheco 12-118. Totals: 42-276. Geneva: Williams 7-36, Quinn 25-183, Cella 5-22. Totals: 37-241. PASSING – South Elgin: Menken 9-12-0-197. Geneva: Williams 8-16-0-142. RECEIVING – South Elgin: Failla 3-62, Pacheco 2-17, Birchfield 2-33, Lowden 2-85. Totals: 9-197. Geneva: Rogers 2-25, Hickey 2-18, Quinn 2-29, Acton 2-70. Totals: 8-142. TOTAL YARDS – South Elgin 473, Geneva 383

Sophomore score: Geneva 30, South Elgin 13