Schwab: Batavia-Geneva matchup a sight for sore eyes

The wait until Friday is almost over, mercifully so.

That’s when Batavia and Geneva football will duke it out for the Upstate Eight Conference River championship. St. Charles East and St. Charles North will square off the same night, making it a banner night for Tri-Cities football fans, albeit an overdue one.

Football season is always a blast, but the 2014 season – at least when it comes to the UEC River – has featured too many blowouts for the liking of anyone other than the parents of second- and third-stringers, who are seeing plenty of snaps with so many lopsided games.

The Week 1 nonconference game between Batavia and Oswego was an all-time classic. Good thing, since it turns out it’s had to tide us over for most of the season when it comes to watching competitive football.

Once conference play hit, it’s been mismatches galore up and down the UEC River, with the exception of a Week 5 game between Batavia and St. Charles North that was competitive, albeit ending with a 21-7 margin in the Bulldogs’ favor.

That was the closest we’ve come to an upset in a conference game involving Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East or St. Charles North.

The other games have all gone to script in numbing fashion.

The gap between the conference’s upper crust (Batavia and Geneva) and the rest of the pack is painfully apparent.

North is next in the hierarchy and looks like a lock to make the playoffs. East has proven vastly superior to the conference’s bottom half, but the three teams the Saints have defeated are a combined 2-19.

Games involving Elgin, Larkin, Streamwood and conference newcomer West Chicago against any of the four Tri-Cities teams have proven noncompetitive. That makes for a lot of sleepy football beyond the first quarter.

Good things come to those who wait, but let’s get greedy and hope for great Friday when the Bulldogs welcome the Vikings to Bulldog Stadium.

This would be a Week 8 matchup of two unbeaten archrivals were it not for the bizarre ending to the Oswego-Batavia opener.

But the Bulldogs swiftly dusted themselves off the next week against Glenbard North, the same night Geneva took down 2013 Class 6A state runner-up Richards.

Since then, it’s been evident this year’s Batavia-Geneva matchup shaped up as one of the best in the rivals’ storied history.

“Just the opportunity is fantastic,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said Tuesday. “ ... It’s just going to be a lifetime of memories for these guys, good, bad or indifferent, you know. I’m excited for them to play.”

There are two teams capable of doing postseason damage, both apparently headed toward the Class 7A draw. Neither team has a glaring weakness, with Geneva’s defense much more formidable this season, giving the Vikings reason to believe they could snap their three-game losing streak in the series.

But the Bulldogs match up with the Vikings along both lines of scrimmage, can mirror Geneva’s offensive balance and have no intention of disappointing what will be an amped-up home crowd.

No matter which team wins, it’s a safe bet we’ll have some bona fide drama on our hands Friday in Batavia.

Given the way the rest of the conference season has played out, that alone is cause for celebration.

• Jay Schwab is sports editor of the Kane County Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@shawmedia.com.