BATAVIA – Eddie Golden stood on a wet, soggy field after the defining moment of the Batavia football’s team’s regular season, and allowed himself a moment to drink it in.
The Bulldogs had just defeated archrival Geneva, 26-20, on Friday in a game that will extend Batavia’s Upstate Eight Conference River supremacy another year.
“This atmosphere with the rain, it was just out of a movie,” Golden said. “It really is, just out of a movie – 26-20, so close to the very end.”
Golden and his ball-hawking Bulldogs teammates turned this movie into a horror show for Geneva quarterback Daniel Santacaterina and the Vikings. Golden had two of five Batavia interceptions on the night – two of the picks were returned for touchdowns – as the Bulldogs turned Geneva’s vaunted passing game into a major liability.
Safety Nick Bernabei, linebacker Joey Gross and defensive end Josh Leonhard also picked off Santacaterina, a Northern Illinois recruit who in no way is accustomed to being treated this rudely.
“We were just really clicking tonight, everybody,” said Golden, a senior cornerback. “Our defensive line, that goes out to them a lot. They were getting him pressured all the time. He threw it up and we went and got it.”
One of those D-linemen, Leonhard arguably turned in the signature moment for Batavia’s defense, though there were many candidates.
With Geneva trailing, 20-14, early in the fourth quarter, Leonhard gobbled Santacaterina’s pass at the line of scrimmage and ran about 45 yards to paydirt to give the Bulldogs their first two-possession lead since the 7:06 mark of the second quarter.
Leonhard said he figured Santacaterina’s pass would sail over his head, but the 6-foot-2 end showed terrific reflexes with little time to react.
“I didn’t think it was going to come to me,” Leonhard said. “He looked right at me so I just jumped, and I caught it, and ran for my life.”
Bulldog Stadium must feel booby-trapped to Santacaterina, who has enjoyed ample success at just about every other venue.
Two years ago, as a sophomore, Santacaterina’s season was cut short when a sack by former Bulldog Marquise Jenkins resulted in a broken collarbone. While that night was surely more painful physically, this one packed an emotional wallop.
Geneva coach Rob Wicinski expressed faith that Santacaterina can move beyond Friday’s uncharacteristic turmoil.
“His mind wasn’t too far off,” Wicinski said. “He needed to get rid of a few of those down the stretch. I’m going to go back and look, but he put some BBs in there. I thought he threw some nice passes.
“He’s a Santacaterina. He’s nasty. He’ll be fine. He grew up in this stuff.”
Wicinski recently said Batavia-Geneva games are so emotionally charged they tend to come down to whichever team makes the fewest mistakes. After Friday’s six-turnover outing for his previously undefeated Vikings, he joked that assessment might have been a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It wasn’t just the rash of turnovers – the Bulldogs were guilty of three of their own – that made for a weird night.
Wicinski provided example No. 728 that he really, really loathes punting the football, allowing Santacaterina to attempt a QB sneak on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings’ own 15 a minute before halftime.
Batavia stuffed the play, undoubtedly prompting muttering from even the most ardent of Wicinski’s supporters, but Geneva senior Pace Temple bailed out his coach, intercepting Batavia’s subsequent second down pass for the whopping sixth turnover of the first half, three apiece.
That kept the score tied at 14 at halftime, and it was anyone’s game as late as the closing minutes, when Geneva moved into Batavia territory before a sack and late penalties sealed the Vikings’ fate.
There would be no Hollywood ending for Geneva as Batavia seized its fourth straight win in the series.
In a highly entertaining game that was there for the taking for either team, the Bulldogs’ defense plucked the game – and the conference championship – right out of the air.
• Jay Schwab is sports editor at the Kane County Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@shawmedia.com.
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