Finnegan Weppner’s three-touchdown night helps Geneva snap 13-game losing streak against Batavia

BATAVIA – Finnegan Weppner still remembered his first time watching the rivalry game between Batavia and Geneva as a kindergartener back in 2012.

In that game, the Bulldogs pulled off a victory, which ended up being the second of 13 straight victories Batavia would win, and eventually bring into Friday’s game.

But since witnessing that game, the now-senior had one goal — being a part of the team that finally ended that streak.

“I just remember seeing us getting absolutely blown out, and I said, ‘We’re going to be a part of the group that changes that,’” Weppner said. “Last year, Batavia won the game, but we thought to ourselves that maybe we could do it. But this year, we were set on winning.”

Weppner finished the night with three touchdown receptions, all in the second half, to help the Vikings snap a 13-game losing streak to the Bulldogs with a 30-7 win.

“Being able to get this done in my senior season and getting the last laugh is an amazing feeling,” Weppner said. “It’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

Momentum started to swing in favor of Geneva (6-0, 4-0 DuKane conference) late in the third quarter. After taking a 10-7 lead on a field goal, the Vikings hopped on an untouched kickoff to get possession at Batavia’s 20-yard line. After that, the Vikings rattled off three straight touchdown drives, with each one finishing with quarterback Tony Chahino finding Weppner in the end zone.

Geneva head coach Boone Thorgesen said the plan was to get wide receiver and Georgia commit Talyn Taylor going early, before opening up the passing game for Chahino with options like Weppner and sophomore Bennett Konkey.

“Batavia ended up rolling a safety onto Talyn early on and we saw some one-on-one coverage, and you can’t do that with our guys that we have on the edge,” Thorgesen said. “We have three very good receivers, but what it came down to in the second half was how well my quarterback played. He made some big-time throws in big-time situations.”

Chahino finished the night going 14-for-26 with 171 yards and four touchdowns. Taylor caught seven of those passes for 54 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, while Konkey had four catches, all in the second half, for a team-high 83 yards.

The passing game wasn’t the only thing that was gaining ground for the Vikings. Running back Michael Rumoro finished the night with 164 yards on 22 carries, including a 48-yard rush that all but sealed the win for Geneva.

“He’s a tough runner, and has a tremendous balance for a running back,” Thorgesen said. “He has a burst that’s very tough to deal with, and he’s a weapon to have, especially when you have guys like we have out on the edge.”

While the Vikings’ running back was flourishing, the defense was making sure that Batavia’s tailbacks were not. After putting up five 100+ yard rushing performances to start the season, Geneva limited running back Nathan Whitwell to just 26 yards on 14 carries.

“Our kids were ready for that challenge,” Thorgesen said. “We knew that 28 was the guy we had to stop, and our defense set the tone from the beginning and carried it on for four quarters, which is very hard to do against this offense.”

Batavia’s lone score came in the dying seconds of the first half on a Philly special, with wide receiver Isaiah Brown lofting a 5-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Bodi Anderson to tie the score at 7-7 going into halftime.

The loss was Batavia (5-1, 3-1) coach Dennis Piron’s first against their rivals since becoming head coach in 2011. While he feels that he and the coaches let his kids down in the game, he knows there’s no time to hang his head in the conference.

“It’s been 14 years for them, so good for Boone and Geneva, but we know we’re going to have to bounce back quickly,” Piron said. “Our league won’t give us any breaks, and everybody’s going to be gunning for us, so we’ve got to be ready for these next three games.”