New-look Geneva looks stellar in rolling past St. Francis

Starting new players at virtually every position, Geneva's football team carried an unknown element into Friday night's season debut against St. Francis.

"You just don't know with juniors and seniors who haven't played much," said Vikings coach Rob Wicinski. "When they flip on the lights, you don't know how they're going to react."

The unfamiliar faces reacted with familiar results during the Vikings' 45-7 nonconference triumph over the Spartans at Burgess Field.

Senior tailback Lance Arni, who served as a defensive back last season, ran for 203 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 19 carries - all in the first half - as the Vikings built a commanding 38-0 cushion at the intermission.

After a 50-yard punt by the Spartans' John Brundage pinned the Vikings at their own 2, Arni responded with his own personal 98-yard scoring drive.

First, he ran around left end for 53 yards before following a similar path on the next play during his 45-yard TD run that put Geneva on top 7-0 midway through the opening quarter.

"It all started with the O-line," said Arni. "They were making some great holes the whole night and once I got to those holes it was wide open grass in front of me."

Arni's 2-yard TD run capped the first-half scoring with 3:01 remaining in the second quarter.

"I knew Lance Arni was an athlete but it was real nice to see him put his shoulders down and go for it," said Wicinski, who has guided the Vikings to playoff berths in 11 of the last 12 seasons.

Geneva also displayed a bit of trickery in the first quarter as Luke Swanson caught an 11-yard TD pass from holder Kyle Evert on a fake field goal attempt.

After Brad King's 41-yard field goal extended the lead to 17-0, the Vikings scored a pair of touchdowns within a 22-second span on bookend 18-yard interception returns by Troy Tams and Mason Branson.

"The defense getting those two scores for us - that was absolutely huge," said Wicinski. "We thought our defense could be flying around a little and they were tonight."

Swanson added a 3-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to make it 45-0 before the Spartans broke the shutout bid on a 44-yard TD run by Sam Sidari (16 carries, 83 yards) with 10:55 remaining.

"The positive was the second half," said Spartans first-year coach Joe Lepsche. "It wasn't the way we wanted to start but we're going to learn from this, move forward, and hopefully get better."