Geneva repeats its winning formula

When you find something that works, stick with it.

Before Friday, Geneva had one win over Batavia since 1994 --14-12 in 2004 at Bulldog Stadium.

So why not try that again?

The Vikings did just that, winning 14-12 on Batavia's home field, their second win in the last 13 tries against their rival.

There were more similarities than the final score. Both games Geneva capitalized on Batavia being unable to convert its PATs.

Both games Geneva ran the ball well. Nick Herrera had 172 of Geneva's 273 rushing yards in 2004 -- last night it was Michael Ratay gaining 136 of Geneva's 244 rushing yards.

Three years ago it was the Geneva secondary saving the day, intercepting Batavia four times including 2 by Nick Sanchez. Friday the Vikings stopped a 2-point conversion that turned out to be the difference.

Geneva came from behind in 2004, erasing a 12-0 third-quarter deficit with an Alex Pokorny 13-yard touchdown pass to Justin Gerkin, then taking the lead on Nick Castner's 3-yard plunge.

"Coaches were sitting on the sideline and we were thinking the same thing," Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. "Very, very similar to 2004."

This year's Vikings never trailed in their 14-12 win. Batavia students had a lot of fun last year wearing "52-6" T-shirts -- a not-so-subtle reminder of how their two football games turned out.

It's Geneva's turn for bragging rights. They could go "14-12", which would work for both the 2007 and 2004 guys, or maybe take a different approach.

How about "9-0?"

Undefeated regular seasons don't come around that often -- it's Geneva's first in 22 years -- and judging by all the fans chanting "un-de-feat-ed" I bet those "9-0" T-shirts would be a hot seller.

That's also the same record Geneva's sophomore team finished with after beating Batavia 21-0. Things couldn't be much brighter for the Geneva program.

The players are going to enjoy it, especially the ones who lost those two one-sided games to Batavia last year.

"We've been waiting for this feeling for a long time," said Geneva quarterback Michael Mayszak, who played in the defensive backfield for the Vikings last year. "It's finally good to have the momentum back on our side."

It wasn't an easy night to be a quarterback on either side. The teams combined to go 2 of 13 for 11 yards and 3 interceptions in the first half. It wasn't until late in the third quarter when the number of completions in the game outnumbered the interceptions.

It was a windy night, but both coaches said it had little to no effect on their play-calling or the passing game -- even though the teams combined for under 100 yards through the air. Batavia's Mike Gaspari said dropped passes and self-inflicted mistakes hurt his team more than the wind.

Mayszak stayed cool. He converted a first down when his own punt was blocked. "I saw it bounce and I just took off running and it just opened up. My blockers got out in front of me," he said.

He converted two passes to Colin McCaffrey and Joe Augustine that kept key second-half drives alive.

But mostly, Geneva got the ball in Ratay's hands and mixed it up with its fullbacks. That's also something that worked back in 2004 with Herrera and Castner.

Nothing fancy, but who needs to be fancy when all you do is win?

"The wind was carrying the ball, made it tough to throw, but we really didn't have to throw," Mayszak said. "Our ground game was working which was a nice thing.

"We knew we could execute. We were pounding that whole second half so we knew we could get it done."

Now the Vikings will try to get done what their 2004 and 2006 teams did -- namely a long postseason run. Both of those teams reached the Class 6A semifinals.

And they already have something neither of those two great Geneva teams can claim.

Nine-and-0.