Young Flyers prove hard to bring down

EAST ST. LOUIS -- If seeing their team's valiant comeback attempt come up just short wasn't painful enough for Geneva fans to watch Saturday in East St. Louis, the public address announcer didn't make life any easier on their ears.

"The winner goes on and the loser goes home!" he shouted, oh, about 84 times. I don't know the exact number, I lost count somewhere after 25.

You heard it so much you figured there must be some tape in the PA system that got stuck.

The Flyers have now sent home a pair of local teams, Batavia 27-21 in the first round and Geneva 34-26 in Saturday's quarterfinal. Both outcomes were in doubt in the final minutes.

As annoying as it was to hear that so often, it might not be the last year we hear it. East St. Louis could become an obstacle in the path of local Class 7A teams.

The Vikings were done in by East St. Louis' ground game. Geneva's defensive line and linebackers have been a strength of the team all season, but even that stellar group had trouble holding down a Flyers team that finished with 300 yards rushing.

The scariest part of that dominating effort is that it all came from sophomores and a freshman. If they are this hard to stop when they are this young, what about when they are juniors and seniors?

"If somebody would have told me we were going to score 26 points and we weren't going to win, I wouldn't have believed it," Geneva linebacker Jordon Boser said.

"They were quick, and we also didn't do a great job of tackling in the first half. They were running through a bunch of arm tackles. Then we started hitting and wrapping up and there were three or four guys every single time."

Trying to get past East St. Louis in the playoffs in future years will require that kind of gang tackling Geneva did a much better job of in the second half. The East St. Louis players who gained all 300 of those yards will be back in 2008 and 2009. Sophomore Vincent Arterbridge ran for 177 yards and freshman Courtney Molton added 109.

It's not every day you see one underclassman make that kind of impact, let alone two.

And that doesn't even include the Flyers quarterback, sophomore Detchauz Wray, who tossed the game-winning touchdown pass. In fact, not a single point came from the senior class, with junior Kraig Appleton scoring on a 79-yard interception return, and junior Terry Hawthorn making the game-winning touchdown catch.

"They were smaller but they were hard to take down because they got through the hole so fast," said Geneva's leading tackler this year, junior linebacker Brennan Quinn said.

East St. Louis ran for 192 yards in the first half to take a 20-point lead. Geneva started tackling much better in the the third quarter, but the Flyers again moved the ball down the field for the winning score in the fourth.

"They ran through us like we hadn't been run through all year," Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. "They are strong kids, fast kids, we just missed a few too many tackles. They have done that to everybody all year."

The Flyers aren't just young and good, they are physical and good. Geneva lost regulars Mike Mayszak, defensive lineman Matt Caliendo, and Marco Vargas and Phillip Birshbach in the secondary to injuries.

"They were still out there on the sidelines talking to everybody trying to keep everyone positive," Boser said.

Even with the injuries, even with the troubles stopping the Flyers' talented backs, Geneva was right there with a chance to win in the fourth quarter. The type of character that Wicinski has throughout the program was on display in the second half, and it will bode well for going further in the playoffs in the future.

East St. Louis might have some unbelievable skill guys returning, but the Vikings counter with juniors like Quinn and Michael Ratay, among many others. And they will move up sophomore and freshman teams that both went 9-0.

"I'm really proud of them," Wicinski said of the comeback. "I hope it says a little bit about the program and the kids."

It sure does. It might be East St. Louis that is "going on" and Geneva that is "going home" this year, but with the way Wicinski has his program going, it might be a few years before the Vikings go home this early again.