Geneva runs over St. Charles East

St. Charles East coach Mike Fields was aware of Geneva’s high-flying passing attack, so he decided his Saints’ defense had to take that away Friday night when traveling to Burgess Field for the Vikings’ homecoming.

Geneva’s offensive line basically said, OK, then we’re going to run the ball right through you. And they did.

Running back TJ Miller scored four touchdowns as the Vikings took command in the trenches early and notched a critical 35-21 Upstate Eight River Division victory.

But Geneva (4-2, 3-1) actually put together a balanced offensive attack in handing St. Charles East (4-2, 2-1) its first conference loss.

Viking quarterback Daniel Santacaterina completed 12 of 28 passes for 214 yards and one touchdown, while Miller (23 carries, 113 yards) led a rushing attack that piled up 216 yards.

Geneva’s offensive linemen — Christopher Goodale, Joey Wagner, Ryan Powers, Sean McKenzie, Michael Forni and Loudon Vollbrecht — established themselves on Geneva’s opening drive as blockers and pass protectors.

“We really got our minds set right for this game, and it showed on the field,” McKenzie said. “It was a great collective effort.”

The Vikings marched 80 yards in 13 plays, capped by Miller’s 1-yard plunge. After fumbling the snap on the extra point try, Pace Temple dashed into the end zone for two points.

“I think they (the line) made more than baby steps tonight,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. “And I thought that Miller really made some nice cuts for us, and we haven’t seen that too often.”

Geneva’s homecoming had a Disney theme, but could have easily been changed to the OK Corral, after a first-half shootout.

St. Charles East responded to Geneva’s opening score with an impressive drive of its own, taking just over a minute to drive 65 yards for a touchdown on quarterback Jimmy Mitchell’s 5-yard toss to a diving Brannon Barry.

Geneva then went 61 yards, mostly running the ball, but capping off the drive with Santacaterina’s 3-yard toss to Temple for a 15-7 lead early in the second quarter.

The next time the Vikings had the ball, Santacaterina connected with Temple on a wild 43-yard pass play. The Geneva quarterback raced out of the pocket and made what appeared to be a desperate heave down field, but Temple pulled it in and dodged tacklers all the way to the Saints’ 22-yard line. Three plays later, Miller barreled over from 7 yards out.

“The offensive line blocked well and were really firing tonight,” Miller said. “I saw some cutback lanes sometimes and there were some downfield blocks.

“They came out looking to stop our passing game, and we rushed really well.”

The Saints used a wild play of their own with six seconds left before halftime to bring some momentum back to their side. On fourth down at the Geneva 4-yard line, running back Ramon Lopez was jammed up near the 2, bounced off and flipped a lateral to Mitchell, who ran in for the score as time expired.

“That was a busted play, just two kids having fun playing football,” Fields said.

But the Vikings had the most fun in the second half, with Miller scoring on runs of 1 yard in the third quarter, and 10 yards in the fourth to hold off the Saints.

St. Charles East got a 14-yard touchdown run from Lopez, capping off a drive aided by three Geneva penalties, with 9:08 left to trim Geneva’s lead to 35-21. When Barry picked off a Santacaterina pass on the next possession, the Saints looked to be in business. But a block in the back penalty on the play brought them back to the Geneva 18-yard line.

From there, Geneva held on against backup quarterback Mitch Dupuis, with the Saints’ last gasp ending when Ryan Navigato broke up a pass in the end zone.

Mitchell completed 14 of 25 passes for 243 yards before the offense stalled early in the second half, and Dupuis came in to try to rally the Saints.

“I’m not happy with the outcome, but the better team won tonight, that’s for sure,” Fields said. “I give them credit, and we’ve got to fix some things. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror, and it starts with me.”

Fields was confident his team, still very much in the postseason hunt, will bounce back. “These kids are very resilient,” he said.

“When you stop the pass, but give up the run, what are going to do?” Fields asked. “They executed better than us tonight.”

For Wicinski, the victory was the biggest in the past two years for his squad, setting the table for a return to the playoffs.

“I was concerned about this team playing two tough St. Charles teams back-to-back, but my coaches told me we used to do it all of the time in the Western Sun (Conference),” Wicinski said. “So I chilled out and figured we had to take care of business, so this was a good business trip for this team.”