Rumoro's 3 TDs send Geneva to big victory against Metea Valley

Years from now, Michael Rumoro will sit back and reflect on his first game as a member of the Geneva varsity football team.

With the passage of time, he'll probably be able to better put into perspective his 125-yard rushing, 3-touchdown performance in a 35-0 victory over Metea Valley on Friday night.

But in the moments after the game all Rumoro could really say was that it was surreal.

"It's surreal, honestly," Rumoro said of his debut performance. "I wasn't expecting it. I was just coming in trying to get (going) in my first game. I didn't expect to score three touchdowns."

Rumoro's first two touchdowns did indeed seem to have a touch of surrealness to them. Like when he hurdled a Mustang at the 10-yard line on his way to a 19-yard touchdown burst in the second quarter. And again in the third quarter when he spun away from a would-be tackler inside Metea's 15 and then willed himself into the end zone, knocking down the front pylon with a couple Mustangs in tow.

He capped his almost otherworldly night with a 43-yard TD sprint in the fourth to eclipse the century mark in yardage and make it 35-0.

"We thought Michael was on of the best running backs in the conference on the sophomore team last year," Vikings coach Boone Thorgesen said. "He's very athletic. He did things we always knew he could do. We saw it for two years in our program. It's awesome to see him get a night like tonight."

Perhaps the most surreal thing about Rumoro's night was that it managed to overshadow that of highly recruited wide receiver Talyn Taylor, who finished with 5 catches for 114 yards and 1 TD. Taylor's 80-yard catch and run gave Geneva a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Mustangs kept it close in the first half, trailing 14-0 at halftime. That came after losing starting quarterback Jake MacLeod to a knee injury on the game's second play. Lucas Van Vierah turned in a solid performance in relief, throwing for 187 yards on 19 completions to eight receivers.

Metea highlights included converting on its first three fourth-down opportunities and recovering a fumble on Geneva's first possession. But the Mustangs struggled to keep up with the Vikings' punishing defense as the game wore on.

Dropped passes and deflections stalled their drives and led to two interceptions. The first was returned by Thomas Diamond 33 yards for a touchdown and the second led to Rumoro's final touchdown.

Metea's best chance to score came late in the half as it moved 56 yards to get inside the red zone for the only time all night. The drive's key play was a 21-yard pass from Van Vierah to Nicholas Carrier with less than 40 seconds to play in the half. Despite getting to the 17, the Mustangs came away without points as Carrier's 34-yard field goal attempt went wide to the left.

"We lose our quarterback on the second play of the game so we had to change our game plan, we had to scramble," Mustangs coach John Parpet said. "We just didn't make plays. We dropped balls again. Ball goes right though our wide receiver's hands right into their hands and that would have been a first down. So, there were plays there to be made. We just didn't make them."