Geneva stops Wheaton North on final drive to stay unbeaten
It came all the way down to the wire for Geneva.
With a 28-24 score in favor of the Vikings, Wheaton North drove the ball all the way down to the opposing 13-yard line with just 41 seconds on the clock.
After a delay of game penalty made it second down, Geneva bought the pressure. And Sean Lee and Troy Velez bought the pressure, getting a big sack on quarterback Nick Johnson.
“Coach sent me in on a blitz, and I told him I needed to get it done,” Velez said. “So I did it, and I got it done.”
Two plays later, on a fourth-and-28, Johnson put up a last-ditch Hail Mary in a final attempt to give the Falcons their third last-second victory of the season.
But Talyn Taylor, who’s much more well known for his catching ability, made sure the pass didn’t get into anyone’s hands.
“As soon as I saw that ball up in the air, I knew it was mine and I went to it,” said the Georgia receiver commit, who had six catches for 167 yards and a touchdown on offense. “That was the number one goal. They could not catch it, score anything. I didn’t even know it was fourth down, and that made it even better.”
The two big stops on defense allowed the Geneva (7-0, 5-0 DuKane conference) sideline to take a big exhale as the Vikings kept their perfect season alive with the win over the Falcons.
“This was a tremendous DuKane conference football game,” Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen said. “Credit to Wheaton North, they’re a really physical team and they always give us trouble. They took it to us a little bit, but we found a way to win. We had faith in our defense in that final drive and we got it done.”
Wheaton North entered the final frame with a 17-14 lead, marking the first time all season that both the Falcons entered the fourth quarter leading and the Vikings were trailing. Geneva would make sure to get out hot to start the quarter, with Velez, who primarily plays linebacker after playing on both sides last season, getting a two-yard rushing score to make it 21-17.
“I just took the feeling of knowing that I’ve done it before and been there before and just knew in that moment that I was going to get in at that moment,” Velez said.
The lead would be short-lived for Geneva, as Wheaton North running back Nik Schaafsma would need just two plays to put them back up 24-21 with a 50-yard rushing touchdown. The senior back finished the game with 154 yards on the ground, plus an eight-yard receiving touchdown in the second quarter.
“He’s really battling,” Falcons coach Joe Wardynski said. “He’s a senior that’s really come on here for his last year. He was a JV kid as a junior, and he really prepared himself for a senior year and gave himself a chance to get out here and perform under the lights. I’m very happy for him because he’s done a great job.”
Running back Michael Rumoro would go on to get the eventual game-winner on a two-yard score with 4:07 left in the game. He finished with 19 rushes for 80 yards and two scores, along with 38 receiving yards.
After back-to-back big losses to Batavia and Wheaton Warrenville South, Wardynski said that Wheaton North (3-4, 1-4) walked off the field thoroughly defeated in each of those games. But after being in the game to the final buzzer, he was very proud with the effort from the Falcons.
“Right now it stings. They know that we were close,” Wardynski said. “But I told them that the fact that it stings is a good thing because it wasn’t like this last couple of weeks. So the fact that they battled for four quarters against a really good team, I think there’s something to build on.”