Geneva 25, Crystal Lake South 21 (Final)
Geneva's Michael Ratay answered a Crystal Lake South touchdown with a 52-yard TD run of his own and Sean Grady added the kick to put the Vikings up 25-21 with 9:57 to play in Friday night's Class 7A state semifinal game in Geneva.
The score held up as Geneva (13-0) advanced to next Saturday's state championship game in Champaign. The Vikings will play the winner of Saturday's game between Glenbard West and East St. Louis.
Geneva's Trevor Hyslop intercepted a Drew Ormseth pass with 2:44 left in the game to seal the win for the Vikings.
The Gators (10-3) had gone ahead 21-18 on a 12-yard pass from Drew Ormseth to Vince Benedetto just before Ratay answered. South's extra point kick failed.
Ratay scored on a 1-yard run with 14.8 seconds left in the third quarter and Sean Grady's point after kick gave the Vikings an 18-15 lead.
Crystal Lake South's Derek Mortensen scored on a 10-yard run with 5:40 left in the third quarter as the Gators forged ahead of Geneva 15-11 in their Class 7A semifinal at Geneva.
The TD run was set up by a 50-yard pass from Ormseth to Colin Masterson. Mortensen scored on the next play but the Gators' 2-point conversion was no good.
Geneva's Ratay scored on a 30-yard run on the Vikings' first possession of the second half as the Vikes took an 11-9 lead with 9:35 left in the third quarter. After a high snap on the extra point attempt, Geneva's Sean Grady threw a 2-point conversion passs to teammate Cory Hofstetter.
Mortensen capped a 14-play drive that took 7:20 off the clock with a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Gators ahead of Geneva 9-3 at halftime.
The Gators' Steve Rogers intercepted a Brandon Beitzel pass in the end zone with 4.3 seconds left in the half to preserve the lead for the Gators.
CL South struck first when a fake punt set up a 28-yard field goal by Mike Frericks with 6:29 left in the first quarter.
With 3:42 to play in the opening period, Geneva's Grady nailed a 24-yarder to make it a 3-3 game.