Team comes first for Geneva star Temple

Batavia football coach Dennis Piron needed less than a second to say who he thought was the area's top player this season.

Pace Temple, he blurted.

"He definitely is as good of a player as I've seen in our league in a long time," Piron said. "Very special."

Maybe it was because he saw Temple catch 5 passes for 92 yards, intercept a pass, make three tackles, return punts, run the ball and even throw it in the Batavia-Geneva game.

But Piron was not alone.

"I think Pace Temple is as good a wide receiver as there is in the state of Illinois," said St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak. "He's explosive, he's physical, he has a great sense of finding the ball and making plays."

Most importantly, to Temple, is Geneva enjoyed its longest playoff run since 2008.

"We think No. 4 is an outstanding player on both sides of the ball," said Tim Sughroue, coach of Hononegah, Geneva's second-round Class 7A playoff victim.

"He's a stud," said West Aurora coach Nate Eimer, who required only his team's 41-23 season-opening loss to Geneva to reach that conclusion.

The thoughts of these and other coaches, and several writers as well, formed a consensus: Pace Temple is honorary captain of the 2014 Daily Herald Tri-Cities All-Area Football Team.

Temple condensed into a single body one of Geneva coach Rob Wicinski's pet phrases describing football players, "Petes and Ralphs." His athleticism (33-inch vertical leap) and freewheeling personality typify an elite Pete, to whom stardom comes easy; his leadership and embrace of the daily grind represents Wicinski's gridiron Ralph, who squeezes the most from what talent he's got.

"I just love the process of trying to become the best I can," said Temple, a solid student with scholarship offers from Wyoming and North Dakota plus interest from Ivy League school Penn. "I work a lot and watch a lot of film trying to understand coverages. I think during the course of the four years I've been playing this sport (at Geneva High) I've taken big strides in route running and understanding that.

"You've got to have confidence as a receiver. Put me up against something, I don't care how big or how strong, you've got to compete and when that ball's in the air you've got to go get it."

The Illinois High School Football Coaches Association made the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Temple, who also played cornerback against an opponent's top receiver when need be, a Class 7A All-State honorable-mention selection. In a second straight all-conference season Temple shared Upstate Eight Conference River Division offensive player of the year honors with teammate and longtime pal, Northern Illinois-bound quarterback Daniel Santacaterina.

A Geneva ball boy as a kid and grandson of a former team doctor, the late Dr. Dick Temple, this season Pace Temple caught 56 passes for 918 yards and 12 touchdowns, with a long scoring play of 75 yards in the Week 2 win over Richards that proved Geneva was on to something. Temple caught 6 passes for 152 yards that day and tied another buddy, defensive end Matt Loberg, with 4 solo tackles.

When called upon defensively (or not; Wicinski sometimes needed to "yank him off the field") Temple made 25 tackles, defended 3 passes and intercepted 4. His average of 21 yards on interception returns was bolstered by a 32-yard touchdown against St. Charles North that capped a 17-0 first-quarter lead over the tough North Stars.

"He gave every single team he played against fits," Pomazak said. "I can guarantee every single coach who played against him had to spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to stop him."

That brings to mind a curious Wicinski comment: "He would have been the best wideout we have without doing anything."

There are a couple reasons why.

One, Temple's leadership by example in the locker room, classroom and community makes him, Wicinski said, "a man built for others." The coach instructed junior receivers Jack Wassel and Ryan Skibinski to watch how Temple's effort toward practice and preparation, which was at 100 percent. (Here Temple has a true home advantage. His father, Geneva graduate Dr. Peter Temple, is a sports psychologist.)

Two, Temple created space for other players or, as Piron said, "He changed your entire defense."

Teams devoted two and three defenders to him and sometimes that wasn't enough.

"He was a special player that always seemed to be making an amazing catch, and you've got to tip your hat to a kid like that," said St. Charles East coach Bryce Farquhar, who saw Temple catch 10 passes for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 40-7 Geneva win.

When Temple wasn't collecting those numbers he drew a crowd so Santacaterina could distribute the ball elsewhere. Mike Landi caught 48 passes for 736 yards. Fullback Max Woodworth and tailback Justin Taormina combined for 39 catches in cleared-out spaces. When West Chicago blitzed off the left side Santacaterina hit Wassel in single coverage for his first varsity touchdown.

"He was very good about the scheme, the team aspect," Wicinski said of Temple. "Very much a team guy, no doubt about it. I don't even think he'd care what his stats were as long as we won, he really couldn't."

This fall was a long way from what Temple called a "horrible" sophomore season in 2012, in the sense that at 4-5 Geneva failed to reach the playoffs after eight straight appearances. (Wearing No. 8, he caught 19 passes for 187 yards, 2 touchdowns.)

"We took such long strides as a program," Temple said. "Every wave of guys that comes through here, it becomes their responsibility. The program's on their shoulders and you've got to try and do what you can to leave it better than what it was when you came in, to improve it somehow."

Temple wanted a 2014 state title, and so felt disappointed. But he'll remember this season fondly.

He watched it end on the Vikings' sideline in crutches with a torn medial collateral ligament after getting clobbered trying to convert a botched extra-point in the 7A quarterfinal loss to Cary-Grove. Temple was the holder; he did that, too.

At first he felt "crushed" by the injury. He couldn't help pull this one out.

The third quarter started. Temple looked out onto the field. He saw his coaches, his fellow co-captains and childhood friends Santacaterina, Loberg and Wyatt Shodeen, all his teammates battling including his cousin, senior defensive back Jake Rocks.

It gave him chills. The man built for others reconnected with what this all really meant.

"I don't think there's anything like it. People talk about the camaraderie, being able to look at teammates and understand you're all fighting for the same goal. When you can have a team that puts team goals in front of individual goals, it's something special," Temple said.

"Anyone who's played football, you can understand that, and it's something you're never going to forget."