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Schools

Yikes! Geneva's Fall Football Schedule Challenging, to Say the Least

Vikings face three playoff perennials in the first three games: Oswego, Wheaton North and Batavia.

The commute's a little better this year, but the opponents are as rough as ever for the first three games of the Geneva Vikings' 2012 football schedule.

Geneva hosts Oswego on Aug. 24. The Panthers were 7-0 last year in the Southwest Prairie League, 8-3 overall, according to MaxPreps.

Then the Vikings travel to Wheaton North. Geneva squeaked out a 33-24 barnburner win against the Falcons at Burgess Field last season. MaxPreps says Wheaton North was 6-1 in the DuPage Valley Conference last season, with a record of 8-3 overall.

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Upstate Eight Conference River Division play begins with that team to the south—what's the name again? Oh, yeah. Batavia. The team that, when mixed with Geneva, creates one of the greatest high school sports rivalries in Illinois history.

All Batavia did last year was to run up an undefeated UEC season, including a 46-34 win at Burgess Field, then continue to a 12-1 overall record. Dennis Piron had his team firing on all cylinders in 2011, and we can pretty much guarantee the same will be true in 2012, with five offensive starters and five defensive starters returning, according to MaxPreps.

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And that's just the first three games.

The Vikings have the pleasure of playing both St. Charles teams away and in consecutive games on Sept. 21 and 28.

What happened to the good old days, when you could schedule some non-powerhouse teams in the first two season openers? It starts to go away when your football team runs up seven straight league championships—the Western Sun Conference from 2004-09 and the UEC River Division in 2010.

Geneva finished 7-3 last season, with two UEC losses (Batavia and South Elgin), plus a playoff loss to previous state champion Lake Zurich 35-32 in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's very difficult to get people to play us," Athletic Director Jim Kafer said frankly. "It used to be, they'd call us and talk about how close they are and the tradition we shared. Now I call those same people, and the same arguments all of a sudden don't hold true.

"But it is good," he added about the quality of the competition. "Those games definitely have some meaning now."

 

2012-2013 Varsity Schedule Date Day Event H/A Time Location 8/24/2012 Fri vs. Oswego H 7:30 PM Burgess Field 8/31/2012 Fri vs. Wheaton North A 7:30 PM Wheaton North 9/7/2012 Fri vs. Batavia A 7:30 PM Batavia 9/14/2012 Fri vs. Larkin H 7:30 PM Burgess Field 9/21/2012 Fri vs. St Charles North A 7:30 PM St Charles North 9/28/2012 Fri vs. St Charles East A 7:30 PM St Charles East * 10/5/2012 Fri vs. Elgin H 7:30 PM Burgess Field 10/12/2012 Fri vs. Metea Valley - Senior Night H 7:30 PM Burgess 10/19/2012 Fri vs. Streamwood A 7:30 PM Streamwood

SOURCE FOR SCHEDULE: Geneva High School's "Athletics 2000" website

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