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Sports

FINAL: Geneva 30, St. Charles East 20

In a must-win game for both teams, Vikings take first Upstate Eight rivalry game, bragging rights and season momentum.

It was a must-win game for two 0-2 football teams with proud winning traditions.

It was a contest between mentor and student, as former Geneva assistant coach Mike Fields took his St. Charles East Saints to Burgess Field to face coach Rob Wicinski and his 72-47 career record as a head coach.

It was the first time ever that the Vikings and Saints played each other as Upstate Eight rivals.

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And when it was over, Geneva was the team left standing, coming from behind with a fourth-quarter aerial rally that turned a 20-10 deficit into a 30-20 heart-pumping, adrenaline-rush win.

"Now we're officially in the Upstate Eight," coach Rob Wicinski said. "Any time you get a win—I'm really proud of the way they did it, too. You know, chasing 10 points, we could have really collapsed."

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Geneva started the comeback at the end of the third quarter. After a sack, Matt Williams connected with eight straight passes, including three in a row to Russ Acton (5 catches, 102 yards).

The third of those was a 39-yarder to the Saints' 3-yard line. Williams scored on a keeper on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Vikings had cut the deficit to 20-17.

Another break came in the next series. With St. Charles East driving, Saints running back Zach Zajicek lined up alone in the backfield, where he had effectively run the ball all night. This time he threw to Andrew Carrano on a play good for 35 yards, and it looked like the Saints had the game wrapped up.

But the Vikings stripped away the ball, Geneva recovered and that set up the go-ahead drive.

The play of the game came with a little more than six minutes remaining. Williams lofted a high-arching pass that Acton ran under, caught it on the sideline with a defender in his face and was pushed out of bounds at the 3-yard line. Quinn ran it in to give Geneva a 24-20 lead.

The Viking defense held and Joe Cella iced it with a 50-yard run with 2:49 to go.

"It was like old times," Wicinski said.

Fields was gracious in defeat.

"I'm not taking anything away from Geneva," he said. "They wanted it more than us.

"Physically, it was a fun game. It was a rivalry game. Our kids made great strides, but we've got to take it to the next level. We've got to regroup," he said.

Cella played under Fields at Geneva when Cella was a sophomore.

"You know what, East has always been a tough game for us, even before coach Fields came," he said. "It's always been a tough game, and I think it's a rivaly that will grow over the years, without a doubt."

RUSHING:

Joe Cella: 90 yards on 7 carries, 1 TD

Connor Quinn: 57 yards on 15 carries , 1 TD

Matt Williams: 12 yards on 7 carries, 1 TD

PASSING

Williams: 10 of 15, for 175 yards.

Russ Acton: 5 catches, 102 yards

Connor Einck: 1 catch, 16 yards

TOTAL OFFENSE: 133 rushing, 174 passing, 308 total

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