Sports
GAME DAY: Geneva at Elgin Will Be Another Humdinger
Last week, the Vikings came from behind to beat St. Charles East at home. This week they travel to Elgin and need to play well to defeat a 2-1 team and keep their hopes of a UEC River Division title run alive.
There can be no letdown this week.
It would be great, wouldn't it, for Geneva to play a team that's just not quite as strong as the opponents they've played so far. But tonight's game at Elgin won't be easy, by any stretch of the imagination.
The Vikings are riding high after a fourth-quarter, come-from-behind win against UEC rival St. Charles East, but then again, so are the Maroons. Last week, they trounced Streamwood 33-2, scoring all 33 points in the second half.
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Elgin is off to a strong start, 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the UEC River Division. The Maroons beat Dundee-Crown 41-12 to start season and lost to West Aurora 23-7 in Week 2.
Turnovers will be a key to the game tonight. Last week, Geneva and St. Charles East traded fumbles just about evenly, although Geneva got the big one at the tail end of a 35-yard pass play in the fourth quarter.
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Elgin had three picks in the second half last week, which kept Streamwood out of the end zone on one occasion and sealed the win with a Jordan Smith 50-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Maroons collected another of their scores by recovering a fumble in the Sabres' end zone.
For Geneva, last week saw the continuing development of quarterback Matt Williams, who completed 10 straight passes late in the game to spark Geneva's comeback. We also saw the emergence of wide receiver Russ Acton (5 catches, 105 yards) who made some spectacular catches in crucial situations.
Acton and Williams versus the Maroons' aggressive secondary should be interesting to watch.
Also last week for Geneva, it was hard not to notice the big-play potential of Joe Cella. Connor Quinn is the workhorse and marquis runningback, averaging 5.2 yards per carry, but Cella's been a big-play counterpoint for the Vikings. Cella scored on a 50-yard run to ice the game last week and is averaging 9.1 yards per carry so far this season.
Superstitious?
- The Vikings have lost every away game so far. A win tonight would repair that particular broken mirror.
- The varsity has won every time the sophomore team has lost. Let's end that pattern with a pair of wins tonight.
