The Vikings' 2013 campaign ended Friday night at Burgess Field, but it was a season to remember and treasure for a team that pushed Geneva's football program back onto the winning track.
Geneva lost 31-23 to the St. Patrick Shamrocks in the first round of the Class 7A IHSA playoffs. The Vikings finish the season 7-3 after a 4-5 record a year ago — its only losing season in the past decade.
"I tell you what, I am extremely proud of the seniors," coach Rob Wicinski said. "We had an opportunity to play in a playoff game, and we did. We had an opportunity to win it. We had the ball in our hands, to go for a drive and go for two."
A bad snap that led to a lucky Shamrock defensive score at the end of the third quarter may have been the difference in a contest of evenly-matched teams, but Geneva kept coming back time after time Friday night and nearly pulled off a miracle drive that would have given them a shot at overtime."Aw, a touchdown like that — but they kept fighting," Wicinski said. "They took a deep breath, they didn’t roll over. And we had the ball in our hands with an opportunity, and we just didn’t finish."
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First quarter
This was a playoff-caliber game from the onset, between a team with a terrific aerial attack and one with a relentless, pounding running game.
The Vikings took the opening kickoff to the 41-yard line, then scored in seven plays. Daniel Santacaterina scampered for 7 yards for a key first down, then hit Kyle Brown, who tipped the ball and caught it for the 24-yard touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Shamrocks' Trevor Heinlein returned it 73 yards to set up Jeremy Molina's 7-yard touchdown run with 7:25 showing in the first quarter.
After an interception, St. Patrick connected on a 56-yard pass play from Zach Fuller to Mike Warner. Molina took it in on third and 1 to give the Shamrocks a 14-7 lead.
Second Quarter
Geneva moved 57 yards in eight plays but fumbled at the 26-yard line — one of four turnovers on the night. But the Viking defense came up with a big stop to get the ball back with 3:45 left in the half. That's all they needed.
Santacaterina hit Pace Temple on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 1:22 left to tie it, and the Vikings held on for the 14-14 halftime score.
The Geneva sideline was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the half, forcing Geneva to kick off at the 12-yard line to start the ...
Third Quarter
The Shamrocks started at the 50 and ground it out with 10 straight running plays to the Geneva 13-yard line. The Vikings stopped Molina for no gain, and an incomplete pass forced St. Patrick to take the 30-yard field goal.
On the strength of some hard running by TJ Miller, the Vikings moved to the Shamrock 13 in nine plays but had to settle for a 31-yard Billy Douds field goal to tie it at 17 with 2:45 left in the third quarter.
In the next series, Geneva forced the first punt of the game. But on first down, an errant snap put the ball on the ground, and the Shamrocks' Niko Childress picked it up and ran 30 yards for a backbreaking score and a 24-17 lead.
"We just kept shooting ourselves with the turnovers," Wicinski said. "Especially when they grind it like that. Your margin of error shrinks — that’s why they do that, to shrink the game. And we just didn’t have as many possessions. It would have been nice to have another possession."
Fourth Quarter
The Vikings came back on the next drive and scored on a 49-yard pass play from Santacaterina to Temple to start the fourth period. But the extra point kick was either blocked or shanked, and Geneva trailed 24-23.
With 5:37 left to play Shamrocks mounted a clock-eating drive, kept alive by an offside call on third-and-4 at the 50. Geneva exhausted its timeouts, then let Molina in for the score, trailing 31-23 with 2:35 left.
"We let them score down here, so that we could have that opportunity. And it’s a crapshoot, it’s a coin toss whether to do that or not," Wicinski said.
"One of the lineman said, ‘So, what you’re saying, coach, you’re putting the whole game on our backs?' I said, ‘Yeah, pretty much.’ He goes, 'All right!’ So we were in good spirits. We felt confident. We still had over two minutes and got what we wanted."
They marched down to the 29, but Santacaterina was intercepted with 1:01 left to end the game and Vikings' 2013 season.
"I thought about these guys, and as I said, it’s a tribute to those guys and what they decided to do," Wicinski said. "And this group will be remembered as maybe the group that got us back going again.
"So now the climb begins back up the mountain. It was sure easier going down, I’ll tell you that. It’s a lot harder to get back up."
