Geneva coach waits 33 years for a repeat

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

CHAMPAIGN -- Jerry Auchstetter coached Geneva's football team to the Class 3A state title game in 1975, the second season the IHSA had a state playoff system.

Flash forward 33 years, and Auchstetter is a first-year volunteer assistant for the Vikings, making their second trip to state, this time in the Class 7A title game against East St. Louis.

Unfortunately for Auchstetter and the Vikings, the result was the same, a loss and a second-place finish. This time , the Flyers handled Geneva 33-14.

"I felt sorry for our seniors 33 years ago because they weren't able to come back," Auchstetter said. "It just feels good to get back here again. It's been a long time."

Prior to this stretch of five consecutive playoff seasons under Rob Wicinski, the last time the Vikings made the playoffs was in 1992, Auchstetter's final season as Vikings coach in his second tenure at that post. But before this season he wanted to be part of the program again, and the Vikings managed to reach a level not reached since Auchstetter's first tenure as coach.

"I'm just happy they accepted me on board and welcomed me with open arms," he said. "I thought the kids were no different than they were 15 years ago. It was like I left on Friday and came back on Monday. They're such good kids. It's been very memorable to be down here for a state title game again."

The production value, hype and attention the state finals receive now is a far cry from 1975, when the championships were held at Illinois State University in Normal.

"It's so different," Auchstetter said. "We just got on a bus and came down here."

This time, countless charter buses and school buses converged on the University of Illinois -- some commissioned by the school for the team, band and cheerleaders, some by parents and other fans. Roughly 7.000 fans filled Geneva's side of the field, many of them former players who longed to see a day like this.

"This is what we set out to do as a program, and it's finally here," said former Vikings quarterback Shaun Ratay, a 2006 graduate and brother of star running back Michael Ratay. "Even though we're not out there playing, it just feels really good to watch them out there playing, watch them on TV, hearing people talk about them. It's what we wanted for the program."

And the program has never been in better shape. The only problem for Vikings fans now is to figure out what to do on Friday nights until the 2009 season gets cranked up in August.

"Every Friday night, it was an outing," said Pat Hofstetter, father of starting defensive end Cory Hofstetter. "We'd all wind up downtown. The friends we've met in the last four years of football we'll have forever."