Vikings click two quarters too late
We're playing championship defense right here.
As Wheaton Warrenville South was forced into yet another second-half punt, the Geneva defensive coaches couldn't contain themselves any longer. While the hard reality is that the Vikings are going home, 30-16 losers to the Tigers Friday night in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs, the statement wasn't wishful hyperbole.
The Vikings' second-half defensive effort over the final 24 minutes was on par with the group that was the state runner-up a year ago; and the individual effort by tackle Frank Boenzi was the most dominating defensive performance I've seen covering high school ball.
And it nearly allowed the Vikings to overcome a 23-0 halftime deficit.
Make no mistake however -- the first half was ugly. The Tigers (10-1) did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted on the Geneva defense, racking up 224 total yards and scoring on four of their five possessions.
The Vikings (9-2) offense was no help either, going 2-for-7 on third downs and gaining just 57 yards. The impression going into the break was that a running clock could be had by game's end.
Something changed at halftime however.
Geneva was emotional, fired up and sounding nothing like a team down four scores. They took that to the field and absolutely dominated the Tigers over the final two quarters. Wheaton Warrenville South was forced to punt on six of their seven possessions, with the only blemish coming on the decisive 4-yard Tigers scoring drive with 2:25 left in the game that made it 30-16.
The defense allowed the Geneva offense to finally get going by giving it field position - and Boenzi, who was inserted into the backfield as a lead blocker.
On Wheaton Warrenville's South's first series, Boenzi blew up two consecutive run plays to stuff the Tigers and force a punt. He did the same on the next series, which led to Vikings scoring drives that had to only cover 52 yards and 25 yards.
Suddenly, it was 23-9 and the momentum had officially turned.
In the fourth quarter the Vikings drove 86 yards to pull to 23-16 on a 9-yard scoring pass from Brandon Beitzel to Jack Delabar. The drive was helped along by a fake punt conversion on 4th-and-10 when Delabar hit Jacob Landau on a jump ball for 19 yards.
Boenzi essentially stopped the Tigers himself on their next series, dropped Matt Rogers for a loss on first down and then pressuring Reilly O'Toole (151 yards, 2 TD) into two straight incompletions.
The resulting punt gave Beitzel (10-of-20, 124 yards, TD, 2 INT) and the Vikings offense the ball at their own 30 with 7:04 to go and a full compliment of timeouts. But on a 2nd-and-12 play from the Geneva 49 the senior quarterback scrambled and left the ball unprotected in his right hand, which allowed Tigers defensive lineman Matthew Ives to strip it and linebacker Michael Heaton to recover.
Unfazed, the Vikings defense again forced the Tigers to punt with 4:07 left.
This time Geneva began their drive at their own 20, but after a first down Beitzel was intercepted by Joseph Krob, who returned it into Geneva territory. Out of frustration, Beitzel rode him down well out of bounds, resulting in a flag. The Geneva sideline was then flagged for its argument of the call.
That gave the Tigers 1st-and-goal at the 4-yard line. And despite the dominance of the Geneva defense for the second half, Rogers (86 yards, 2 TD) was able to find the end zone.
It was a championship-caliber effort, only it came two quarters too late for the Vikings. It's not the longest bus ride from Wheaton to Geneva, but this squad will definitely be wondering "what if" had it turned in that type of effort even a quarter earlier.
