Chicago-Area High School Football News and Scores | Season Pass

It hasn’t been quite the season the Geneva football program is used to, but as the year winds down the Vikings are finding a rhythm.

Geneva has now won two straight after Friday’s 61-48 shootout win over Metea Valley in an Upstate Eight crossover Friday night in Geneva. While the Vikings will be sitting at home when the playoffs start, they have made some significant progress after starting the season 1-5.

“I told the guys I’m really proud of them,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. “Since we got knocked out of the playoffs (two weeks ago) they have stayed the course and worked hard.”

Geneva (3-5) scored five times in the game’s first 15 minutes and led 34-7 after Bobby Hess scored the first of his six touchdowns of the night. The Mustangs wouldn’t go away, though, and rallied back to within 41-34 when Blaise Bell connected with Alex Hagemaster on an 88-yard scoring strike on the first series of the second half.

The Vikings returned the favor with two more Hess touchdowns, and the Mustangs (2-6) never got closer than two scores the rest of the game.

“I warned these guys that (Metea) never quits,” Wicinski said. “We knew they fought, and I commend them. I thought if we got one more touchdown (at 34-7) we might close the door but we let them up.”

Hess led the way with 238 yards and five touchdowns on the ground while hooking up with freshman quarterback Nick Derr on a 60-yard screen pass. Derr threw for 167 yards on the night. Kyle Brown served as his favorite target with five catches for 77 yards.

“We really wanted this game, and with the season going the way it did for us this was a big win for us,” Hess said. “Our line was really on tonight. We didn’t want to give up on the season, we wanted to finish strong.”

Bell led the way for Metea with 339 yards passing — with 263 of those coming in the second half — and four touchdowns. Cameron Wilcox carried the ball 22 times for 183 yards and two scores, while Hagemaster caught 10 balls for 212 yards.