Geneva comes up big for Fenton

Updated: September 10, 2011 12:43AM

Fenton’s Alan Geneva added another chapter to his incredible breakout 2011 season, catching two touchdown passes and adding a momentum-turning second half interception to spark Fenton to a 20-7 win over Rich South.

The victory gave Fenton its first 3-0 start since 1984.

“It’s been amazing,” Geneva said. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. I was brought up to varsity sophomore year and we had a pretty good squad, but had a little disappointment at the end. This year we’ve been a squad forever and we’re trying to do something special.”

Geneva has been very special. Entering Friday’s game with 25 receptions and six touchdowns in his first two games of the fall, Geneva added to that script quickly with a 4-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Sean Havlovic with 7:15 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.

Geneva provided similar heroics early in the second half, turning a screen pass from Havlovic into a 35-yard touchdown pass and a 20-0 lead just 57 seconds into the third quarter.

“With the new coaching with Otto Zeman (as offensive coordinator) we work on passing a lot,” Geneva said. “He likes the ball in my hands and I try to do what I can with it.

“I wasn’t a wide receiver until this year. Sophomore year I played mostly defense and maybe played three downs on offense all year, and last year they brought me on a couple of packages. But this year they’re using me more and I guess it’s paying off.”

Beyond pushing his touchdown total to eight already this fall, the 5-foot-10 senior also had a key caught a two-point conversion pass in the back of the end zone.

That nice catch followed two big plays by teammates: Ryan Rogers’ fumble recovery deep in Rich South territory, which Havlovic (214 passing yards, three touchdowns) converted into a fourth down, 19-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Frank DiLauro just 14.9 seconds before halftime.

Outside of those big passing plays, the night of massive passing totals by both teams featured more uneventful landings than 747’s at nearby O’Hare Airport.

The Bison and Rich South combined to complete just 15 of 50 passes in a first half that took nearly 90 minutes to complete, including 4 of 17 by the visiting Stars.

Down 20-0, Rich South made its scoring breakthrough off a Fenton aerial error, when Stars’ defensive back Jaylen Zachary returned an interception 22 yards for a touchdown with 8:05 left in the third quarter to bring his team within 20-7.

It was Zachary’s second interception of the game, and teammate Myles Bates had a first-half fumble recovery and two quarterback sacks on the night.

Rich South’s momentum after the Zachary TD was stifled by Geneva’s interception on the Stars’ next possession at the Fenton 28-yard line.

The Bison did not allow Rich South back into its half of the field the rest of the night, but dodged disaster with 6:20 left when a roughing the passer penalty reversed a would-be interception return for a touchdown that would have cut into the deficit.

Besides his fumble recovery, Rogers also had a quarterback sack and a tackle for a five-yard loss earlier in the first half. DiLauro sealed the win with an interception of a Rich South Hail Mary with 15.8 seconds left in the game.Augie Castellanos also had a pass interception for the Bison.

Perfect at the season’s one-third mark for the first time in 27 years, Fenton hopes to keep pushing for more.

“We’re not satisfied with 3-0,” Bison coach Mark Kos said. “We’ve got bigger aspirations.”

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