Geneva powers past short-handed Larkin

Geneva’s football team rebounded from a week to forget in a big way Friday to finish 7-2 with an eye on the state playoffs.

A week after losing players to a disciplinary suspension and an upset loss to South Elgin, the Vikings got four rushing touchdowns from senior running back Parker Woodworth and an 88-yard kickoff return for a TD from Bobby Hess en route to a 50-6 victory over Larkin at Elgin’s Memorial Field.

“It was really a trying, rough two weeks,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. “And we had a lot of ‘coming-to-Jesus meetings’ for sure. And hopefully we purged this out of our system and if we can do some things here in the playoffs it would be well worth it.”

Hess rushed for 102 yards on eight carries, NIU-bound quarterback Matt Williams passed for 126 yards and a score, and the Vikings quickly turned the game into a rout with a running clock the entire second half of a regular season-ending Upstate Eight River victory.

“We had a great week of practice — best week of practice all year — so hopefully we’ll have another good week getting ready for the playoffs,” Wicinski said.

Woodworth scored on 3-yard runs the first two Geneva possessions, then Hess ran one in from 6 yards out with 1:57 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Woodworth ran in from 7 yards out with 11:38 left and from 9 yards out with 7:48 remaining. When Williams (5-of-6 passing, 84 yards rushing) threw a 30-yard TD pass to a wide-open Ben Rogers with 3:43 left in the half, Geneva (7-2, 5-1) had a 43-0 lead and the points needed for the running clock.

“I think we were hugely mentally focused for this one and we were just really prepared for this,” said Woodworth, who rushed for 58 yards on seven carries. “We needed this.”

Larkin (3-6, 2-4) used up the full playbook in the second half to finish a tough season in style. Senior quarterback Kyle Newquist (13-of-26, 132 yards) played some wide receiver and Larkin went to a wildcat with wide receiver Justin Banks or Damon Parham taking the direct snap from center.

In fact, Banks threw a beautiful, high, 55-yard bomb out of the wildcat to Newquist. Then Banks caught a lateral from Newquist after a 9-yard completion on a hook-and-ladder and took it 58 yards for the Royals’ only TD. But even that score was diminished when Hess returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a score.

“We had high expectations,” Larkin coach Mike Scianna said. “The loss to Waubonsie Valley just crippled us. I think we had played inspired ball.”

Larkin had lost close games to Streamwood and St. Charles North the previous two weeks to have its playoff hopes end. Scianna pointed out the lack of numbers proved too much to overcome. He’s hoping the underclass programs generate enough interest to increase the roster numbers in the future.

“(Junior center Alex) Schabert went out basically for the last three games and he’s all-world to us,” Scianna said. “One guy goes down for us and three guys move. It’s hard for us.”

Banks had 94 yards receiving and 11 catches on the night, while rushing for 70 yards.

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