Sep. 2—HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP — If you’re the Geneva Eagles and it’s fourth and four in a tie game in the fourth quarter, it’s not the time for fancy trick plays.
Instead, the Eagles stuck with what they do best, which is their hard nosed rushing attack.
Luke Barbo took a misdirection handoff and ripped around the right end for 16 yards on a key fourth down conversion that would eventually lead to Kenny Young plunging across the goal line for the go ahead score in the Eagles 21-14 win over the Springfield Tigers at Spire Friday night.
The Eagles led 14-7 at the half, but seemed to have trouble getting on track, until they needed to most.
“We came out with what we thought were some nice adjustments at halftime and they didn’t work out too well,” Geneva Coach Don Shymske said.
They certainly did not. The Eagles went three straight possessions without a first down.
While on the other side, Tigers quarterback Kolten Ruark was able to orchestrate an eleven play 80-yard drive capped by a five yard fourth down touchdown pass to Dylan Sheely to tie the game.
After that though the Geneva defense kept Springfield in check, giving the Eagles a chance to put a drive together.
“Our defense was able to bounce back in the second half and our kicking game was huge tonight, pinning them deep a few times,” Shymske said.
The defense and special teams did its job, but the offense needed to put a drive together.
Starting at their own 30 with 8:02 remaining in the fourth quarter, Luke Smith got it going with a 19 yard run. Bryce Peet followed with another 13 yards.
Two plays later a holding penalty turned what would have been third and four into second and 16, but Smith got 12 yards back on the next play.
Another carry to Smith resulted in a loss of one, forcing the coaches to come up with the right call on fourth down.
“We thought about running a trick play,” Shymske explained. “But, we were like, we need four yards, let’s go back to what we do well.”
After Barbo’s 16-yard run to move the chains, Peet got the next carry on what looked like the identical play, this time going for six yards.
“That’s our buck sweep, it’s one of our bread and butter plays,” Shymske said. “It’s something that we hang our hat on. We feel like we can run that in any situation. Coming in on that fourth and four was huge. We picked up 10, 15 yards on that play and it was a huge momentum swing.”
After the go-ahead touchdown, Springfield had the ball back two more times, turning the ball over on downs at midfield, then throwing a desperation pass that was picked off by Hayden Diemer to end the game.
“Springfield is a top notch program, coach (Sean) Guerriero does a great job” Shymske said. “They’re very well coached. We’re very fortunate to beat a really good team tonight.”
The Tigers got on the board first when Dante Gentile broke loose for a 64 yard touchdown run.
Geneva answered back on an 18-yard run from Hayden Diemer to tie the game, then went ahead on a 14-yard run from Luke Smith.
Barbo, Pete and Smith combined for 196 yards rushing on 29 carries.
For Springfield, Ruark finished the game by completing 13 of 24 passes for 134 yards.
The win moves Geneva to 3-0 on the season. They’ll be on the road vs Lutheran West next week.
before coming home to host Perry.
