Geneva and Batavia have been playing each other in football since 1913, but they’ve never had a game quite like this.
With multiple Division I prospects on both sides fueling a pair of high-powered offenses, No. 16 Geneva held on for a wild 56-49 road win over No. 6 Batavia Friday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd.
Nelson Wendell, who missed last year’s game with a broken foot, ran for 303 yards for Geneva (5-1, 4-0 DuKane) and turned a screen pass from Ben Peterson into a 49-yard touchdown that put the Vikings ahead to stay with 1:04 left in the game. He finished with four TDs and 355 total yards.
For Batavia (4-2, 3-1), quarterback Michael Vander Luitgaren accounted for 495 total yards (291 passing and 204 rushing) and seven touchdowns (three rushing and four passing).
“There’s so much history between these towns,” said Vander Luitgaren, a Wyoming commit. “… You want to play in the Batavia/Geneva rivalry game and it didn’t disappoint. All the fans showed up — they showed out and they were loud. There were some plays on offense where I’m surprised some of the guys heard me out there. Credit to Geneva fans, they were super loud. Credit to our fans.”
Wendell started coming to the game long before he could play in it, when his dad was an assistant football coach at Geneva.
Winning it “means everything,” he said. “I feel like this is the biggest game of the year, so it’s really great to get it done and for the community.”
The game was like a track meet most of the way. There were just two punts total, and eight of the first nine possessions in the second half ended with touchdowns. That included two Batavia TDs in a 15-second span of the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs rallied from two scores down to tie it at 49 with 3:23 remaining.
Vander Luitgaren threw a 37-yard TD to Western Michigan commit Darin Ashiru, Batavia recovered an onside kick and Vander Luitgaren zigged and zagged his way to a 52-yard TD run. Ashiru had 11 catches for 147 yards and two TDs.
“He’s a hell of a football player,” Wendell, who started on defense for the first time all season, said of Vander Luitgaren. “I was diving at his ankles the whole game and missed a lot of tackles. He’s going to be so special when he goes to college.”
But Wendell had one more big play of his own to put Geneva back in front to stay.
On second-and-14 from the Batavia 49, the Vikings ran a screen to the right side.
“It was the perfect play call,” Wendell said. “They sent three guys on a full blitz.”
Peterson dumped the ball off to Wendell and he followed his blockers into the end zone. Batavia’s last drive ended in a turnover on downs at its own 44, Peterson took a knee and Geneva had its second win in three years in the series. The Vikings lead it 53-50 with five ties.
Peterson, an Eastern Michigan commit, was 14 of 23 passing for 233 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. He also had 10 carries for 60 yards and two TDs. Illinois recruit Bennett Konkey had six catches for 76 yards and a score.
“Me and Mike [Vander Luitgaren] have always had great games,” Peterson said. “He got the best of us last year and I give Mike so many props. … Batavia has a really, really, really good team and I think they’re going to make a really big run in [Class] 7A because of Mike.”
And Peterson expects a long postseason run for Geneva in 6A.
“I think we have a very similar team to the one that went to state two years ago, and I think that all the pieces are lining up,” he said. “We beat [Batavia] on their home field two years ago and I think we have another team that can make it back to state as well.”