VIEWS: Stirring swan song for Western Sun Conference

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MAPLE PARK – There was plenty to think about in the aftermath of Friday’s 27-24, overtime win by Geneva against Kaneland.

But after each Ryley Bailey catch, Michael Santacaterina run and brazen coaching decision is dissected, folks heading for home had to ask themselves this: What’s so bad about the Western Sun Conference again?

Fair or not, an immensely entertaining late-season game between Geneva and Kaneland, with the conference title hanging in the balance, lends plenty of ammunition to those who wondered why the conference’s western-most schools were in such a rush to break up the 4-year-old conference.

“That’s the crazy thing,” Geneva senior offensive lineman Ben Humbert said. “They’re trying to separate the conference, and this year it’s really good. Teams are beating each other everywhere. It’s insane.”

If this was the last time the Geneva and Kaneland football teams are going to meet, the teams gave their rivalry a dynamite sendoff.

The end result, a Geneva victory, will likely lead the Vikings to their fourth WSC title in four years, but this was competition at its finest, all the way until Santacaterina went storming in with the winning touchdown to trump a Kaneland field goal in overtime.

“Me and [Geneva quarterback Brandon] Beitzel told the O-line in the huddle that we’d see them in the end zone,” Santacaterina said. “We knew we were getting in. We weren’t going to get stopped. It was all that O-line at the end on that last drive. They just fired off the ball and they pushed them about five yards back on those last two plays.”

Was there any doubt Geneva was going to turn to its vaunted power game with the game on the line?

Actually, there was.

“I tried to talk myself out of it,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said. “The guy upstairs said they haven’t stopped it yet, go at it. Coach (Reed) Allison talked me back into the power game. I was getting squirrely. I was going to throw the ball all over the place. He talked me in off the cliff.”

The cliff is where the Vikings and their fans probably wanted to jump a handful of times on Friday. Trying to keep Kaneland quarterback Joe Camiliere and receiver Ryley Bailey under wraps would turn even the most competent of defenses a little panicky.

Camiliere threw for 236 yards, but his signature play came early in the fourth quarter, when he rushed for 29 yards on third-and-20 to keep a Knights drive alive that ended with a touchdown to put Kaneland ahead, 21-14.

“They’ve got great athletes,” Wicinski said. “To be able to make that play third-and-20, that really puts a dagger in you defensively, especially when you’ve got people covered, nobody’s running free, and he takes off and runs. That’s a great play.

“I thought Bailey played outstanding. I told him that at halftime. We both said ‘How fun is this?’ Coach Fedderly, I told him ‘How fun is this.’ That Bailey, what a great kid. I’d go to battle with that kid any day.”

The Vikings’ win came on the heels of a puzzling loss to Rochelle – score another one for the WSC’s have-nots – the week before, a result that made Geneva seem as vulnerable as they have been during an impeccable recent run under Wicinski.

“The loss was really good for us,” Humbert said. “We haven’t felt a loss in so long. We finally realized what the game’s really about. It’s playing through those really hard times, and that’s what we accomplished.”

Now Geneva is just one win away against struggling Batavia from another championship. Given Batavia’s woeful season, the Vikings are a heavy favorite in that one.

Wait a minute. Aren’t the teams fleeing for a less cutthroat conference, teams like Rochelle and Kaneland, not Batavia, supposed to be the low-hanging fruit? In fairness, not every year plays out like this one. Last year, Geneva beat Kaneland, 42-7. And football certainly isn’t the only consideration when evaluating a conference.

Just the same, it’s a good thing for the schools most motivated to dissolve the Western Sun that votes were tallied long before Friday night.

Thrills like these aren’t to be taken for granted.

• Jay Schwab is sports editor of The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5382 or jschwab@kcchronicle.com.