Batavia’s Drew Gerke has already been through the ringer with a broken finger this season.
That much had been established.
But the senior wide receiver/cornerback got dinged up on defense in the first half Friday night against Geneva. He also had some key drops on third down early in the game.
“You have to put all the negative and bad stuff in the past,” Gerke said. “That’s what I do.”
He did so emphatically.
With two plays that took less than 30 seconds off the game clock, Gerke completely changed the complexion of the Bulldogs’ 33-7 DuKane Conference victory.
Gerke raced behind the defense for a 50-yard TD catch with 2 seconds left in the first half to push the lead to 14 points for Batavia (5-2, 4-1).
Then in the third quarter, after Geneva (5-2, 3-2) scored to cut the deficit in half, Gerke took the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a TD to take away some of that sting.
It was the first points Geneva had scored against Batavia in five seasons.
“Drew was a little frustrated,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “He had a good game, but he could have had a monster game. He was struggling a little bit.
“It’s hard to go both ways like we’re asking him to do. I think he’s the best player in the conference. He’s dynamic. His speed is unmatched.”
Gerke caught a 15-yard TD pass from Ryan Boe to start the scoring in the second quarter for the Bulldogs. The score remained the same in the final seconds of the first half.
The Vikings were on the verge of only being down seven points at halftime and would be receiving the kickoff to start the second half.
And then Gerke got involved.
“The mentality of all of us has always been to be aggressive,” Piron said. “I’ve always coached that way.
“We had a play sequence we liked against their defense that we saw on film. We thought we could call it.”
Gerke executed it to perfection.
“It was just an easy post route,” he said. “I got past my guy. It was honestly too easy. Speed kills. We just had to go over the top and make it happen.”
Geneva responded with its best drive of the night to open up the third quarter.
A 14-play, 80-yard march culminated for the Vikings on a 5-yard TD run by Nate Stempowski with 5:54 left in the quarter, slicing the deficit to 14-7.
As he waited for the ensuing kickoff, Gerke had a clear motive in mind.
“I needed to make a big play,” he said. “That’s what was going through my mind the entire time — make a big play, even just to get us good field position.
“Sure enough, I broke free and scored.”
Despite keeping the game close and seemingly grabbing momentum, Geneva was suddenly down two TDs again.
“Those big plays really hurt us,” Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen said. “Against good football teams, it’s hard to let up those plays and give the momentum up.
“That’s kind of what we did. We gave them the momentum in both of those instances right when we thought we were getting them.”
For Geneva, Stempowski completed 18 of 36 passes for 195 yards. Talyn Taylor caught six passes for 80 yards.
Boe and Charlie Whelpley each added rushing TDs to put the game away for Batavia. Gerke finished with five catches for 105 yards.
Boe completed 10 of 16 passes for 174 yards. Ryan Whitwell rushed for 92 yards on 13 carries for Batavia, which is playoff eligible with a shot at winning the DuKane.
“It was a great home win, especially because they had a lot of hype,” Gerke said of the emerging Vikings. “They’re a really solid team. They stuck in there the whole time.
“They played great — nothing bad to say about them.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.