HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP —
With his team struggling to put together any offense in the first half of Friday night’s game against county rival Lakeside, Geneva coach Tony Hassett turned to what his team does best.
Run the football.
Relying on the legs of sophomore tailback Aaron Rossi behind a dominate performance by his offensive line, Geneva mustered a couple of second half scoring drives in defeating the Dragons, 14-0, on a wet night at Spire Stadium.
After watching his team turn the ball over four times and completing just one pass in the opening half, Hassett turned his sophomore loose.
Rossi ran it 15 of the 28 plays the Eagles ran from scrimmage in the second half. He amassed 181 yards on 30 carries for the game, including the game’s only two scores.
“We weren’t throwing the ball well in the first half, no doubt,” Hassett said. “He (junior quarterback Brandon Pakkala) was just over-throwing people. And, Aaron is a heck of a back for a sophomore. We definitely wanted to get him the ball. He gets stronger as the game goes on. He’s done a heck of a job.
“Our offensive line did a tremendous job tonight. We were outweighed by 40 or 50 pounds and they really cleared the path for Aaron and these guys.”
Rossi, who came into the game with nearly 650 yards on the ground, deflected any praise after the game.
“It was the line,” he said. “The line was doing good and I was able to run.”
Scoreless at the half, the Eagles took advantage of a 12-yard Lakeside punt on the opening possession after intermission. Taking over near midfield, the hosts needed just four plays, to cover the 47 yards, capping it with Rossi’s 1-yard run.
Geneva took over on the Lakeside’s 14-yard line on its next possession, taking advantage of a bad snap on a punt. Rossi found paydirt four plays later.
That was it for both teams.
Lakeside totaled just 67 yards of offense for the game and just 3 first downs. It was a fact that had coach Ryan David frustrated.
Geneva (2-3, 1-1) ran it 50 times for a total of 249 yards on the night.
But, it’s inability to get anything going through the air and five total turnovers in the game, kept the game close.
The Eagles had three turnovers in the first quarter alone, including a couple of intercepted passes by Dragon senior safety Shawn Gilbert on Geneva’s first two drives. The other turnover was a fumbled punt that was recovered by Lakeside’s Marcell Ballinger at the Geneva 32-yard line.
“Sloppy was not even the word for it,” Hassett said. “We had four turnovers and five almost. But, I thought it was a test to our attitude and our character. We could have come out the second half and easily have laid down. We gave them more opportunities, but our defense played great.”
The Dragons nearly capitalized, driving it down to the 5-yard line. But a pair of failed runs, followed by a delay-of-game penalty helped halt the drive on downs.
“It hurt us a lot,” Lakeside coach Ryan David admitted about his team’s inability to score after the turnovers. “When you can’t run the ball, you’re in trouble. They ran the ball well and we didn’t.
“Our defense has been playing great, it’s just our offense hasn’t. It is just that simple.”
Coming off a 49-14 loss against South last week, Hassett admitted getting a win was huge for his team.
“We’re a young team,” he said. “We have four seniors out here basically and everyone else will be back next year.”
And for Rossi?
“It was important,” he said. “We needed that win.”
Negin is a freelance writer from Madison.
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