Football Ends Geneseo Jinx

As the headline in the Daily Gazette so aptly stated “Another ‘1’ Bites the Dust!” For the second time this season Sterling Football has beaten the #1 ranked team in the state in class 5A, laying claim to the top spot themselves after a convincing 28-7 win at then #1 Geneseo on September 30.

It took Sterling all of 13 seconds to take the lead as junior QB Cory Renner executed the “belly-belly-keep” to perfection and scampered 80 yards up the left sideline completely untouched for the touchdown. Renner made perfect fakes to FB Graham Hall and WB Christian Temiquel and the Geneseo defense bit on both. It’s the second time in three games Sterling has scored on the first play from scrimmage.

Sterling took complete control of the game during a two-minute span of the second quarter – almost entirely as result of the play of junior Colt Preston. First he recovered a fumbled Geneseo punt near midfield that resulted in a Graham Hall touchdown run of 28 yards to make it 14-0. Then he made a tackle on the ensuing kickoff that put Geneseo in poor field position inside its own 20 yard line. He followed that up by sacking Geneseo QB Kyle Glazier. When Geneseo punter Shaun Russell shanked a punt from his own end zone, Preston was there to pick the ball up at the 10 and return it to the Geneseo one yard line. Brandon Rodriquez scored one play later to make it 21-0 with just over 4-minutes to play in the second quarter.

Geneseo would get on the board before halftime as a long kickoff return and long pass play would set up a 10 yard TD run for Russell.

Down 21-7, Geneseo got the ball first in the second half and converted one first down as the Leafs moved into Golden Warrior territory. But on a 4 th and four from the Sterling 46 Russell was stopped for no gain and Sterling took over on downs. Geneseo would not penetrate into Sterling territory the rest of the night.

Sterling put the game away with a 15-play, 63-yard scoring drive that ate up over 9-minutes of the 4 th quarter clock. Hall carried the ball 11 times on the drive for 44 yards. Renner took it the final eight yards into the end zone, capping off the 28-7 win and ending Geneseo’s 9-game winning streak against Sterling.

Hall was the workhorse for Sterling, carrying 23 times for 113 yards. The Warriors out-rushed Geneseo 274-73, holding the Leafs to just 2.1 yds/carry.

Sterling can wrap up its first NCIC-Northeast championship since 1994 with a win at Dixon next week.