GENOA – Genoa-Kingston competed with Stillman Valley, showed a strong effort and managed to put up some points against the Big Northern Conference's top defense.
But, in the end, the Cardinals showed why they are one of the prohibitive favorites for the Class 3A state title as Stillman Valley defeated the Cogs, 44-20, on Friday night at G-K.
The loss still leaves the Cogs (4-4, 1-3 BNC West) one win short of playoff eligibility with one game remaining, a home contest next Friday against Byron.
"Tomorrow morning we'll watch film and after film it's all about Byron," defensive lineman Sean McIntyre said after the game. "They're a good team. We tried as best as we can. I think our defensive line did pretty well against that fullback (Shawn Cox), but those counters and stuff like that."
The Cardinals' counters worked well against an aggressive G-K defense. Stillman Valley running back Brandon Schwengels scored on runs of 35, 70 and 16 on his way to 144-yard performance on only a total of four carries. Schwengels ran a counter on each of his four touches.
"The counters killed us," G-K coach Bill McCarty said. "They're still running them, I think."
Stillman Valley (8-0, 4-0 BNC West) built a 24-0 halftime lead before the Cogs scored on a five-yard pass from quarterback Craig Billington to Ethan Menges. But Schwengels scored just one minute and four seconds later to make the score 31-6.
Adam Cox and Brandon Watts added a rushing touchdown each, but the Cogs scored twice in the fourth with Billington's 3-yard run and a 6-yard score by Mitchell Dander.
The Cogs struggled to run the ball until the fourth quarter, when Rob Thurlby ripped off a 33-yard run to set up Billington's rushing touchdown.
"I wish we could have ran the ball better but they had nothing to do with that," McCarty said.
G-K's routine won't change much as its playoff hopes now come down to one game.
"I don't know about [forgetting the loss] quickly, but you just do what you do," McCarty said. "Our kids played hard."
STILLMAN VALLEY 44, GENOA-KINGSTON 20
SV 6 18 13 7 - 44
G-K 0 0 6 14 - 20
First quarter
SV - Schwengels 35 run (Schwengels run failed), 8:17
Second quarter
SV - Prusator 24 field goal, 11:11
SV - Schwengels 70 run (S.Cox conversion pass from Green), 6:09
SV - Masso 12 pass from Green (Prusator kick), 26.7
Third quarter
G-K - Menges 5 pass from Billington (Billington pass failed), 6:36
SV - Schwengels 16 run (Prusator kick), 5:32
SV - A. Cox 4 run (Prusator kick failed), 2:39
Fourth quarter
SV - Watts 2 run (Prusator kick), 11:30
G-K - Billington 3 run (Camargo kick failed), 7:45
G-K - Dander 6 run (Menges conversion pass from Billington), 1:37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Stillman Valley: Schwengels 4-144, Green 5-79, Bond 5-56, A. Cox 5-19, S. Cox 6-16, Watts 3-11, Dobson 4-10, Gerardy 2-(minus) 3. Totals: 34-332. Genoa-Kingston: Volkening 3-55, Thurlby 18-40, Dander 2-5, Billington 14-0, McIntyre 1-(minus) 3. Totals: 38-97
PASSING - Stillman Valley: Green 5-5-0-82, Schwengels 1-1-0-(minus) 1. Genoa-Kingston: Billington 11-17-1-92
RECEIVING - Stillman Valley: Masso 3-67, Bond 2-15, A. Cox 1-(minus) 1. Genoa-Kingston: Volkening 3-44, Dayton 3-19, Menges 3-18, Smith 2-11
TOTAL YARDS: Stillman Valley 413, Genoa-Kingston 189
SOPHOMORE RESULT: Stillman Valley 49, Genoa-Kingston 12
