Despite having second place locked up, Eagles will go full speed on Friday

Even though Friday’s football game at St. Francis Episcopal won’t affect Geneva School of Boerne in the final district standings – they have second place secured – Eagles coach Adam Foren said they’re going to treat it like any other game.

“We’re going to play to win the game,” he said. “At the previous place I was at, we were in an almost identical situation and we eased up and got beat in a game that didn’t matter, but it affected our momentum going into the playoffs. If there are kids on the fence health-wise, we’ll be mindful of that situation, but otherwise, we’re going to play to win.”

Geneva is 8-1 overall (4-1 in district) and St. Francis Episcopal is 2-7 overall (1-4) but Foren said not to be fooled by their record.

“They have a talented offense, so it’ll be a great test defensively,” he said. “Their quarterback is ranked No. 2 behind (Geneva QB) Caleb (Quitadamo) in passing in our district.”

Geneva locked up second place in the district standings with last Friday’s 23-21 victory over Holy Cross in Boerne for homecoming. Even though the Eagles have been scoring in bunches, Foren said he knew it was going to be a low-scoring, knock-down, drag-out kind of a game with the Knights.

“Rivalry games are always different and they threw the kitchen sink at us, it was all or nothing for them. They played kids we hadn’t seen all year,” he said. “They wanted to shorten the game and limit our possessions, so they were running the ball a lot and snapping it with one second left on the (play) clock. They played three safeties and weren’t going to let us go deep so I knew we weren’t going to be able to score 60 on them.”

Foren said that no matter what Holy Cross threw at them, his team stayed focused and executed well.

“I knew it was not going to be a blowout,” he said. “We were selective when we took our shots down the field and just ran plays based on what they were giving us. We stayed disciplined and didn’t turn the ball over. Holy Cross is a team known for their physicality and toughness and we beat them that way.”

Geneva never trailed in last Friday’s game, but Holy Cross was never far behind either. Despite the Knights trying to take away the deep pass, Quitadamo still tossed three TD passes and then the defense came up big with an interception with less than a minute left in the game to end the Knights’ last drive.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Foren said. “We played outstanding on defense.”

After Friday’s game in Houston against St. Francis, it looks like the Eagles will travel to Dallas to open the postseason against a Dallas- area team the following week.

For more on the playoffs, look in the Boerne Star.