Geneva’s Caleb Kelly bided his time last season behind all-state forward Trent Giansanti.
While Giansanti was leading the Vikings with 17 goals, Kelly was working his way through a myriad of injuries while picking up tips along the way.
Those lessons have helped Kelly, a junior forward, become Geneva’s leading scorer.
“I love Trent,” Kelly said. “He’s great. It was a struggle to find playing time (last season), only had two goals. This year, being the lone striker has given me so many more opportunities.
“I’ve been just trying to take advantage of it.”
Kelly has been doing it all season, and he came through once again when the Vikings needed it most Tuesday in the Class 3A St. Charles North Sectional semifinals against Glenbard West.
His 17th goal of the season gave Geneva a three-score lead. After the Hilltoppers scored twice down the stretch to add intrigue, Kelly’s goal wound up being the game-winner in a 4-3 victory.
Ben Murphy had two goals and two assists for Geneva (13-4-4). Chase Marquardt scored the other goal for the Vikings as they fended off a late rally from Glenbard West (15-9-3).
The Vikings play at 6 p.m. Friday for the sectional title against Conant, a 4-1 winner over Bartlett.
And while Geneva has put a lot on Kelly’s plate this season, installing him as the team’s only striker, that has required a lot of effort both on and off the ball.
“Not just the goals, you saw the work he did,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “He was chasing everything. When we’re only playing one guy really up top with two midfielders underneath him, he has to do a lot of work.
“Off the ball, I give him as much credit as the goals. He really works hard for us, pressing them and chasing down balls. It’s hard to be perfect dealing with every single big ball that comes. He’s a big part of that.”
Murphy, who has really emerged in the playoffs, saw Kelly’s potential coming into the season. The duo worked out together, and Murphy knew Kelly was up for the challenge.
“We knew he’d be ready,” Murphy said. “He’s 100% lived up to the expectation, just knocking in goals whenever we need them, coming up big. That’s what he does. He puts them in the back of the net, which is what we need.”
It was Murphy who broke the ice Tuesday, however.
A scoreless first half saw Geneva playing into a wind that gusted in excess of 30 mph. In the second half, though, the Vikings had the wind at their backs and wasted no time getting going.
Murphy scored two goals in the first 4:26 of the second half and then assisted Marquardt seconds later to open a stunning 3-0 lead.
“It was amazing,” Murphy said. “We knew we were the better team coming into this game. We knew coming into the second half we were going to have the momentum with the wind and we were able to capitalize right away.
“Once it started, we just kept going.”
Glenbard West answered on a goal by Alex Ginder with 32:36 left in the half. Then Kelly scored his goal for 4-1 lead with 32:20 remaining. Glenbard West scored twice at the end, however, with the final goal coming with 2:36 left in the game.
“I was thinking, ‘This is going to set us up perfectly,’ and then they got two more,” Kelly said. “I was like, whoa, maybe that goal actually meant something.”
Geneva now has a shot at its first sectional title since 2007 and the first in Bhatta’s eight seasons at the helm.
“It feels amazing,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to make history for Bhatta. We’re just doing it for him, doing it for each other.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
