Geneva’s Nate Stempowski looked up at the scoreboard and must have thought, “Why not?”
The senior quarterback decided it was time to go out like his favorite player in Madden NFL 24. The Vikings had not scored, were trailing by a bunch, and the mercy rule was in place.
“It was a running clock, so I guess I’ll just run around, throw the ball, play backyard football and do my thing,” Stempowski said. “We wanted to go out with a touchdown.
“Let’s just leave it all on the field and have fun. It’s our last drive.”
Stempowski went out in style Saturday afternoon, engineering a final touchdown drive for the Vikings in a 41-7 loss to host Cary-Grove in a Class 6A state quarterfinal game in Cary.
Dealing with a running clock, Stempowski hit Michael Rumoro for a 1-yard TD pass in the third quarter. Stempowski finished with 80 yards on 16 carries. Rumoro added 51 yards.
It was 41-0 when Stempowski led that 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive for Geneva (9-3). He had runs of 15 and 12 yards, while Rumoro chipped in with a 15-yard run.
On a broken play on the goal line, Stempowski then shoveled a pass to Rumoro while falling down for the TD. And all the while, Stempowski tried to keep the Vikings on point.
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“It’s frustrating, but you have to look forward,” he said. “You can’t really do anything about it. You can’t control the past. You try to control the future.
“You have to control your own mindset and keep going.”
Rumoro just kept his head up on the TD play, waiting for Stempowski to do his thing.
“We were just trying to get a score,” Rumoro said. “We messed up a fake handoff and threw it into the end zone. Nate being the great player he is, he just threw the ball.
“He wanted to make something happen to remember.”
That final TD of Stempowski’s career was indicative of what he’s done the past two seasons.
“He’s a great leader, one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever seen,” Rumoro said. “His ability to make plays, I love to work with him.”
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Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen wasn’t surprised Stempowski kept the team together in the face of adversity.
“He’s as special a player as you can get,” Thorgesen said. “He’s 160 pounds soaking wet. The kid has over 950 yards rushing on the year. Stats don’t matter with what he brings to the table.
“I haven’t met a competitor and a player like that at that position to hang in there and take the hits and the physicality that he does and make as many plays as he does for us.”
Geneva turned the ball over four times and Cary-Grove (10-2) took advantage. The Trojans ran for 303 yards and scored on their first five possessions, adding a pick-six defensively.
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“There are too many times we shot ourselves in the foot, especially early,” Thorgesen said. “It’s always hard with a team like that when you’re not firing on all cylinders and getting behind early.
“That’s what good teams do, and that’s what they did.”
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It wasn’t the ending Stempowski and the Vikings were looking for, either. He looked back fondly on the journey, however.
“I left everything out on the field,” Stempowski said. “I grew up with them since middle school. We’ve been really good. We’ve been tough for our opponents. That’s all you can ask.”
Rumoro said he and the rest of the players who will be back next season were already looking ahead, just like Stempowski taught them to do.
“We’ll be back,” Rumoro said. “The feeling we’re feeling right now will drive us in the offseason. We have to try to get better, do everything we can.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.