Anticipation high for different Batavia-Geneva game

Talk about a perfect setting.

Geneva's girls basketball team, 9-0 so far this season, visits Batavia on Friday. The Bulldogs sport a 7-0 record.

While the Batavia-Geneva boys basketball rivalry has been much-documented, as has the football and baseball and boys soccer -- well, pretty much every version of the rivalry -- girls basketball has sort of been lost in the wake over the years.

That doesn't mean the games haven't been important or competitive and certainly doesn't mean the schools didn't harbor that sense of wanting to beat the school just to the north or south of their beloved future alma mater. Heck, Batavia and Geneva could be holding a varsity leapfrog competition and a few hundred people would show up in school colors to cheer their school to victory.

But strictly from a statistical standpoint, this could be the biggest game in the rivalry's history. Certainly it's the biggest game for awhile, although the participants want to make sure they don't turn this into an Olympic gold medal game for either program.

"The Geneva-Batavia rivalry, regardless of records, is always an intense battle," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "It's not just about the record and staying undefeated for us. It's also about the conference and our desire to keep winning in conference."

Some of those keeping an eye on the rivalry will be those who have been involved in the program over the years. Former Geneva coach Greg Dierks still lives in town and is the school's varsity softball coach. Todd Leden, now the principal at Fenton, still lives in town. You can guarantee the part of these who still bleed Blue and White will be following Friday's game.

"I was an assistant coach for two years and head coach for five years," Leden said. "I will always check to see how they're doing."

Geneva is currently the team in ascendancy in the rivalry. The strange thing is that just prior to this era of Viking supremacy, Batavia was, to coin a phrase, the top dog. There wasn't much time where the teams sat on a level court.

"Even though we were not at the top of the conference, we had Courtney O'Reilly and Anne Kautz and players who took the rivalry very seriously," Leden said. "They always played harder in that game than in any all year long.

"Then it was weird because I don't remember a time when it was even. It was almost like two ships that passed in the night. They were up, and we went up and they went down or stayed the same. Maybe its revisionist history, but I don't remember it being an even thing for any amount of time."

Geneva's recent run has been fueled by a string of star players. Joanna Connor and Lindsey Koehn left Geneva and, as college juniors, won the NCAA Division III national championship at Millikin.

Junior Taylor Whitley carries the current banner as a star athlete for the Vikings.

But look back a bit and you will see that Batavia has had more than its share of victories in the rivalry as well. When Mike Mandele coached the team through the 1980s into the mid-90s, the Bulldogs were always tough.

"When we were in our heyday, Geneva was kind of so-so," Mandele said. "They weren't as powerful as they've been the last three, four or five years. But come game time, both teams got ready to play and we had some hard games against them."

Batavia had stars then, though only those with long memories remember Kelly Pollard, who averaged better than 20 points a game her junior and senior seasons.

"She was up for Miss Basketball in Illinois, but we never had the team records to back her up," Mandele said.

Then along came Katie Issel, the team's power center and the girl around whom the team became a force in the mid-90s.

"She was the player for us that Taylor Whitley is now for Geneva," Mandele said. "They were two different types of players because they play different positions. But the notoriety of their name in the area is comparable."

Mandele still teaches at Batavia High School, as do Bill Ketterling and Chad Hillman, who spent time as Bulldogs coach before Tim DeBruycker took the program's reins last year.

Mandele said he might be at Friday's game -- and that he has seen the Bulldogs this season.

"I think Geneva's played more games at a high caliber," he said. "Batavia is the bridesmaid in this game because they haven't had good records for a long time. But they might be hungrier too because they haven't been there for so long."

Asked for a prediction, Mandele said: "It's going to be a good one. People better get there early."

In that sense, Batavia and Geneva girls basketball is exactly in line with every other version of the Bulldogs-Vikings rivalry.