Ben Peterson shakes the nerves, leads dynamic Geneva offense in Class 6A first round playoff win over Carmel
Mark Chen is a seasoned sports journalist with a degree from the University of Chicago and over 6 years of experience covering club sports and recreational activities in the Naperville area. Prior to joining Naperville Current, he wrote for the Naperville Sun, where he leveraged his strong relationships with coaches and athletes.
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Nerves before a football game aren’t unusual for Geneva’s Ben Peterson.What about throwing up before the game? That hadn’t happened to Peterson until Saturday evening, when the senior quarterback and Eastern Michigan commit made his IHSA playoff debut during Geneva’s Class 6A first-round game against Carmel. The 6-foot-4 signal caller didn’t look rattled whatsoever, passing for 256 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-30 victory.“This is one of the harder teams we could’ve played in the first round, so coming out and putting up the numbers we did is very big,” said Peterson, who entered the game with 2,677 passing yards and 34 touchdowns through the air. “I’m a little nervous before every game, but I did puke before this one. I’ve never puked before.”Perhaps what alleviated Peterson’s nerves was the continued stellar play of senior receiver and Illinois commit Bennett Konkey. Konkey, Peterson’s top target this season, brought in five catches for 127 yards and two scores, including a 63-ya