MARIETTA, Ohio – The good news for the Geneva College football team is that senior Trewon Marshall doesn't look like he's missed a beat as he enters his senior season, as Marshall rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday night at Marietta.  Unfortunately for the Golden Tornadoes, they couldn't find a way to slow down the Marietta offense, eventually losing 35-24.  Geneva is now 0-1 on the season, while Marietta moved to 1-0.

Marietta opened the scoring with a touchdown on its second possession of the game.  Geneva answered with a touchdown of its own later on in the first quarter on a 4-yard run from Marshall to even things back up.  After freshman Daniel Nordaas kicked a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter, Geneva had its first lead of the game, 10-7.

Marietta took the following possession and went 62 yards, capped off by a 22-yard rushing touchdown from Tanner Clark, regaining the lead 14-10, a lead it ultimately would never relinquish. 

The turning point in the game came on the next possession.  With Geneva driving at midfield, the Pioneers picked up a Geneva fumble and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown to increase their lead to 21-10 heading into the halftime break.

Geneva got possession to start the second half, but after its drive stalled, Marietta increased the lead on its first possession of the half on a 30-yard touchdown run from Clark, putting Geneva in a significant hole, 28-10.

To the Golden Tornadoes credit, they didn't quit, cutting into the lead.  Marshall had another 2-yard rushing touchdown, and sophomore Levi Cook scored from one yard out to make it 35-24 in the fourth quarter.  However, any chance Geneva had for the comeback ended when a late drive stalled at midfield, and Marietta ran out the clock from there.

Geneva managed 346 yards of offense, with 287 of those yards coming on the ground.  Besides Marshall's big day, Cook also added 70 yards rushing and a touchdown.  Clark had the big day for Marietta, rushing for 128 yards and three touchdowns, as Marietta finished with 385 yards of offense.

"I was proud of our effort tonight," Head Coach Geno DeMarco said afterwards.  "It was a really good test against a very good football team.  We had several young guys get their first game action today, and those players will only get better.  We'll regroup and improve on some things next week, and we'll be ready to go against Saint Vincent."

Geneva will open Presidents' Athletic Conference play on Saturday when it plays host to Saint Vincent on Saturday, September 8, at 7:00 p.m.  It will be the Golden Tornadoes first home game on the newly renovated Reeves Field as Geneva looks to forward to playing in front of its home crowd for the first time in 2018.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.