LATROBE, Pa. – The first quarter did not start well for the Geneva College football team in its game at Saint Vincent, but that's about all that went wrong for the Golden Tornadoes on Saturday afternoon.  Geneva scored the final 48 points of the game to blow out the Bearcats, 48-10.  It was Geneva's largest margin of victory since a season-opening 47-3 victory over Frostburg State in 2013, and it was Geneva's third straight victory, all by at least 20 points.  Geneva improved to 3-2, 2-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent fell to 0-4, 0-3 in the PAC.

Geneva took the opening kickoff and drove inside Saint Vincent's 30-yard line, but senior Nick Monteleone's (East Palestine, Ohio/East Palestine) rushing touchdown was called back due to a penalty that eventually pushed Geneva out of field goal range and forced a punt.  The Bearcats took over and went down and converted a short field goal to put the first points of the game on the scoreboard midway through the quarter.  After back-to-back empty possessions by both teams, a Geneva fumble gave Saint Vincent the ball deep in Golden Tornado territory, and Saint Vincent scored a touchdown early in the second quarter to take a 10-0 lead.

It was all Golden Tornadoes from there.  A long kick return from junior Frankie Centofanti (New Middleton, Ohio/Springfield) on Geneva's following possession set up the Golden Tornadoes inside Saint Vincent territory, and six plays later sophomore quarterback Amos Luptak (Sewickely, Pa./Quaker Valley) ran it in from two yards to cut Saint Vincent's lead to 10-7.

Geneva's defense forced a three-and-out on Saint Vincent's next possession, and the Golden Tornadoes drove 52 yards on four plays, with Monteleone scoring from 16 yards to give Geneva its first lead of the game, 14-10.

After Geneva's defense forced another Bearcat punt, sophomore Daniel Nordaas (Largo, Fla./Keswick Christian) finished off a Geneva drive with a 30-yard field goal to increase Geneva's led to 17-10.  On the first play of Saint Vincent's ensuing possession, freshman O'Neal Cotton (Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City West) picked off a pass near midfield, and six plays later Luptak found sophomore Peyton Schell (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) for a 16-yard touchdown pass to send Geneva to the half with a 24-10 lead.

Geneva picked up right where it left off entering the third quarter.  The Golden Tornado defense forced another three-and-out from Saint Vincent on the first possession of the second half.  It then took Geneva's offense just two plays to go 52 yards, with Centofanti scoring on a 36-yard touchdown run to push Geneva's lead to 31-10.

Another empty Saint Vincent possession led to more points for the Golden Tornadoes, this time on a 49-yard field goal by Nordaas that would have been good from at least 55 yards.  That 49-yard field goal tied for the third longest in school history.

On Saint Vincent's following possession, sophomore Brady Corklin (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) picked off another Bearcat pass, and Schell scored again on a 27-yard end-around to increase Geneva's lead to 41-10 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Geneva defense came up with another turnover, this time on a fumble recovery by junior Casey Nau (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville).  At that point, Head Coach Geno DeMarco began to bring in his reserves, but that didn't stop Cotton from picking off another Saint Vincent pass early in the fourth quarter, the defense's fourth turnover of the game.  Freshman Ricky Pitrelli (Ellwood City, Pa./Lincoln) finished off the scoring with a 67-yard touchdown run, completing Geneva's 48-10 victory.

"Our kids are really starting to get what we're trying to do here," said Coach DeMarco.  "To go on the road in conference and blow out any team shows the progress we are making around here.  We need to work on the start of games, but otherwise there was not much to complain about.  Our defense again was dominant, and our offense just churned out yards.  Special teams was really good again today too.  Our schedule is about to get a lot tougher, but I'm really encouraged by where this team is at right now."

Geneva's offense finished with 416 yards of total offense, including 379 yards on the ground.  Centofanti, Monteleone and Pitrelli each rushed just five times, but the three finished with 82 yards, 78 yards, and 71 yards, respectively.  Freshman Isaac Gibbs had his best day as a Golden Tornado, adding 65 rushing yards.  Schell was the only Golden Tornado to find the endzone twice.

Geneva's defense continued its dominating ways, giving up just 142 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers.  Sophomore Dakota Allen (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) led the Golden Tornadoes with seven tackles and a forced fumble, while Cotton finished with two tackles and two interceptions.

Meanwhile, Nordaas is becoming one of the best kickers in the PAC.  After last week's performance which earned him PAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors, Nordaas went 2-for-2 on field goals, including the 49-yarder, 6-for-6 on extra points, and booted four touchbacks on kickoffs.

The schedule will begin to increase in difficulty when the Golden Tornadoes travel to Bethany next Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff.


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 115 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 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.