GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Geneva College football team played well for three quarters at Grove City on Saturday afternoon, but an accumulation of costly turnovers and untimely penalties eventually caught up to the Golden Tornadoes, allowing the Wolverines to overcome a Geneva lead and pull away late for a 45-28 victory.  Grove City improved to 7-2, 6-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 3-6, 3-5 in the PAC.

The game marked the return of sophomore starting quarterback Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley), who had missed the last three games due to injury, and his presence made an immediate impact.  Geneva took the opening kickoff and marched 57 yards on eight plays, all on the ground.  Luptak capped off the drive with a 25-yard touchdown run on 4th and 3 to give Geneva an early 7-0 lead.

Grove City responded on its first drive with a touchdown of its own, a 25-yard run from all-conference running back Wesley Schools.  However, Luptak led the Golden Tornadoes right down the field on its next drive, this time 66 yards on seven plays, and Luptak dove in from two yards out for his second touchdown of the day, giving Geneva the lead back, 14-7.

Geneva's defense held on the following possession, but a Golden Tornado fumble on its next drive set up Grove City with good field position.  The Wolverines made it down to the five-yard line, but Geneva's defense held and forced Grove City to settle for a field goal, cutting the Geneva lead to 14-10 early in the second quarter.

Both teams traded empty possessions before Geneva shot itself in the foot one last time in the half.  The Golden Tornadoes drove inside the Grove City 20-yard line with two minutes remaining in the half, but a holding penalty combined with a personal foul penalty pushed Geneva well out of scoring range, forcing Geneva to settle for a 14-10 halftime lead.

The second half couldn't have started much better for the Golden Tornadoes.  Senior Tyler Cann (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) forced a fumble on Grove City's second play of the half, and senior Torrin Sallis (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) fell on the ball to give Geneva its first turnover of the game.  On Geneva's first offensive play, junior Frankie Centofanti (New Middletown, Ohio/Springfield Local) took a pitch from Luptak and ran around the right side for a 31-yard touchdown to increase Geneva's lead to 21-10.

Grove City didn't waste much time in responding, though, moving quickly down the field, and Schools ran it in from 10 yards out to cut Geneva's lead to 21-17.  The Golden Tornadoes tried to answer, and they had a promising drive deep inside Grove City, but multiple penalties ruined the drive and gave the ball back to Grove City.  The Wolverines took full advantage of Geneva's mistakes, driving down the field for another touchdown, giving Grove City its first lead of the game, 24-21, with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter.

Geneva answered with another scoring drive, with Luptak scoring on a one-yard touchdown run, to regain the lead, 28-24.  However, Grove City marched back down the field, and on a third-and-goal play, the Wolverines scored on a ten-yard touchdown pass, giving the Wolverines the lead back, 31-28.

With the back-and-forth scoring, it became clear that the first team to make a mistake would likely be the one to lose, and unfortunately, those mistakes came from the Golden Tornadoes.  On the following kickoff, Geneva fumbled, and Grove City recovered and quickly scored again to push its lead to 38-28.  On Geneva's next possession, it fumbled again, with Grove City converting the turnover for another touchdown to extend its lead to 45-28, and the Golden Tornadoes could never recover.

"It's frustrating to put yourselves into position to win the game and yet make costly mistakes," said Head Coach Geno DeMarco.  "The teams in this conference are just too tough to beat when you help them out.  That said, I thought we did a lot well today, and it was good to have Amos back, and if we can clean up some of these self-inflicted wounds, we can beat some of these teams."

Luptak led the offense with a career-high 179 yards rushing on 27 attempts, including three touchdowns.  Centofanti finished with 71 yards rushing on just six attempts, scoring once.  Geneva finished the game with 365 yards rushing.

Defensively, Geneva had a hard time containing Schools, who finished with 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns.  As a team, Grove City finished with 449 yards of total offense.  Cann and sophomore Dakota Allen (Plant City, Fla./Newsome) led the defense with nine tackles apiece.

Geneva will finish its season next week at Westminster with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against the Titans.


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.