BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College football team picked up a second straight victory on Saturday afternoon with a Homecoming Day win over Waynesburg on Saturday afternoon, 27-7.  The Golden Tornado defense led the way with a dominating performance in helping Geneva to improve to 2-2 overall, 2-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Waynesburg fell to 0-4, 0-3 in the PAC.

Neither team was able to move the ball effectively in the first quarter, as both teams traded empty possession.  Geneva got the ball for the second time late in the quarter and marched deep into Waynesburg's territory, but a Golden Tornado penalty forced Geneva to settle for a 36-yard field goal by sophomore Daniel Nordaas (Largo, Fla./Keswick Christian) early in the second quarter, putting the Golden Tornadoes ahead 3-0.

After another Geneva defensive stop, Geneva got the ball back and marched 62 yards in five plays for the first touchdown of the game, this one a one-yard run from senior Nick Monteleone (East Palestine, Ohio/East Palestine).  The big play of the drive was a 57-yard reception by Monteleone from sophomore quarterback Amos Luptak (Sewickely, Pa./Quaker Valley).

Geneva's defense came up big one more time late in the second quarter after Waynesburg sacked Luptak, forcing a fumble, which gave the Yellow Jackets the ball deep in Geneva territory.  But a sack by junior Kendrick Wells (New Stanton, Pa./Hempfield) pushed Waynesburg out of field goal range, enabling Geneva to take a 10-0 lead into halftime.

Geneva got the opening kickoff of the second half and chewed up almost nine minutes of the third quarter on a 16-play, 48-yard scoring drive that resulted in a 37-yard field goal by Nordaas, increasing the Golden Tornado lead to 13-0.

Geneva's defense forced another Waynesburg punt on the ensuing possession, and Geneva's offense took over just inside Waynesburg's territory.  Three plays later senior Justin Loughrie (Wellsburg, W.Va./Brooke) took it right up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Waynesburg's offense continued to struggle against the Golden Tornado defense, and freshman Isaac Gibbs (Oldsmar, Fla./East Lake) put the game away with a 31-yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.  A late Waynesburg touchdown with 13 seconds remaining against Geneva's backups wrapped up the scoring and prevented a shutout, as Geneva finished out the 27-7 victory.

"This is exactly the way we want to play," said Head Coach Geno DeMarco about today's performance.  "Our defense was tremendous all day long, and our running game controlled the game.  Our special teams was really good today too.  It was as complete of a performance as we've had in a while, and we'll need these types of performances as we head out on the road in conference play over the next few weeks.  Today was the result of a lot of hard work from our team over the last month, and I'm confident our guys are starting to understand how we need to play in order to have success in this conference."

Geneva's defense gave up just 193 yards of total offense, 75 of which came on Waynesburg's final drive.  Geneva's run defense, which has been the best in the conference through the first three weeks of the season, was impressive again, giving up just 67 yards on 34 carries.  Senior Tyler Cann (Lehighton, Pa./Lehighton) led Geneva was 12 tackles, while senior Torrin Sallis (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) added eight stops.

Offensively, Geneva was led by Loughrie, who finished with 122 yards on 18 rushes.  Luptak also surpassed 100 yards rushing, finishing with 115 yards on 16 attempts.  The Golden Tornadoes finished with 375 yards of offense, 318 yards coming on the ground.

After opening with three home games in the first month of the season, Geneva now will spend most of the remainder of the season on the road, beginning with a trip to Saint Vincent next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start.


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.