The second episode of the 1997 Football Tornado Watch covered Geneva's games to begin its conference season against Taylor, Malone and Tri-State.

In the fourth week of the season, Geneva hosted undefeated Taylor, and the Golden Tornadoes dominated the visiting Trojans.  With the score tied at 7-7 in the first quarter, Geneva reeled off 26 straight points to take a 33-7 in the fourth quarter, and the Golden Tornadoes closed out the victory, 47-14. 

Justin Myers led the offense, passing for 349 yards and four touchdowns.  Ron Michel caught five passes for 142 yards and a score, Ken Klemencic added four grabs for 95 yards and two touchdowns, while Mike Holaren caught three passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.  Michel became Geneva's all-time leader in career receiving yards and all-purpose yards with his performance.  Tim McGraw rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown, while Melvin Cobbs added 47 yards rushing and two touchdowns.  Jeff Mihok led the defense with nine tackles, one interception and one sack, as the Golden Tornado defense sacked Taylor eight times in the game.

That victory set up a game on homecoming against Malone, a team that had defeated Geneva three times in the last two seasons, all by one point, including a heartbreaking 24-23 loss in the opening round of the 1995 NAIA playoffs.  Geneva left no doubt in this matchup, though.

Jason Gill scored the only points for Geneva in the first quarter, kicking a 26-yard field goal to give the Golden Tornadoes an early lead.  Then Michel and Holaren both caught touchdown passes in the second quarter to give Geneva a commanding 17-0 lead at halftime, and the Golden Tornadoes easily closed out the game, 33-12.  Myers again led offense with 294 yards passing and four touchdown passes, two to Michel, one to Holaren and one to Jon Stevens.  Jon Rose led the defense with six tackles and two interceptions.

Geneva then traveled out to Indiana to take on Tri-State, with the game proving to be one of the toughest and most dramatic of the season.  The Golden Tornadoes could seemingly do nothing right in the first half, falling behind 21-0 at the break.  Geneva stormed back in the second half, though.  Cobbs and McGraw scored on rushing touchdowns to pull Geneva to within one score, and then Myers hit Klemencic for an 11-yard touchdown on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining to send the game to overtime.

Tri-State got the ball first in the overtime period, and the Golden Tornado defense held Tri-State to a field goal.  That set the stage for Geneva to complete the biggest comeback in school history when Myers found Klemincic in the end zone for another touchdown, giving the Golden Tornadoes a 27-24 overtime victory.  Myers threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns, both to Klemencic.  Michel had a record-breaking day, catching 14 passes for 240 yards.  The 240 yards receiving are still the most in a single game in school history.  Cobbs led the rushing attack with the 97 yards on the ground.  The win moved Geneva's record to 5-1 on the season.


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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.