BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – There may not have been many people outside of the Geneva football locker room who were giving the Golden Tornadoes a chance on Saturday afternoon on Homecoming when undefeated and 11th-ranked Washington & Jefferson came to Reeves Field. However, Geneva jumped out to an early lead and carried that lead into the fourth quarter before a late W&J rally staved off the Golden Tornado upset attempt, 24-20. W&J improved to 5-0, 4-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva saw its two-game winning streak snapped in falling to 2-3, 2-2 in the PAC.
Geneva received the opening kickoff and marched right down the field against the vaunted Presidents' defense. Senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) plunged in from two yards out to cap off a 10-play, 69-yard touchdown drive, all on rushes.
The Golden Tornado defense also showed up well on the afternoon against the Presidents' high-scoring offense. W&J drove inside the Geneva 30-yardline on its next possession, but on fourth-and-five, sophomore Kaden Romero (Red Rock, Okla./Putnam City North) burst around the edge and sacked W&J quarterback Justin Heacock to give the Golden Tornadoes the ball back.
Geneva again found great success on the ground, moving down inside the W&J 10-yardline. Facing a third-and-goal from the 8-yardline, Luptak found senior Peyton Schell (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) for a touchdown pass to increase the Geneva lead to 14-0.
The second W&J drive ended just like its first drive. Facing a fourth down inside Geneva's 30-yardline, Romero came up with another sack to give the ball back to Geneva early in the second quarter.
The Golden Tornado offense went three-and-out on its next possession, and on the following W&J possession, the Presidents finally found success deep in Geneva territory when Heacock hit Andrew Wolf for a 26-yard touchdown pass, pulling W&J within 14-7.
Later in the quarter, the defense came up big again deep inside Geneva territory. The Golden Tornadoes held W&J to a field goal after the Presidents marched inside the Geneva 10-yardline, and Geneva took a 14-10 lead into the halftime break.
Geneva's defense forced a W&J punt on the opening possession of the second half, with junior Nicolas Ottaviani (Beaver Falls, Pa./Riverside) coming up with a key sack. The Golden Tornado offense came up big again. After converting a fourth-and-one near midfield, Luptak his Schell for their second touchdown connection of the day, this one from 47 yards away as Schell got behind the W&J defense and Luptak hit him in stride. Geneva missed the extra point, though, keeping the lead at 20-10.
W&J had an immediate response, though. The Presidents used two long passes to travel down most of the field, and EJ Thompson ran it from 10 yards out to pull W&J to within 20-17.
Both teams traded a couple of empty possessions over the next 15 minutes. However, midway through the fourth quarter, Heacock connected with Wolfe for a 19-yard touchdown pass to give the Presidents their first lead of the game, 24-20, with 9:54 remaining.
The Golden Tornado offense had two more chances to find a game-winning score, but Geneva couldn't come up with the big play late. Geneva's last possession ended with an interception just inside W&J territory with 1:06 remaining, and the Presidents ran out the clock to hold on for the victory, 24-20.
Luptak led the offense with 84 yards rushing and a touchdown, while he passed for 91 yards and two scores. Sophomore Tyler Lippiatt (Salem, Ohio/United) added 66 yards rushing as Geneva finished with 220 yards on the ground against a W&J defense that came in as the top defensive unit in the league. Schell had three catches for 64 yards and two scores. The Geneva offense finished with 311 yards of offense.
The defense was led Ottaviani, who finished with nine tackles, three tackles-for-loss, two sacks and one forced fumble. Sophomore James Clark (Fairfax, Va./Wakefield) also contributed nine tackles, while Romero added seven tackles and two sacks. W&J finished with 402 yards of total offense, with Heacock leading the way with 318 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Geneva heads back out onto the road next week with a 2:00 p.m. matchup at Grove City.
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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
