GROVE CITY, Pa. – A week after nearly knocking off #11-ranked W&J, Geneva struggled in about every facet on Saturday afternoon, with Grove City dominating in a 56-7 defeat of the Golden Tornadoes.  Grove City improved to 5-1 overall, 4-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 2-4 overall, 2-3 in the PAC.
 
Geneva received the opening kickoff and went three-and-out, a sign of the struggles to come for the Golden Tornado offense.  Grove City took the following punt and marched down inside Geneva's 10-yardline, but a missed Wolverine field goal kept the game scoreless.
 
The Golden Tornadoes coughed it up on their next possession, and Grove City immediately took advantage when quarterback Josh Ehst hit Cody Gustafson for a 37-yard touchdown pass on the next play.
 
Geneva had its best offensive play of the day on the following drive when senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) threw a deep pass to sophomore Blake Peet (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva), who was running wide open down the middle of the field.  Unfortunately, the pass was just a little too far in front of Peet, who couldn't maintain his balance and fell down after catching the ball.  That meant Geneva had to settle for a 41-yard pass instead of a 67-yard touchdown, and that came back to hurt the Golden Tornadoes when senior Daniel Nordaas' (Largo, Fla./Keswick Christian) 37-yard field goal attempt went wide left.
 
After empty possession for both teams, Grove City doubled its lead with a 10-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Ehst to Scott Fraser.
 
On the following kickoff, Geneva scored its only points of the day when sophomore Hilton McClain Jr. (Belle Glade, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) returned the kick 90 yards for a touchdown to get Geneva on the board early in the second quarter.
 
Grove City had a response, though, with a 54-yard reception setting up Clayton Parrish for a 2-yard touchdown plunge, pushing the Wolverine lead back to 14 points, 21-7.
 
Once again Geneva's offense went three-and-out, but on Grove City's next possession, sophomore Jalen Collier (Sebastian, Fla./Sebastian River) intercepted an Ehst pass and returned it to the Wolverine 25-yardline with 1:40 remaining in the half, setting the Golden Tornadoes up with a great opportunity.  Unfortunately, Geneva did not manage the clock well, and without a timeout available, Luptak got pulled down on a run inside the Grove City 10-yardline, and the clock ran out without Geneva putting up any points.
 
Things fell apart in the second half.  Grove City took the opening possession of the third quarter and scored on an Ehst-to-Gustafson 32-yard touchdown pass to take control of the game, 28-7.
 
A Geneva fumble ended its next possession out near midfield, and after the Golden Tornado defense forced a punt, the Geneva offense drove into Grove City territory, but a fourth-and-one run was dropped for a loss, giving the ball back to the Wolverines.
 
Grove City didn't take long to march down the field again, and Parrish ran it in from three yards out to push the Wolverine lead to 35-7.
 
A Luptak interception ended the following Geneva drive, and Grove City converted that into an 11-yard touchdown run from Nico Flati just before the end of the third quarter.
 
Grove City added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring, 56-7.
 
The Geneva offense could not get anything going on the ground, finishing with just 26 yards rushing on 35 attempts, with the Golden Tornadoes finishing with just 145 yards of total offense.  Geneva's only real positive plays on offense came through the air.
 
Grove City, on the other hand, had its way on the ground and through the air.  The Wolverines finished with 537 yards of total offense, with 286 yards coming on the ground and 251 yards coming through the air.  Sophomore Kaden Romero (Red Rock, Okla./Putnam City North) and freshman Gabe Trexler (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) led the defense with 12 tackles apiece, while junior Nicolas Ottaviani (Beaver Falls, Pa./Riverside) added 10 tackles.
 
It's probably a good week for Geneva to receive its bye, with the Golden Tornadoes not returning to action until Saturday, October 23, with a road trip to Case Western Reserve for a 1:30 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 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).