BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It's been an impressive two weeks for the Geneva College football team, to say the least. A week after defeating Waynesburg 49-3, the Golden Tornadoes shut out Thiel 49-0 on Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. The 98-3 combined margin of victory in back-to-back games is the most since 1903 when Geneva defeated Mount Union, 63-0, and Pittsburgh, 53-0, in back-to-back weeks. The Golden Tornadoes improved their record to 4-5 overall, 4-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Thiel stayed winless on the season in dropping to 0-9 overall, 0-8 in the PAC.
Prior to the game, Geneva celebrated 14 seniors who were wrapping up their careers as Golden Tornadoes, though each player does have an extra year of eligibility left because of COVID last season if they want to return for one more year. The celebration carried right into the game.
Geneva received the opening kick and marched right down the field, picking up chunks of yardage before senior Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) connected with fellow senior Peyton Schell (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) on a 30-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the game to put the Golden Tornadoes on the board. The scoring would come quickly and often for Geneva over the first quarter and a half of the game.
The Geneva defense forced a quick three-and-out on Thiel's first possession, and a short Tomcat punt gave the Golden Tornadoes the ball back near midfield. A 10-yard run by Luptak got the drive started, and a play later a 27-yard run by Luptak put the ball deep in Thiel territory. Freshman Josh Syster (Clymer, Pa./Purchaseline) finished the drive off with a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.
A sack by juniors Haddon Schlarbaum (Riverview, Fla./Newsome) and Riley Merrill (Seven Valleys, Pa./Spring Grove) ended the next Thiel drive, and another short Tomcat punt gave Geneva possession inside Thiel territory. Sophomore Blake Peet (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) began the drive with a 9-yard run, and then Luptak hit Peet for 28 yards down to the Tomcat 7-yard line. Luptak ran it in from there on the next play to extend Geneva's lead to 21-0 just over 12 minutes into the game.
Sophomore Kaden Romero (Red Rock, Okla./Putnam City North) intercepted a tipped pass on Thiel's next possession. A Tomcat sack of Luptak on the following Geneva drive forced a rare Golden Tornado punt, but on Thiel's next possession, Schlarbaum sacked Thiel's quarterback Owen Trumbull again, forcing a fumble, and Romero picked it up and sprinted down to the Tomcat 5-yard line. Luptak plunged into the end zone two players later from one yard out, and Geneva led 28-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter.
A sack by Romero, who was dominant all game long, on Thiel's next possession forced another Tomcat punt, and on the second play from scrimmage on Geneva's next drive, Luptak connected with sophomore Hilton McClain Jr. (Belle Glade, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) for a 46-yard touchdown pass to push Geneva's lead to 35-0 with still 8:33 remaining in the half.
At that point Geneva's Head Coach Geno DeMarco began to cycle in substitutes, with Luptak getting one more series before finding a seat on the bench for the remainder of the game. Neither team scored the rest of the half, with the Golden Tornadoes taking their 35-0 lead into the halftime break.
Freshman quarterback Brutus Ogilvie (Salem, Ohio/United) opened the scoring in the second half with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Peet.
The only time Thiel managed to make it into Geneva's half of the field occurred early in the fourth quarter, and that drive was stopped when freshmen Alex Gonzalez (Laredo, Texas/Alexander) and Robert Zanders (Tampa, Fla./Gaither) sacked Turnbull on a Tomcat fourth-down attempt.
Sophomore Kazier Brandt (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) finished out the scoring with 3:52 remaining in the game when he took a pitch and sprinted 10 yards for a touchdown, bringing the final score to 49-0.
Luptak finished the game with 80 yards of rushing, along with two touchdowns, while he added 107 yards through the air, including two touchdowns, on an efficient 4-for-4 passing effort. Ogilvie finished with a game-high 81 yards rushing, and he also added the touchdown pass to Peet. Peet led the way through the air with 73 yards receiving, while McClain Jr. and Schell each grabbed a touchdown pass from Luptak. The Golden Tornadoes finished the game with 447 yards of total offense, 295 coming on the ground.
Romero had a huge game to lead the defense, finishing with eight tackles, 2.0 tackles-for-loss (TFLs), one sack, one interception and one fumble recovery. Sophomore Damian Lomeli (Tampa, Fla./Gaither) added seven tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and a forced fumble, while Schlarbaum wreaked havoc on the Thiel offense all day with six tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble. In total, Geneva finished with 16 TFLs and three turnovers while limiting Thiel to just 97 yards of total offense, including -3 yards rushing on 35 attempts.
Geneva finishes the season with a tough trip up to Westminster next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start. The Golden Tornadoes will be looking for their fifth win of the season, which would even their record at 5-5, while giving them a winning record in the PAC, and be Geneva's best finish since the Golden Tornadoes finished 5-5 in 2013.
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).
