LATROBE, Pa. – The Geneva College football team couldn't sustain the momentum from its Homecoming victory over Allegheny last weekend, falling at Saint Vincent on Saturday afternoon, 41-25, with turnovers proving costly for the Golden Tornadoes. Geneva is now 1-5 overall, 1-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent improved to 2-4, 2-2 in the PAC.
The first quarter is the quarter Geneva is going to look back with regret. The Golden Tornadoes drove inside the Saint Vincent 10-yard line three times but only came away with three points. One drive ended with a fumble, while a second drive ended when Geneva was stopped at the 1-yard line on fourth down.
Saint Vincent was the first to get into the endzone midway through the first quarter, and on Geneva's fourth trip inside the Bearcat 10-yard line early in the second quarter, the Golden Tornadoes finally punched it in on a 4-yard touchdown run from freshman
Logan Kent (Johnstown, Pa./Conemaugh Valley).
The Bearcats answered with a long touchdown drive of its own to retake the lead, 14-10. Geneva responded with another scoring drive, aided by a long pass to junior
Hilton McClain Jr. (Belle Glade, Fla./Royal Palm Beach), with sophomore
Josh Syster (Clymer, Pa./Purchaseline) running it in from eight yards away to give the Golden Tornadoes the lead back, 17-14.
Saint Vincent managed one last scoring drive in the half, though, coming on a short touchdown pass to take a 21-17 lead into the halftime break.
Nothing really went well for Geneva in the second half. The Golden Tornadoes committed three turnovers, and the lone score was a 5-yard touchdown run by Syster with Geneva trailing 34-17. Saint Vincent's final score came on an errant pitch that the Bearcats recovered in the endzone, closing out the scoring in the 41-25 Bearcat win.
Geneva actually outgained Saint Vincent in the game, 417-410, but the Golden Tornadoes lost the turnover battle, 4-0. Syster led the ground game with career-high 139 yards on 27 attempts, along with the two touchdowns. McClain Jr. finished with a career-high 161 yards receiving, while sophomore quarterback
Brutus Ogilvie (Salem, Ohio/United) threw for a career-high 235 yards. Sophomore
Gabe Trexler (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) led the defense with 11 tackles.
"It's very hard to win a league game when we give the ball up four times," said Head Coach
Geno DeMarco. "And defensively, it's very hard to win games when we can't get three-and-outs. We are young and will learn. Hopefully it happens quickly, like before next Saturday at CMU."
Geneva will travel to first-place Carnegie Mellon next Saturday for a 7:00 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).
