PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The injury-depleted Geneva College football team knew it had a tough task ahead of itself when the Golden Tornadoes traveled to first place and undefeated Carnegie Mellon on Saturday night, and the Tartan were too tough in shutting out the Golden Tornadoes 41-0. Geneva dropped to 1-6 overall, 1-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while CMU improved to 8-0, 6-0 in the PAC.
Geneva received the opening kickoff and drove into CMU territory before a fumble ended the promising drive. The Tartan converted the turnover into seven points on a long touchdown drive to get on the board first.
Things really went awry in the second quarter. CMU scored 27 points to break the game open, as the Geneva offense struggled against the top ranked defense in the PAC. CMU took a 34-0 lead into the break.
CMU took advantage of another Geneva turnover midway through the third quarter to finish out the scoring with a short touchdown drive. The fourth quarter provided an opportunity for both teams to get a number of reserves some playing time.
The yardage difference in the game wasn't as drastic as the score might indicate. Geneva finished with 218 yards of total offense, while CMU finished with 354 yards of total offense. Junior Hilton McClain Jr. had another big game, this third straight 100-yard receiving game. He caught six passes for 110 yards. Sophomore Desmond Lewis led the rushing attack with 46 yards on the ground. Sophomore Ray Richard had a career-high 11 tackles to lead the defense.
"We played a very good football team who played an almost flawless game," said Head Coach Geno DeMarco. "I'm proud of the resolve of our guys, especially in the second half. It's hard to compete with a great team when you've been decimated by injuries, but we'll be back."
Geneva will try to get back on track next Saturday when the Golden Tornadoes host Bethany on Reeves Field at 7:00 p.m.
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).
