BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College football team entered Saturday's game with W&J trying to extend its winning streak to four games in the regular season home finale for the Golden Tornadoes, but the Presidents proved too tough on Senior Day, winning 45-7. Geneva dropped to 4-5 overall, while W&J improved to 7-2.
Geneva recognized 13 seniors prior to the game who were participating in their last home game as Golden Tornadoes. W&J entered the game as the highest scoring team in the PAC, so the Geneva defense knew it would have its hands full while the offense knew it would need to score to keep pace. The Golden Tornadoes would also need to play well without a couple key starters on both offense and defense who were sidelined due to injury.
W&J opened the scoring on a 16-yard touchdown run five minutes into the game by Troy Volpatti, but the Geneva offense responded. The Golden Tornadoes put together exactly the type of drive they would need to produce to keep the high-scoring President offense off the field. Geneva marched 75 yards in 11 plays, using up over six minutes of game clock. Sophomore Logan Kent had a big 40-yard rush on the drive, and junior Darin Myers plunged in from one yard away to even the score at 7-7 late in the first quarter.
W&J answered back with two touchdown passes in the second quarter by quarterback Jacob Pugh, but Geneva tried to respond late in the half. The Golden Tornadoes recovered a muffed punt in W&J territory and drove down to the Presidents' 10-yardline with a minute remaining in the first half, but W&J picked off a pass from junior quarterback Brutus Ogilvie to allow the Presidents to take a 21-7 lead into the half, despite Geneva outgaining W&J by almost 20 yards in the first half.
Sophomore linebacker Reed Gordon forced a fumble on W&J's opening possession of the second half, which sophomore Luke Blasko recovered. Geneva was forced to punt on the following possession, though, and on W&J's next possession, Pugh hit John Peduzzi for a back-breaking 58-yard touchdown pass on first-and-20. The Golden Tornadoes could never recover from there, unable to get its offense back on track, losing 45-7.
Geneva finished with 174 yards rushing, led by Kent's 63 yards. The passing game struggled without senior wide receiver Hilton McClain Jr., generating just 30 yards total. W&J managed a balanced attack, with 217 yards rushing and 210 yards passing.
Defensively, senior Derrick Sneed led the team with 10 tackles, while sophomore Daniel Guzevich chipped in with nine stops. Junior Dave Hines also picked off a second-half pass for the Golden Tornadoes.
Geneva concludes its season next week with a road game at Westminster on Saturday, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. 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 the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).
