October 6, 2008 - Geneva College
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October 6, 2008

Picture of October 6, 2008

Geneva College (1-3)

vs.

Grove City College (3-2)

October 11, 2008 - 1:30 pm

When Geneva travels to Grove City on Saturday the Wolverines may be a sight the Golden Tornadoes want to see. After taking one on the chin 43-14 last Saturday against W & J, a trip to Grove City might do Geneva well. After all the Wolverines are the team that the Golden Tornadoes mangaged to beat last season in an exciting 13-12 victory in Beaver Falls. However, this is a new season and the one thing both teams have in common will be that each of them will be glad they are done with the Presidents.

Offensively Geneva will be looking to keep its running game on track. The Golden Torandoes have gone over 100 rushing yards in each of the last two games. Junior running back Matt Dean is coming off of his best performance of the season when last Saturday he rushed for 77 yards on only sixcarries. Geneva will try to take advantage of a Grove City defense that has given up an average of 149 rushing yards per game. The Golden Tornadoes will be looking to improve their passing game against Grove City. One positive thing they can look at is that sophomore quarterback David Girardi has found a new favorite target lately in the form of senior tight end Adam Chatlos. Chatlos has seven receptions in the past two games. Geneva had better be on-guard against the Wolverine secondary because they have intercepted nine passes this season. Senior safety Zach Fullmer leads the Grove City defense with four interceptions.

The Grove City offense is lead by junior quarterback Andrew DiDonato and his 840 passing yards. However, when the Golden Tornado defense lines up it may seem like they are playing Mercer instead of Grove City. That is because the Wolverine offense has senior running back Brian Mercer and senior wide receiver Stephen Mercer. They may not be related but they have a lot in common. Brian leads the team in rushing with 333 yards and Stephen leads the team in receiving with 31 receptions and 281 yards. Stephen has 21 more receptions than any of his Wolverine teammates. After giving up 334 passing yards against Washington & Jefferson, the Geneva secondary will be looking to right the ship against Grove City. Senior linebacker Zach Feltrop continues to lead the way for the Golden Tornadoes defense with his team leading 41 tackles.

In last season′s exciting 13-12 victory Geneva was led by Matt Dean′s 93 rushing yards on 15 carries and then senior Bobby Bondi′s 178 passing yards. Brian Mercer paced Grove City with 101 rushing yards on 17 carries. The kickers were kept busy in last year′s meeting as there was four field goals and 11 punts between the two teams. Geneva′s Nick DiPietro nailed a pair of clutch kicks to help pace the Geneva victory. The Golden Tornadoes continue to lead the season series at 40-32-7 in the first 79 meetings between the two rivals. The series started all the way back in 1893. The last time the Wolverines beat Geneva was in 1979 and even that was close with the final score being 26-25.

Next week, the Golden Tornadoes will come back home to face Waynesburg University for a 7 pm kickoff against the Wolverines. Grove City will also stay at home next week to battle Thomas More in another PAC match-up.

Oct 6, 2008