November 12, 2011 - Geneva College
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November 12, 2011

Picture of November 12, 2011

New Wilmington, PA - In one of the longest running football series′ in the country, Geneva and Westminster hooked up for the 114th time on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Tornadoes closed out the 2011 season by knocking off the Titans for the seventh time in the last nine meetings with a 23-10 decision. The victory salvaged what was an overall disappointing season as Geneva won its final two games for a record of 4-6. It was only the fourth losing season in the 19 year tenure of head coach Geno DeMarco but Saturday′s victory pushed DeMarco′s record to 7-4 all-time against long time rival Westminster.

"We have struggled through much of this season," said DeMarco. "This group showed an amazing amount of character and the desire that I knew each of them had within their hearts. Our guys are finally understanding what this game means and it is a great feeling to end the season on such a high note."

In a defensive struggle for much of the afternoon, Geneva′s much maligned defense did not allow a Westminster touchdown as the only score came by the Titan defense on a fumble recovery and return in the third quarter. Geneva put up the only first half points with a Bryan Visingardi 36 yard field goal late in the first quarter for the first of three field goals in the game.

Westminster tied the game in the third and then took its only lead of the game on a 65 yard fumble recovery. The Golden Tornadoes quickly responded with a 12 play, 80 yard drive capped off by an eight yard touchdown reception to Rocco Colavecchia from Zack Hayward. The reception was the only one of the day for Colavecchia, who enjoyed a career rushing day from the quarterback position. He finished the afternoon with 185 yards rushing on 27 carries.

Visingardi connected on two more field goals in the fourth quarter sandwiched around a 20 yard touchdown reception from Hayward to Jordan Curry to put the game away. The Golden Tornadoes finished the game by scoring 20 unanswered points.

Colavecchia completed one pass for 15 yards while also pulling in the one touchdown reception to go along with his 185 yards of rushing offense. Hayward completed 14-23 for 125 yards and a pair of scores in Geneva′s effective two-quarterback system. Senior Tyler Jodon pulled in five catches for a team best 46 yards.

Dillon Goodell led the defense with seven tackles while Kevin Miranda and Solomon Hejirika each had six tackles and a sack to help Geneva′s defense to its best effort of the season. The Golden Tornadoes held Westminster to only ten first downs and 166 yards of total offense. Meanwhile, Geneva posted close to 400 yards of offense in what turned out to be its most complete game of the season.

Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).

Nov 12, 2011