Geneva College (1-0) @ Saint Vincent College (0-1)
September 12, 2009
2:00 pm - Chuck Noll Field
Latrobe, PA
After opening the 2008 season with only one victory in its first six games, the Geneva College football team has already put one in the win column after a 41-28 victory over Frostburg State in the 2009 season opener at Reeves Field. The Golden Tornadoes will look for win number two this Saturday as they hit the road for the first time and visit Saint Vincent College for the first of two meetings between the schools this year. Saint Vincent will be looking for its first victory of the year after dropping a 52-37 decision to McDaniel in week one of the 2009 season.
Saint Vincent is beginning its third season under head coach Bob Colbert since the rebirth of Bearcat football in 2007. It is not been easy going for Colbert and Saint Vincent with a mark of 1-19 in the first two years. The Golden Tornadoes have taken care of the Bearcats in the last two years by scores of 56-27 and 42-19. In last year′s victory, Geneva picked up 242 yards rushing that included a 106 yard effort from Matt Barge.
Geneva′s offense got rolling in the right direction in the season opener by racking up 276 total yards. Junior quarterback David Girardi completed 19-32 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown as he began his third year leading the Geneva offense. Gerard Muschette led the ground game with 68 yards on 15 carries. The story of the season opener was Geneva′s opportunistic defense which posted a pair of touchdowns itself. Brian Wilson scored on a 23 yard fumble return and Rich Kolesar scored on a 97 yard interception return, the second longest such return in school history.
It was a similar story for Saint Vincent in its 2009 opener. The Bearcats racked up over 400 yards of total offense, but the defense surrendered nearly as much. Saint Vincent fell behind 49-23 after three quarters before outscoring McDaniel 14-3 in the final quarter. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Corona threw for 265 yards on 13-24 before Jake Smith took over and finished the game going 6-10 for 77 yards. The Bearcats only managed 59 yards on the ground while surrendering a pair of fumbles in the opener.
Geneva and Saint Vincent will meet twice in 2009. They will hook up in Beaver Falls on October 24th complete the season series. It marks the first time since dropping a pair of games to Youngstown State in 1942 that Geneva will be playing the same team twice during the regular season. Prior to renewing their rivalry in 2007, Geneva and Saint Vincent had not met on the football field since a 28-0 Golden Tornadoes victory back in 1962. Geneva maintains a 7-4-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1930.
The Golden Tornadoes will enjoy their only bye week of the season following their tilt in Latrobe. Geneva will be back on the field on September 26th to host Thiel College at 7 pm. As for Saint Vincent, the Bearcats will host Westminster College a week from Saturday at 1 pm.
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