The Saint Vincent Bearcats scored on a 20-yard run by Shavonta Craft with 5:53 left in the fourth quarter to defeat the Geneva Golden Tornadoes by a score of 34-27 at Chuck Noll Field.
SVC got on the board on its first possession, taking over near midfield after a short Geneva punt. After moving the ball to the Geneva 23, quarterback Tyler Donahue ran the option, keeping the ball and running untouched into the end zone to put the Bearcats in front. Steven Scherer added the extra point, making it 7-0 with 10:49 left in the first quarter.
Later in the first, after another short punt, SVC had the ball at its own 40, and Donahue connected with DJ Oceant-Kelly, who made a diving catch at the Geneva 23 on the first play of the drive. Donahue did the rest, carrying the ball the remaining 23 yards on the next play to make the score 14-0 following the Scherer PAT.
The visitors started a drive late in the first quarter, completing it with 13:49 left in the 2nd, when Javid Ellis hit Colton Booher for a 4-yard touchdown pass. The extra point missed wide, leaving the score at 14-6.
With 6:22 left in the half, a Bearcat fumble gave Geneva the ball at their own 45, and two plays later Ellis reached Devin Kelosky with a 44-yard touchdown pass. The extra point by Neil Harrison made it 14-13.
After a Saint Vincent punt, Geneva took over at their own 20 with 3:40 left in the half, but the Bearcat defense came up with back-to-back sacks by Nick Nitowski and Andrew Geisler, pushing the ball all the way back to the 2-yard line. Geneva was forced to punt, and Darrell Burrell returned the ball to the Geneva 34, where the Bearcats took over possession with 1:35 remaining in the half. With just 11 seconds left, Donahue found Damon Black in the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass, putting SVC in front 20-13. The extra point was blocked.
After SVC was forced to punt on its first possession of the second half, Geneva put together a 7-play, 55-yard scoring drive, capped by a 27-yard run by Ellis. The PAT tied the game for the first time, 20-20, with 9:41 remaining in the third.
Saint Vincent started a drive at the end of the third quarter which carried over into the 4th, and was dominated by the ground game. Craft picked up 25 yards on a carry that moved the ball to the Geneva 13, and later took the ball the final yard into the end zone with 11:44 left in the 4th.
Geneva once again battled back, scoring on an 18-yard pass from Aaron Channing to Nick Cook from 18 yards out, tying the game at 27-27 with 7:09 remaining.
A personal foul penalty by Geneva after the extra point forced the Golden Tornadoes to kick off from their own 20, and SVC's David Butler fair caught the kick at the SVC 44 to start a Bearcat drive. Jhanard Dorsett ran for 14 yards on first down, moving the ball to the Geneva 42. Two plays later, Craft picked up 22 on a run, and then ran 20 more into the end zone on the next play, for what would prove to be the game-winning touchdown.
Geneva moved the ball to the Bearcat 41 on the next drive, but could not overcome a holding penalty on a criticial third-down play, and failed to convert on fourth down, turning the ball over on downs with 1:34 to go.
Geneva held the edge for the day in first downs (24-17) and total yards (423-392). Saint Vincent gained 244 yards on the ground compared to 135 for Geneva.
Donahue led the offense with 135 yards rushing on 24 carries, while going 10-15 for 148 yards through the air. Craft gained 89 yards on 16 carries. Craft was also the leading receiver, with 3 catches for 27 yards. Oceant-Kelly had 2 receptions for 77 yards, while Derek Yanosick and Damon Black had 2 catches each.
On special teams, Annuel Jean-Baptiste had a pair of kickoff returns for 73 yards.
Defensively, Joey Milhomme had 7 tackles, while Nitowski, Cody Henry, Matt McCarthy, Geisler and Brett Capobianco had 6 tackles each.
Saint Vincent is now 4-5 overall, 3-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Geneva falls to 2-7, 1-6 in the PAC.
Bearcats earn 34-27 victory over Geneva
/seasons/2015/boxscores/20151107_fds0.xml
2015
Geneva
27
St. Vincent
34
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geneva (2-7) | 0 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 27 |
| St. Vincent (4-5) | 14 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 34 |
Nov 07, 2015