W&J Survives Geneva Challenge

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — The No. 11 Washington & Jefferson College football team erased a double-digit second half deficit to pick up a 24-20 victory at Geneva College in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game on Saturday. The win improves W&J to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in PAC play. Geneva, now 2-3 overall, 2-2 in the League, built a 14-0 first-quarter lead, thanks to two grinding drives led by QB Amos Luptak. The Presidents started their comeback with a26-yard scoring pass from Justin Heacock to Andrew Wolf early in the second quarter. After forcing a punt, W&J quickly moved inside the Geneva 10 but the drive stalled out and the Red & Black settled for a 22-yard Sean Disbrow field goal to pull within 14-10 at the half. The Golden Tornadoes scored early in the third on a 47-yard pass from Luptak to Payton Schell, their second TD connection. The PAT kick was wide ride, but Geneva led 20-10. W&J’s defense held the Beaver Falls squad to just four first downs over the final 24 minutes of the game.  On the Presidents’ next possession, EJ Thompson, filling in for an injured Joey Koroly, scampered in from nine yards out, to get W&J within a field goal. Wolf set up the go-ahead score, with a 26-yard punt return deep into Geneva territory.  Heacock found his favorite target in the back of the endzone for the 19-yard touchdown and W&J escaped with the win.