GREENVILLE, Pa. (Sept. 27, 2008) – A week after standing toe-to-toe with Presidents' Athletic Conference heavyweight Washington & Jefferson, the Thiel College football team took a step backwards in a, 31-17, loss to Geneva College in front of a Homecoming crowd of 1,567 at Alumni Stadium.
The Thiel offense managed just 189 yards on the afternoon with all but 55 coming through the air, while the Golden Tornadoes rolled up 384 total yards, thanks to a stable of running backs led by Gerard Muschette.
Muschette ran for a game-high 126 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. Fellow Geneva back Matt Dean chipped in 34 yards and two scores on 12 carries.
Geneva jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first half, but Thiel closed its deficit to 14-10 just before the half on a blocked punt by Stephen Ruberto (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) which was recovered by Bryan Villegas (Spring Hill, Fla./Springstead) (Spring Hill, Fla./Springstead) who cashed in on a 32-yard touchdown run.
The Golden Tornadoes were able to recover any momentum gained by Thiel by scoring the first 10 points of the second half.
Thiel earned its second touchdown of the day on a nine-play, 53-yard drive set up by a Matt Joy (Coraopolis, Pa./Cornell) (Coraopolis, Pa./Cornell) interception. The scoring effort was capped off on a nine-yard toss from quarterback Willie Bova (Port Allegany, Pa./Port Allegany) (Port Allegany/Port Allegany) to fullback Jeremiah Wagner (Galeton, Pa./Coudersport) (Galeton, Pa./Coudersport).
Defensively, Thiel was once again paced by William Haase (Latrobe, Pa./Derry Area) (Latrobe, Pa./Derry Area). Haase, who is in the midst of a breakout year for the Tomcats, made 5.5 tackles, with four of them resulting in a loss. Villegas led both teams with 10.5 tackles.
Joy, in addition to his third-quarter pick, had an impressive day as a return man. The senior defensive back returned four kicks for 129 yards and two punts for 19 yards.
With the loss, Thiel fell to 0-4 (0-1 PAC) for the first time since 1995. The Tomcats hit the road next weekend when they visit Westminster for a 1:30 p.m. contest.
