Box Score

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Thiel football squad suffered a 50-31 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) loss to Geneva College Saturday afternoon at Reeves Field.

The Golden Tornadoes (3-6, 3-4) piled up 409 yards of offense Saturday as they finished with 177 yards rushing and 232 yards passing. Geneva managed to convert on 11-of-15 (73.3%) third-down opportunities and scored on each of its six trips into the Tomcat red zone.

Rocco Collavecchia paced the Golden Tornadoes offensively, rushing for 110 yards and a pair of scores on 22 carries while completing 5-of-8 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown. Zach Hayward completed 12-of-20 passes for 137 yards and two scores.

Corey O'Patchen collected three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown and Alex Mack totaled three catches for 57 yards and two scores.
Solomon Hejirika had a game-high 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble for Geneva. Scott Erb and Dillon Goodell each had seven tackles in the win.

Thiel (0-8, 0-6) totaled 256 yards (144 rushing, 112 passing) but were able to convert on only 5-of-13 (38.5%) third-down attempts.

De'Von Drish (Bratenahl, Ohio/Ginn Academy) continued to impress as he ran for 90 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Drish is the first Tomcat to score three rushing touchdowns in a single game since Dan Hess found pay dirt on three occasions against Grove City College at Alumni Stadium on Oct. 1, 2006.

Tim Taylor (Girard, Pa./Erie Cathedral Prep) had another tremendous individual performance against Geneva as he totaled 4.5 sacks, tying his career high. His 18.0 tackles for loss this season rank second only to Will Haase's 19.5 during the 2008 season while his 9.0 sacks are tied for fourth.

Taylor also broke in to the Tomcats' top five in career tackles for loss Saturday with 40.0.

Jared Soell (Oakmont, Pa./Riverview) finished 10-of-24 passing for 100 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Soell also rushed 11 times for 40 yards. Matt Fedzen (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic) had perhaps his most productive day as a Tomcat, finishing with four catches for 45 yards and a score. Drish and Nate Blazevich (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) each added two catches.

Tom Thorpe (Charleroi, Pa./Charleroi) and Ethan Ludwig (East Liverpool, Ohio/East Liverpool) each finished with nine stops, respectively. Julian McLean (Clairton, Pa./Clairton) added eight while Wes Schmidt (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) totaled six and a tackle for loss.

Sparks flew as the first quarter got underway with McLean returning the opening kick 78 yards to the Golden Tornadoes 1-yard line. Drish dove in on the next play, and following a Cody McLelland extra point, the Tomcats jumped out in front 7-0 with just under a minute gone by.

Geneva did not want to be left out of the early action as AJ Delmonico returned the ensuing Tomcat kick 80 yards for the score. Bryan Visingardi's extra point was good and with just 1:07 gone in the first the Golden Tornadoes tied the game at 7-7.

Geneva needed only two plays on their following drive to punch it in as Hayward connected with Mack from 27 yards out to give the host Golden Tornadoes a 14-7 advantage.

Geneva pushed its lead to 21-7 early in the second as Collavecchia scored from five yards out to cap a 12-play, 95-yard drive that took 5:15 off of the clock.

Drish carried the ball five times during the next Tomcat offensive possession and his scoring run from six yards out with just over ten minutes to play in the second gave him his second touchdown of the day and trimmed the Geneva lead to seven, 21-14.

Geneva extended its lead to 28-14 on a Hayward-to-Mack seven-yard touchdown score with 6:56 to go in the half and carried the 14-point lead into the break.

The Golden Tornadoes scored on their opening second half drive with O'Patchen scoring on a Collavecchia pass for 39 yards out with 12:56 remaining in the third. The extra point was no good and Geneva saw its lead balloon to 37-14.

A Soell interception on the following Tomcat drive set Geneva up at its own seven. After a rush for no gain by Dom Saragusa on first down Taylor hauled Hayward down in the Golden Tornado end zone for the safety and cutting Geneva's lead to 21, 37-16.

Thiel used the short field following the safety to its advantage, with the eight-play, 55-yard drive culminating with a Soell-to-Fedzen 10-yard touchdown with just under five minutes to play in the third. The score brought Thiel back to within 13, 37-24.

Hayward and Collavecchia combined on the following drive for Geneva as they put together a 10-play, 39-yard drive that was capped by a Visingardi 37-yard field goal with just over a minute remaining in the third period to extend the lead to 40-24.

Collavecchia called his own number from three yards out early in the fourth to give the Golden Tornadoes a 47-24 advantage, but the hard charging Tomcats responded on the next series. Drish scored from seven yards out with 9:11 remaining to bring Thiel to within 16, 47-31.

Visingardi's 38-yard field goal with 1:20 to go closed out the scoring with the Golden Tornadoes pushing their lead to the eventual final of 50-31.

Thiel will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 5 when they travel to PAC rival Washington & Jefferson College. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Cameron Stadium.