Nov 1, 2014 4 min read

Beating Washington & Jefferson College’s football team is difficult enough when the Presidents are playing up to their abilities.

When they are making circus catches, breaking off long gains and swarming on defense, it’s nearly impossible.

Geneva found that out on a raw Saturday afternoon at Cameron Stadium.

Dan Lis showed the Golden Tornado what type of day it was going to be early on when he made a one-handed catch in the end zone four minutes and Jesse Zubik used his 4.47 speed in the 40-yard dash for two touchdowns to lead the Presidents to a 51-12 victory in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.

The victory moved the undefeated and 15th-ranked Presidents (6-0, 8-0) into position to clinch the PAC automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs with a win at Thiel (2-4, 3-5) Saturday.

Geneva fell to 2-6, including 1-5 in the conference.

It was Lis, a graduate of Chartiers-Houston High School, who got things going when he reached up with his left hand and hauled in a Pete Coughlin pass in the end zone.

“And I’m not even left-handed,” said Lis, who had a game-high 7 catches for 89 yards. “I feel I can catch the ball better with my left hand. Two weeks ago, I had one against Bethany for a first down. Our coach always yells at us to keep two hands on the ball, so if we want to practice that, we’d have to come out early.”

Coughlin finished with 281 passing yards on 19 completions of 28 attempts. He also rushed for 65 yards on six carries.

Zubik meanwhile provided two touchdowns that helped turn the game into a rout. He snagged a 16-yard pass from Coughlin in the first quarter and turned a five-yard mini-post pattern into an 80-yard touchdown that gave W&J a 44-0 lead with 10:27 remaining in the third quarter.

“On the first touchdown, we were in the red zone and they manned up,” said Zubik. “I just made a play on the ball. On the second one, I just turned on the jets. That has to be the longest touchdown I’ve had, but I’m not real sure.”

Zubik had just three receptions but two went for touchdowns and a third covered five yards that set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Coughlin to Max Creighan that made it 37-0 at halftime.

“The first half, we played really well,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “We did a lot of good things on offense.”

The second half was devoted to running clock and keeping the ball on the ground. W&J ran 79 offensive plays and piled up 582 total yards, including 282 on the ground.

Tailback Ryan Ruffing, who was a game-time decision because of a slight leg injury, rushed for 113 yards on 18 carries in a little more than a half. W&J had nine ballcarriers, including Alex Rowse, whose one carry resulted in a 52-yard touchdown.

“I think that’s the best W&J team we’ve played against in the last eight years,” said Geneva head coach Geno DeMarco.

W&J’s first team defense held Geneva to 45 total yards in the first half and allowed two touchdowns in the second half after wholesale changes were made.

Defensive end Jon Turner had 9 tackles, 3 1/2 quarterback sacks and a quarterback hit. Turner has 9 1/2 sacks in his career, seven short of the school record of 17, shared by Mike Brooder (1994) and Shawn McGhee (1993).

“We have a lot of young players on defense so we have something to prove,” Turner said. “It’s our job to get to the quarterback and try to get turnovers. Last week, we didn’t play up to our potential (in a 34-24 win over Case Western Reserve). The coaches talked to us about it this week. There was Homecoming and a lot of distractions. We had a good week of practice and we played well.”

The defense produced a safety with 1:05 left in the half when linebacker Jared Pratt tackled running back Ryan Mosura in the end zone after a handoff. Pratt had two interceptions, but only one stood. His second one which he returned to the Geneva 3-yard line was wiped out on a W&J penalty.

Notes

Bryce Merrill had 12 tackles and Ryan Torrance 11 for the Presidents. Torrance also forced a fumble. … Mosura had a 2-yard run and Nick Cook an 11-yard scamper to account for Geneva’s touchdown. … W&J’s 282 rushing yards were the most since the 321 in a Week 1 win over Wooster