W&J puts win on ice against Geneva
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Andrew Wolf has a knack for catching touchdown passes for Washington & Jefferson.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Joey Koroly (24) and Andrew Wolf (89) celebrate Koroly's third-quarter touchdown Thursday night against Geneva.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
W&J’s Joey Koroly (24) missed last season’s game against Westminster and is eager to play against the Titans Saturday.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington & Jefferson's Andrew Wolf sweeps around a Geneva defender to return a punt late in the first half on a snow-covered Cameron Stadium field Thursday night.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Running back Joey Koroly scored his third touchdown of the season against Bethany last week.
Andrew Wolf
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Washington & Jefferson wide receiver Andrew Wolf emerges from the pile in the end zone after hauling in a Justin Heacock pass at the end of the second quarter to give the Presidents a 13-6 lead over Geneva at Cameron Stadium.
The weather outside was nasty. Temperatures fell into the 20s, snow flakes filled the air around Cameron Stadium and the wind sliced through you like razor blades.
But if it affected Washington & Jefferson, the Presidents didn’t show it.
Senor wide receiver Andrew Wolf caught two more touchdown passes, including a 38-yarder with no time on the clock in the first half to help the Presidents grab their second win in as many games, 20-6, over Geneva in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game on April Fools Day.
“The weather is the greatest equalizer of talent there is,” said Washington & Jefferson head coach Mike Sirianni. “We were playing on turf. The balls weren’t wet. If Geneva doesn’t fumble, and put the ball on the ground, they are a good football team. If they do, then they are not a good football team.
“Look, we have a long way to go to get better. This is a process. We want to carry this over to next season. That’s our goal. It’s a process and we are two steps through it.”
Geneva quarterback Amos Luptak, a W&J transfer, nearly pulled off the impossible and beat his old school.
Before leaving in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a concussion, Luptak rushed for 115 yards on 28 carries out of Geneva’s triple-option offense.
His one-yard touchdown run with 48 seconds before halftime tied the game at 6-6. But that was too much time for quarterback Justin Heacock and Wolf. The two connected for a back-breaking 38-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock before halftime.
Wolf, coming off an 8-catch, 112-yard, two-touchdown performance in last week’s 66-0 rout of rival Waynesburg, caught five passes for 51 yards and the two touchdowns.
“I’ve got to do a better job,” said Sirianni. “They doubled Andrew the whole game and he’s such a big part of our (game) plan, I didn’t do a good enough job adjusting to not having him.”
Heacock had an ordinary game, completing 13 of 23 passes for 149 yards and the two TDs to Wolf. He missed Wolf down the left sideline for what could have been another score in the first half.
Junior running back Joey Koroly, a Trinity High School graduate, had a tremendous game. He rushed 22 times for 138 yards and scored the final touchdown of the game on a 17-yard run with 3:43 remaining in the third quarter.
Luptak and Boston Tafelski, who came in as a replacement when Luptak went down, combined for two completions of six passes for 24 yards. Both receptions went to Blake Peet.
“You can’t put the ball on the ground in our offense,” said Geneva head coach Geno DeMarco. “Our offense is controlling the football and controlling the clock. We didn’t do either of that. Defensively, you can’t give up a big play at the end of the half like that and hope to win the game.”
Geneva fumbled the ball seven times and lost three. The offense had 205 total yards but only six points.
Gary Weaver and Dakota Allen each had 10 tackles for Geneva. Alex Bellinotti had a game-high 11 tackles for W&J.