Strong Defense Leads to a 29-10 Carnegie Mellon Victory at Geneva

(BEAVER FALLS, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team traveled to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Saturday, October 15 to play the Golden Tornadoes of Geneva College and walked away with a 29-10 victory in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest. The Tartans are now 3-3 and 3-2 in PAC play while Geneva moves to 2-4, 1-3.

Carnegie Mellon held Geneva to 102 yards of total offense which is the lowest total output by a Tartan opponent since holding Thiel to 140 yards in 2006. All 102 yards came by way of the ground, as the Golden Tornadoes attempted six passes with the Tartans recording two sacks.

Neil Harrison's 27-yard field goal at the seven-minute mark of the first quarter put the Golden Tornadoes on top 3-0 early in the contest.

Carnegie Mellon took a 7-3 lead on a 1-yard run by junior running back Sam Benger (Hingham, Mass.) with two minutes left in the first quarter. Benger's score capped off a 10-play, 64-yard drive.

Sophomore quarterback Alex Cline (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) found junior Tommy Mansfield (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) in the middle of the end zone on the 13th play of a 75-yard drive to extend the Tartans lead. With four minutes to play in the half, the 5-yard touchdown strike gave the Tartans a 14-3 lead.
    
Senior placekicker Gabe Renna (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) pushed the Tartans lead to 17-3 with 8:32 to play in the third quarter on a 35-yard field goal.

Geneva answered on its next possession and cut the deficit in half. Golden Tornado quarterback Devin Kelosky scored on a 2-yard option run to make the score 17-10.

The Tartans scored twice within a 20-second span to make the score 27-10 with 11:14 to play in the contest. Renna started the scoring with a 30-yard field goal with 11:34 to play.

On Geneva's first play on the ensuing possession, sophomore Long Tran (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) recovered a fumble on the Golden Tornadoes 26-yard line. The next play, Cline connected with junior wide receiver Alex Froimzon (Hollywood, Fla./Scheck Hillel Community School) to all but seal the Tartan victory.

A late safety on a ball snapped out of the end zone by Geneva made the final score 29-10.

The Tartans totaled 343 yards of offense with Cline throwing for 206 yards on 16-of-31 and two touchdowns. Froimzon recorded a career-high 81 yards receiving on four catches to lead the Tartan receivers. Benger carried the ball 30 times for 118 yards and a score in the win.

The defense was led by junior Stanley Bikulege (Greer, S.C./Saint Joseph's Catholic) who tabbed nine tackles and recovered a fumble. Junior outside linebacker Kyle Brittain (Largo, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic) also recovered a fumble while recording eight tackles, six solo, and a sack.

Carnegie Mellon returns home on Saturday, October 22 for a 1:00 p.m. contest against Thiel College.