Sept. 29, 2007

Final Stats

Beaver Falls, PA - The Explorer defense had a stellar performance but the offense coughed up a pair of fumbles that were returned for touchdowns and the Explorers were penalized 13 times for 88 yard as La Salle University (0-4) dropped a 29-7 loss to Geneva College (3-1) on Saturday afternoon at Reeves Field.

After going scoreless for the first 15 minutes and one second of play Geneva's Nick DiPietro nailed a 28-yard field goal to open up scoring.  The kick capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive that was aided by an Explorer off-sides call with the Golden Tornadoes trying to convert on fourth and three on the Explorer 38 yard line.

Matters got worse at the end of the half when junior quarterback Chris Hanson (Southampton, PA/Archbishop Wood) fumbled while scrambling.  Jamaur Law scooped the ball up and took it 30 yards for the score.  After DiPietro's extra point the Golden Tornadoes led 10-0 with 4:59 to play in the half.

The Explorer offense, which was held to negative yardage of total offense for most of the half, finally put a drive together to end the half but had that thwarted when Dave Macknet (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield) fought for extra yardage after a first down carry that took the Explorers inside the Geneva 40 yard line, but was stripped of the ball which was returned 63 yards by Brian Wilson for another touchdown.  With the extra point Geneva was able to take a 17-0 lead into the locker room. 

Geneva scored twice in the second half to extend the lead to 29-0 but freshman Steve Panasuk (Toms River, NJ/New Egypt) was able to put the Explorers on the board when he engineered a 10 play, 57 yard drive which ended with him hitting senior tight end John McVey (Langhorne, PA/Notre Dame) in the end zone on fourth and six.

Panasuk threw for 115 yards in just over a quarter of play after coming into the game in relief of Hanson.

The Explorer defense held Geneva to 100 yards below their season average with 247 yards and had two sacks, and interception, nine tackles for lose and five pass break-ups but were counterbalanced by the 13 penalties and five turnovers.

Sophomore Stephant'e Kent (Atlantic City, NJ/Atlantic City) led the Explorers with eight tackles while junior linebacker Casey Walsh had 3.5 tackles but broke up two passes, had a tackle for loss and intercepted a pass.

The Explorers return to action with a MAAC Football League match-up against Iona on Saturday, October 5^th at 1:00 PM at McCarthy Stadium.  Live video of the game will be available on GoExplorers.com All-Access.