Geneva ran for 538 yards in defeating visiting Chagrin Falls, 48-33, in the season finale for both teams on Friday.
With the win, the 4-6 Eagles doubled their win total from last year and generated plenty of positive momentum heading into the offseason.
“Our guys came out and were challenged to play hard,” Geneva coach Chip Sorber said. “We told them it’s Week 10. It’s a gut check. This is all about pride and a gut check and they bought into it. They got a good taste in their mouth to last for the offseason.”
Quarterback Kyle Stark and fullback Charlie Taylor did most of the damage for the Eagles.
Stark finished with 242 yards and four touchdowns on just 18 carries while Taylor rushed 16 times for 132 yards and two scores.
“Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, so to speak,” Sorber said. “Between the two of those guys, they did a great job. Kyle did a good job of checking us into good plays tonight. He was able to read the defense and get us into good plays and we executed.”
The Eagles led 13-6 after the first quarter and 26-13 at halftime. Geneva pushed its lead to 34-13 after the third and led 48-13 midway through the fourth quarter before the Tigers closed out the game with 20 unanswered points.
“They could not stop our run game at all and they couldn’t run real well but they did have some success throwing the ball a little bit,” Sorber said. “They just couldn’t stop our run game at all. We scored on every possession except for one when we fumbled.”
Chagrin Falls finished with 273 yards through the air and Mick Lawrence ran for 171 yards and a touchdown for the Tigers. Sean Cusack completed 20-of-34 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns. Lawrence caught four of those passes for 121 yards.
The Eagles and Tigers tied for second place in the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division.
Geneva returns 18 of 22 starters next season.
“Our JVs were 7-3 and our freshmen were 8-1,” Sorber said. “We’ve got a good thing going. It’s just taken a while to get some classes stacked up back to back. We had to go through some rough patches.”
