MOGADORE–An evening of penalties and turnovers doomed Geneva in a 49-20 loss at Mogadore on Friday.
The Eagles fumbled away the opening kickoff, which led to Mogadore taking a 7-0 lead on a Gavin Christy touchdown run 12 seconds later.
Geneva got on the scoreboard later in the quarter following a sequence of runs by Blake Peet, Kyle Stark and Justin Way. Peet weaved his way through the Mogadore defense and into the end zone but a low snap left the Eagles down, 7-6.
“We had self-inflicted wounds all night long,” said Geneva coach Chip Sorber. “We couldn’t snap the ball.”
Geneva’s defense also had trouble stopping the Wildcats.
Mogadore quickly answered Geneva’s score with a touchdown pass from Luke Rosato to Eli Robertson to push the Wildcat lead to 13-6.
Geneva lost another fumble but this time the Eagles stopped Mogadore on 4th-and-1 but the offense sputtered and a shanked punt left Mogadore with a short field to work with.
Troy Ferguson scored to make it 21-6 and Mogadore added another score before halftime.
Adding to their woes, the Eagles racked up nine penalties in the first 24 minutes.
“We couldn’t cover the ball,” Sorber said. “We couldn’t cover in critical times.”
Ferguson’s second touchdown run gave the Wildcats a 35-6 lead in the third quarter but this time the Eagles responded.
It started with Vinny Varckette’s long kickoff return that set Geneva up deep in Mogadore territory.
Charlie Taylor would break a 29-yard touchdown run to pull the Eagles to with 35-12.
“My guys blocked really well, so I took it,” Taylor said. “If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t have gotten it.”
Mogadore scored two more rushing touchdowns to make it 49-12.
Taylor added a second touchdown run and the Eagles converted a two-point conversion to close out the scoring.
“We need to work better as a team,” Taylor said. “We need to communicate and hold the ball.”
Geneva hosts Kirtland on Sept. 7.
