Men’s football team steps on the Golden Flyers in NCAA match-up

Photo courtesy of Joe Calomeni/Pexels, Edited by photo editor Cassandra Cramer

The Knights’ offense was so unstoppable Saturday night that Nazareth is still trying to figure out whose turn it was to tackle. Geneseo’s 108-point explosion has officially been classified as a “track meet with occasional football interruptions.”

This past weekend on Mar. 21, the Knights’ men’s football team emerged victorious in their semi-finals National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) match-up against Nazareth. The game took place on home turf late Saturday night and was certainly a show of talent. The men’s football team came out on top with a score of 108 to 17, a staggering win in all regards, leaving Nazareth reeling. 

In the first quarter of the game, senior quarterback Jeremy Johnson started the game with a bang, running in a touchdown by himself within the first two minutes of the game on the first down. Following in his teammates' lead on the second down, junior wide receiver Andre White made it 35 yards before being taken out by the defense. White opened up the gate for senior running back Grayson Sinclair to hand the ball to Johnson, who made another touchdown. The team made it to their fourth down without even achieving 10 yards before junior kicker John Ball made an incredible 50-yard field goal, bringing the score to an unbelievable 17-0 within the first half hour of the game. 

Once it was Nazareth’s turn to take the offensive side, the Knights did not relent and managed to block Nazareth’s first three attempts to make it to the endzone. However, on their third attempt, Nazareth’s quarterback managed to sneak through the Knights’ defense and achieved 25 yards. Unfazed, the Knights managed to stop Nazareth’s offense’s final two attempts. 

Entering the second quarter, the Knights remained on fire, scoring an incredible four touchdowns within the first down, achieving an all-time school record. The first two touchdowns were completed by none other than sophomore substitute running back Jaysen Mead in one of his first appearances at a collegiate level. The third was attained by Johnson, and the fourth by White. This left Nazareth scrambling to re-arrange their defense, which worked momentarily until the fourth down. On the fourth down, the Knights’ head coach called a timeout and substituted their senior quarterback Johnson for sophomore quarterback Timothy David. David started his performance with another two touchdowns made possible by White’s and Mead’s assists. 

Nazareth eventually recovered and blocked the Knights’ last attempt, leaving their offense to deal with the extreme score differential. The Knights’ defense managed to block the first two attempts of Nazareth’s offense, but were caught off guard by their third, which led to Nazareth’s first touchdown. However, the Knights were able to put a stop to Nazareth’s third attempt. Leading into Nazareth’s fourth down, they managed to secure a field goal, leading the final score at the end of the second quarter to 59-10.

Arriving in the third quarter, the Knights felt confident that there were still more points to be scored. David assisted Mead in reaching the end zone twice within the first zone, another staggering quarter entry performance. Leading into the second down, Coach Sinclair substituted White with junior wide receiver Cody Lance. Lance and Mead assisted David in putting up another staggering three touchdowns on the scoreboard, leaving Nazareth heavily discouraged. However, Nazareth managed to block the Knights’ last three attempts to the endzone with a new strategy in their defense. 

With Nazareth’s offense now entering its time to score, they did not disappoint on the first down, managing to evade the Knights’ defense and score their second touchdown of the night. Nonetheless, the Knights did not allow it to become a third and stopped their last four attempts of the third quarter. This left the final score of the third quarter at 94-17. 

Reaching the fourth and final quarter, the Knights were certainly feeling confident, and they demonstrated it with their performance on the first down. Within the first few seconds of the first down, Mead zipped by Nazareth’s defense and passed the ball to Lance, who managed to make it to the endzone. This led to Nazareth’s head coach Nick Berty switching out the entire defense to hopefully put a stop to the Knights’ dominant performance. The substitution managed to hold the Knights off until the fourth down. A few seconds into the fourth down, David pulled off an amazing trick play with a pump fake throw. David made it about five yards to the end zone before he was blocked by the defense, but this was not the end of the Knights’ scoring streak. Davis proceeded to somersault through the defense's legs to score the Knights’ final touchdown. 

This brings us to Nazareth’s last chance to put some more points up on the board. Nazareth’s offense managed to make it 20 yards on the first down, helping them regain their confidence. Nevertheless, the Knights crushed any chances of Nazareth regaining any further ground by blocking their next four attempts at the end zone, leading to the final score of the NCAA semi-final matchup between Nazareth and the Knights to be 108-17. 

The Knights have remained dominant throughout their entire season this spring and it shows that their hard work is paying off. The win on Saturday night is most certainly marked by David’s final touchdown, which had a creative flair that most football fans have never seen before. The Knights’ victory allows them to move on to the championship game that will take place on Mar. 28 at Fredonia. If the Knights can uphold their crushing dominance, there is no doubt they will crush Fredonia in the championship round.