The Case Western Reserve University football team got off to a quick start for the third-straight game, rolling to a 56-14 win over Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon.
CWRU raised its record to 3-0 following the win, while Geneva dropped to 1-3 with the loss.
Senior wide receiver Ethan Dahlem had a big day for the Spartans, catching five passes for career highs with 160 yards and three touchdowns. For the second straight game, senior quarterback Alex Fromberg put up big numbers despite only seeing action in the first half. He completed 10-of-14 pass attempts for 185 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Senior wide receiver Noah Coyne added five catches for 61 yards and a score, while first-year Andy Kavcic was the team's leading rusher for the second game in a row, finishing with 79 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Defensively, graduate student linebacker Sean Torres led the team with seven tackles, while senior linebacker Ryan Cabrera, senior defensive lineman AJ Dudowski, junior linebacker Daniel King, and first-year defensive lineman Jack Tierney each recovered fumbles, as CWRU held a 4-0 edge in the turnover battle.
CWRU finished with a 477-314 edge in yards and possessed the ball for nearly 34 minutes, despite facing Geneva's run-heavy triple-option offense.
After forcing a three-and-out on Geneva's first drive of the game, senior defensive back Dominic Sais blocked a punt that was recovered by junior defensive lineman Joseph Swarm and returned to the Golden Tornadoes 12-yard line. Three plays later, Kavcic ran the ball in from two yards out for the first touchdown of his career, giving CWRU a 7-0 lead with 11:51 left in the quarter. With 6:06 left in the first, CWRU extended its lead to 14-0 on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Fromberg to Coyne.
CWRU scored two more touchdowns in the quarter, each coming on a drive following a Geneva fumble. Cabrera recovered a fumbled snap at the Geneva 21-yard line, setting up a six-yard touchdown pass from Fromberg to Dahlem with 2:42 left in the first quarter. Later in the frame, Dudowski recovered a fumble at the Geneva 21-yard line, and one play later, Fromberg threw a 24-yard pass to junior wide receiver Alec Angello to extend the Spartans' lead to 28-0.
Geneva scored late in the first quarter on a 61-yard touchdown run to cut the Spartans' lead to 28-7 by the end of the first quarter. However, CWRU responded early in the second with a 63-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Aaron Filips to Dahlem, putting the Spartans in front 35-7 with 13:26 left in the half. CWRU added another long touchdown pass, this time 57 yards from Fromberg to Dahlem to go ahead 42-7 with 11:13 remaining in the period. A one-yard touchdown run with 2:28 on the clock from sophomore running back Mitchell Waite capped off a 13-play, 66-yard drive and gave the Spartans a 49-7 lead heading into halftime.
Kavcic carried the ball on three of the Spartans' first four plays of the second half, gaining 70 total yards, including a one-yard run for a touchdown to put CWRU ahead 56-7 with 12:52 left in the third. The only other score for the remainder of the game was a 60-yard touchdown pass by the Golden Tornadoes with 2:39 left in the third, as the Spartans' offense took their foot off the gas pedal with a big lead in hand.
The Spartans will look to keep their momentum going next weekend when the team travels to Meadville, Pennsylvania to face Allegheny College on Saturday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m.
Spartan Notes:
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The Spartans have now outscored their opponents 161-27 through their first three games of the season.
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CWRU's 3-0 start marks the first time that CWRU has won each of its first three games in a season since the 2019 campaign.
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CWRU matched the program record for points in a quarter for the second-straight game with its 28-point first quarter.
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The Spartans' 49 points in the first half were just two points shy of the program record of 51 points in a half, also set in their last game against Bethany.
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Saturday's win marked the team's eighth win in their last nine games following a bye.
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CWRU improved to 11-1 all-time against Geneva. It was the Spartans' 10th-consecutive win over the Golden Tornadoes and they improved to 10-0 against Geneva since rejoining the PAC as a football affiliate member in 2014.
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The Spartans' offensive line did not allow a sack for the third straight game to start the season.