The Geneva School of Boerne suffered its first loss of the season Friday after nearly erasing a 20-point deficit, ending up on the short end of a wild 62-50 home contest against the Cypress Christian Warriors, which remained undefeated at 4-0.
After spotting the Warriors a quick 13 points off a fumble and blocked punt, Geneva (3-1) scored two touchdowns in the second quarter, including a Caleb Quitadamo-to-Reid Aderholt 29-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the first half, to pull within 26-22.
“We’ve been a second half team all year, so we knew we could come out here and hang with anybody,” Geneva coach Bob Rosenstiel said. “With injuries, we were trying to step up for our brothers that were down early, so our guys were motivated to come out and try to get us the ‘W.’” The Eagles opened the second half by forcing a turnover on downs at the 16-yard line and began a drive with the possibility of taking their first lead of the game.
But the Warriors defense rose to the occasion, stopping Quitadamo on a fourth-and-2 at midfield. The Warriors offense then went 51 yards in five plays for a TD to take a 33-22 lead.
But Geneva simply refused to go away. A Shane NcNew 63-yard TD run closed the gap to 33-29. After Cy Christian scored twice after long runs to push the lead to 48-29, the Eagles answered. Another Quitadamo-to-Aderholt TD pass, this one from 43 yards out, kept Geneva within striking distance at 48-36 just seconds into the fourth quarter.
But Cy Christian returned the ensuing kick-off 61 yards to set up a quick-snap 4-yard TD run. With 9:13 remaining, Cy Christian looked to be in total command at 56-36.
But that wasn’t the case. Geneva went on a 9-play, 75-yard drive capped by another Quitadamo TD pass, this one of 16 yards to wideout Chase Doran. Geneva still trailed by 14, 56-42, with 6:01 left to play.
The Geneva defense stepped up and forced the rare three-and out to get the ball back for its offense.
On a drive that featured the Eagles converting a fourth-and-10 from their own 35, Geneva found the end zone once again. Quitadamo scampered out of the pocket and sliced into the corner of the end zone from 14 yards out, trimming the lead to 56-48. A successful two-point conversion drew Geneva within six, 56-50, with just 3:20 left in the game.
But Cy Christian never relinquished the lead. Six consecutive direct snaps to running backs ended with a 2-yard TD run with just 56 seconds left, accounting for the final score of 62-50.
“We’ve got a bunch of fighters. We have some freshmen and sophomores stepping up, and they are going to have to fill some big shoes,” Rosenstiel said.
The coach said McNew’s TD run and Quitadamo’s scrambling ability late kept the offense alive.
“We were down by six, and we let it slip away,” he said. “We battled. Now we just have to regroup and plug some people into other places.”
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