Shiner St. Paul wins shootout over Geneva Eagles, 49-43
Geneva Coach Grant Gaston credits his mantra “fight, finish and love” for the Eagles taking St. Paul to the limit on Friday at Eagles Stadium.
Geneva narrowly lost to the Cardinals, 49-43, to bring its record to 2-3 for the year.
“Everything we do is in love,” said Gaston, who is in his first year at helm as Eagles coach. “We are going to fight, finish and claw until the end. I thought we came out a little flat offensively in the first half, but once we got our feet underneath us, we kept fighting.”
The Eagles overcame a game-high 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claw their way back into the game.
Geneva scored 14 unanswered points late in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 6. Jacob Rosenstiel connected with JonMichael Raimondo on a 35-yard touchdown pass to cut Geneva’s deficit to 49-36 at the 6:29 mark.
With six seconds remaining in the quarter, Rosenstiel hit another 35-yard touchdown pass, this time to Brady Chandler, to bring Geneva within 6.
St. Paul recovered an Eagles onside kick to seal the game.
“The fight for us comes from the Book of Nehemiah 4:14, which said ‘fight for your countrymen, fight for your spouses, fight for your children and fight for your country,’” Gaston said. “Our team fought for each other, and they have been fighting for each other since the summer finish bu summer. We fought ‘til the finish, but now we have to finish the finish.”
Geneva will look to get back on the winning track when they compete at Milano on Sept. 29.
St. Paul, meanwhile, punished the Eagles with its run game, scoring all six of their touchdowns on keepers en route to improving their record to 3-2.
Cardinals fullback Neate Boedeker led the way with four touchdowns. Zane Barta punched in two keepers for St. Paul.
Rosenstiel led the way in scoring for the Eagles, throwing four touchdowns -- two of which connected Raimondo. K.P. Fitzgerald and Josh Dennis also punched in touchdown passes from Rosenstiel.
Geneva’s Brady Chandler (12) and the rest of the Eagles took on Shiner St. Paul Friday at home.
Star photo by Kerry Barboza
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