Green?Machine bests Pirates
The Geneseo Green Machine played spoiler in Ottawa’s homecoming festivities Oct. 1 as the Green Machine controlled most of the contest on their way to a 21-7 win.
“I thought we played a pretty good game tonight,” said head coach Larry Johnsen. “It was a nice opening drive by Ottawa, but we responded right away. Ottawa was everything we expected and we knew we would have our hands full.”
Ottawa struck first after marching down the field and scored on a Taylor Ostrowski 2-yard run and Kilen Haywood added the PAT to put the Pirates up 7-0.
“There are no pep talks or speeches,” said Johnsen. “This is a team that is very workman like. They are self-motivated. They just play and that is a sign of a strong team. They don’t want to let anyone down. I am really proud of them.”
The Green Machine responded by doing the same thing while time expired in the first quarter. So Geneseo switched ends of the field and punched the ball in from 9-yards out on a Tyler Fisher run to start the second quarter. Fisher also added the PAT kick to tie the game 7-7.
With only seconds to go in the half, Geneseo’s Andrew Walters reached the end zone on a 17-yard run and Fisher split the uprights to give the Green Machine the 14-7 lead at the break.
“Our goal is to get 4 yards and work from there,” said Johnsen. “We are a patient team and it worked out for us. Ottawa is very physical and hard hitting. It was a good Northern Illinois Big 12 game.”
After the half, Walters reached the end zone for a second time on a 3-yard run and Fisher added the PAT to put the Green?Machine up by two scores, 21-7.
In the fourth quarter, the Geneseo defense was able to hold off the Pirates to end the game with the score 21-7.
The Geneseo offense chewed up 337 rushing yards for the game on 52 carries and also added 16 yards through the air on one completion.
Leading the Green Machine offense on the ground was Walters with another 100-yard game, running for 146 yards on 16 carries.
West Cathcart followed with 75 yards rushing on 12 carries, while Fisher ran for 43 yards on 11 touches. Landon?Hoon added 30 rushing yards on four carries, followed by Blake Croegaert with 27 yards on five carries and Grant Burress, 16 yards on four carries.
Fisher connected with Cathcart for one reception of 16 yards on three attempts.
Defensively, Geneseo limited Ottawa to 91 rushing yards on 29 carries and 39 passing yards on five completions.
The Green?Machine came up with two interceptions from Walters and Croegaert, while Cathcart, Levi Schilling and JJ?Rivera all broke through the Ottawa line to reach the quarterback for the sack. Cathcart sacked the QB for a loss of 6 yards, while Schilling had a sack for a loss of 5 yards and Rivera a loss of 7 yards.
Coming up with tackles for a loss in Friday’s game were Cathcart for a loss of 2 yards, Erik Solberg, a loss of 1 yard and Hoon, a loss of 6 yards.
The Green Machine (6-0 overall and 2-0 in the NIB 12) will be on the road tonight where they will square off against Sterling at 7:30 p.m.
