Football Knocks Off State Ranked Geneseo

GENESEO – The Sterling Golden Warriors took sole possession of first place in the NCIC Reagan division with a convincing 14-3 victory over the Geneseo Maple Leafs on Homecoming night in Geneseo. The victory was the second consecutive win for Sterling in Geneseo and also extended the Golden Warriors’ amazing winning streak in regular season road games to 16. Sterling has not lost a regular season road game since October of 2003.

Sterling (4-1, 2-0) got on the scoreboard first late in the 1st quarter. A poor Geneseo punt resulted in good field position for the Golden Warriors at the Maple Leaf 38 yard line. Two nice runs by Lazaro Sifuentes helped Sterling move inside the Geneseo 10. Niko Rivera then hit Macarthe Folkers for an 8-yard TD pass with 1:34 left in the opening quarter. Raciel Ocampo tacked on the PAT to put Sterling ahead 7-0.

Sterling’s defense was strong all night, but especially so in the first half, when they forced Geneseo to punt five times and allowed only one first down for the Maple Leafs (3-2, 1-1).

On Geneseo’s first possession of the third quarter, Jake Hermes intercepted a pass near midfield which would quickly lead to another Golden Warrior score. A great scramble and throw by Rivera to Clay Hadley gave Sterling a first down at the Geneseo 35 yard line. On the subsequent play, Hermes ran over and through the Maple Leaf defense on his way to pay dirt. Ocampo’s PAT kick put Sterling ahead 14-0 with 8:56 left in the third quarter.

Ocampo would then make a huge play on the ensuing kickoff, tackling Geneseo’s Jacob Kuban at the Sterling 45 yard line and preventing a Maple Leaf touchdown. Geneseo then drove 40 yards in 13 plays and burned 8:33 off the clock during their only scoring drive of the game. Jason Johnson connected on a 22-yard field goal with 0:11 left in the third to make the score 14-3 in favor of Sterling.

Neither team threatened the end zone in the 4th quarter and the Golden Warriors were able to run the clock out to end the game.

Sterling out-gained Geneseo on the ground 215 yards to 69 yards and 234 to 123 overall. Hermes led the Golden Warriors with 123 yards and 1 TD on 15 carries. Alex Hughes added 42 yards on 5 attempts.

The Golden Warriors will look to stay on top of the NCIC Reagan as they travel to Dixon in Week 6 to take on the Dukes (1-4, 1-1).

In the preliminary fresh-soph contest, Sterling rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit and came back to win 24-21 to remain undefeated on the season.

Sterling Vs. Geneseo Boxscore
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