Home >  Sports >  Other Colleges

Saturday, September 15, 2001

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

While the majority of the district college football games scheduled for today have been postponed, Geneva will play host to Westminster tonight -- with a purpose.

"This is a way the community can pull together during this national crisis to show unity as Americans and, at the same time, assist those who have been affected by this week's tragedy," said Geneva President Dr. John H. White.

Geneva and the Beaver Rotary will donate all proceeds from ticket sales to national relief and rescue efforts and the Medical Center Foundation.

Tickets are $5 at the gate, and kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Reeves Stadium in Beaver Falls.

"This is more than a game," Geneva Coach Geno DeMarco said. "Our teams may be rivals on the field, but we can be unified with the fans to show our strength during tough times. They [terrorists] cannot break our spirit."

This will be the 109th renewal of the longest-running and oldest college football rivalry in the district. The series started in 1891, with Westminster holding a 60-40-8 advantage. Geneva has won the past four meetings.

"The NCAA came out with a statement that they felt the decision should be made at the institutional level," said Westminster Athletic Director Jim Dafler. "We made a decision that we should return to competition. We're not trying to show our disrespect or a lack of sympathy for the grieving process, but the take was that we wanted to move forward."

Whether to play football today was the debate throughout the district yesterday as college presidents, athletic directors and coaches huddled to make a decision.

For almost all, the choice was left up to the individual schools. Most of the schools had decided earlier in the week to postpone games, but four games were postponed yesterday -- Allegheny at Frostburg State, Gannon at West Virginia Tech, Slippery Rock at Fairmont State and Wooster at Grove City.

Only six of the 19 scheduled district games below the NCAA Division I-A level will be played today.

The only conference to cancel all games involving its members was the NCAA Division I-AA Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which includes Duquesne. Duquesne's game at Iona was called off.

St. Francis and Robert Morris, both from the Division I-AA Northeast Conference, postponed their games. Robert Morris was scheduled to play at Monmouth and St. Francis was to play host to St. John's.

"St. Francis is deeply saddened by the tragic events of this week," said Athletic Director Jeff Eisen. "In light of this tragedy, St. Francis and St. John's believe it is appropriate to postpone this weekend's game."

Although all Division I games have been called off, some Division II and III and NAIA district teams will play.

"It's not out of disrespect that we are playing," said Steve Murray, commissioner of the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. "We're taking our cues from the White House and will try to resume as normal a life as possible. It's a tough call, I hope people understand that.

"Everything we're going to do for a long time is going to be done with a heavy heart."

Two PSAC West schools will play today -- Clarion and Lock Haven. Tiffin is at Clarion and Bloomsburg is at Lock Haven.

California, IUP and Slippery Rock of the PSAC postponed games. California was to play at West Virginia Wesleyan and IUP at New Haven. Also postponed are Wooster at Grove City, Mercyhurst at Wayne State, Mich., Carnegie Mellon at Bethany and Gannon at West Virginia Tech. Other games that will be played are Thiel at Bluffton, Ohio Wesleyan at Waynesburg and Walsh at West Liberty State.