Fireworks on and off the field
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I was working from home on Friday and had planned to hit the road ahead of traffic at 2:30 p.m. Still on the phone at 3:30 p.m. putting out the last of the week’s fires, all I can think about is traffic. A classic example of the “best laid plan of mice and men gone awry,” I leave the house at 4 p.m.
Each of the two potential starting routes to Glassboro can have their own traffic snags at this time of day. I flip a coin and go on my way. Stuck in slow moving traffic, I sense a conspiracy between all the other drivers that are trying to make me late for the game. Cursing all the way from exit 16 on the NJ Turnpike till I finally make my turnoff at Exit 7 around Fort Dix, I have one hour to make the 40-minute drive that remains. I start feeling a little better, and I arrive at a packed parking lot with about 10 minutes to spare.
With 5,418 fans in attendance, it was another great battle in which Rowan held off TCNJ 30-20. One of the school organizations sponsored a fireworks show after the game, which made trying to get postgame interviews a bit of an adventure. The stadium lights were turned off about five minutes after the game ended. I had just about completed interviewing Lion head coach Eric Hamilton and then had to wonder around in the dark looking for Prof head coach Jay Accorsi.
Overall it was a fun trip, a good game, fireworks, and no traffic on the ride home.
Springfield comeback falls short
Springfield sophomore halfback Chris Sharpe rushed for 94 yards and scored three touchdowns (two rushing), but the Pride fell just shy of a 21-point comeback at Utica on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 1, in Empire 8 action.
The Pride (0-4, 0-2) jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on a Sharpe 5-yard run with 9:24 to play in the first quarter. Sharpe later put the Pride up 13-0 on a 77-yard carry with 6:05 left in the opening quarter, and the lead remained at 13 through the end of the first.
Utica (3-1, 1-0) shut down the Pride offense in the second quarter, however, as the Pioneers, led by quarterback Nick Martin, tacked on 28 points. Martin threw three touchdowns and ran for one all in the second quarter as the Pioneers took a 28-13 advantage into the break.
The Pioneers added a touchdown on an 11-yard to extend its lead to 34-13 with 5:48 to go in the third quarter.
SC responded to Utica’s 34 unanswered points with a Damian Gunningsmith 1-yard touchdown run to bring the Pride within 14 points with 4:37 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter Gunningsmith completed a 64-yard pass to Sharpe with 7:22 remaining, to make it a 34-27 game.
With just over 5:00 to go in the game, the Pride forced a Utica punt, which freshman Nick Ford returned 49 yards to the one-yard line of the Pioneers. Freshman Andrew Jackson was able to bring the Pride within one point, 34-33, as he rushed in for the score from the one-yard line. On the extra-point attempt, the Pride mishandled the snap as Utica was able to halt SC’s attempt to tie the game.
Able to finish what he starts
Union running back Tom Arcidiacono said hello and good night to those in attendance for Homecoming 2005 at Brooks Stadium with an astounding 94-yard touchdown run to start the game and a 4-yard score in overtime to hand Kings Point a heartbreaking 23-17 defeat.
In overtime, the Mariners got the first shot on offense, but were unsuccessful at moving the chains. Two incomplete passes and a sack later, Kings Point was forced to put its perfect field goal kicker in a tough situation with a 51-yard field goal attempt. Geoff Troy’s kick was blocked at the line of scrimmage by Edward Speno of Union.
Fake punt helps Bombers over Golden Eagles
No. 13 Ithaca scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to blow open a close game and beat visiting Brockport 42-17. Senior quarterback Josh Felicetti threw four touchdown passes as Ithaca improved to 4-0 while the Golden Eagles, who had their two-game winning streak snapped, fell to 2-3.
Senior linebacker Dustin Ross set up a pair of Bomber touchdowns in the last 20 minutes after Brockport had scored to cut Ithaca’s lead to 21-17. He rushed for 33 yards on a fake punt to extend an Ithaca drive that ended with Felicetti throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to junior fullback Dan Ross.
“The blocking was great,” Dustin Ross told The Ithaca Journal. “I saw open daylight and just was making sure I got the first down. I didn't want to try to do nothing too special and mess it up.”
“We don't do anything like that unless we're really confident that we can execute. I've got some guys in there who can get it done, and they gave us the right defense, and it's just a matter of making the call,” Ithaca coach Mike Welch told the paper. “I thought we needed a little bit of a boost. I thought, ‘If we convert this, we can control the game, so we'll take a look at it.' We did, they gave us what we wanted and we executed.”
“We needed a stop and we came up with a stop, and they executed a great fake and caught us with it,” Brockport State coach Rocco Salomone said in The Ithaca Journal. “That gave them an opportunity to kind of put the game out of reach a little bit.”
On Brockport’s next drive, Ross intercepted a pass by junior quarterback A.J. Covella and returned it 26 yards; on the third play of Ithaca’s ensuing drive Felicetti threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to junior running back Alex Baez and Ithaca owned a 35-21 lead.
Ithaca’s final touchdown came on an 85-yard interception return by sophomore safety Tom Blumenauer.
Felicetti completed 16 of 27 passes for 251 yards. Senior Jeff O’Hara led Ithaca’s receivers with six catches for 102 yards. Dan Ross caught four passes for 45 yards and two scores, posting career-high totals in all three categories.
The Bombers’ 42 points was their highest total against Brockport since the 1991 national championship team posted a 42-0 win. Ithaca has recorded three straight 40-point performances for the first time since 1997.
Frostburg makes every minute count
After using a blocked field goal as time expired to upset Montclair State two weeks ago, Frostburg State again needed some last-minute heroics to pull out a 27-26 win over Buffalo State in an Atlantic Central Football Conference game Saturday at Bobcat Stadium.
Clinging to a 27-20 lead with 6:24 remaining, the Bobcats (2-2, 1-2 ACFC) watched as the Bengals drove 74 yards and pulled to within a single point on a 15-yard touchdown run by James Perkins with 1:18 remaining.
Having struggled all day with its special teams play, Buffalo State decided to attempt the two-point conversion and came up empty as Mike Mikolaichik’s pass was just out of the diving reach of Tom Cocker.
The Bengals (1-3, 0-2) had another chance when they recovered the on-side kick near midfield. But Bobcat senior Kevin Culbert and junior Ryan Cutsail stuffed Mikolaichik on fourth-and-1 from the Bobcat 42 with 22 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Rowan holds off TCNJ
Rowan took a 23-0 halftime lead only to see TCNJ chip away and make a game of it in the fourth quarter 23-20.
In the first quarter the Profs scored on a 26-yard Ulysses Encarnacion touchdown run after a Randy Tosh sack caused a fumble that was recovered by Keith Heimerl. Matias Spahn added a 24-yard field goal to put the Profs up 10-0.
Rowan added two more field goals and a Mike Orihel 21-yard touchdown pass to Phil Silva in the second quarter to take a 23-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half the Prof offense was unable to continue the momentum from the first half and stalled on their first couple drives. The Lions were able to capitalize on a Rowan fumble during a punt return deep in Prof territory. TCNJ capped the four-play, 17-yard drive when quarterback Jeff Struble scampered for a 9-yard touchdown. The subsequent two-point conversion failed.
With 5:39 remaining in the third quarter, Lion returner Ryan Ross fielded a punt on his own 20-yard line. Ross ran about 15-yards where he was tackled by the Prof defenders. After rolling on the ground and not hearing a whistle, Ross got up and proceeded to run into to the end zone. The officials signaled touchdown to the shock and dismay of the Rowan players, coaches, and home crowd.
“It all went so fast that I’m not sure what happened. I didn’t feel anyone on top of me, so I just kept going. It didn’t feel like (I was down), but I’m not sure,” said Ross.
At the start of the fourth quarter, TCNJ went on a 10 play, 80-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard half back touchdown pass from Mike Thormann to Leeaire Brown to pull within 23-20 of Rowan with 12:06 remaining.
“We played hard and we cut the mistakes down. We are going to be a work in progress. We’re getting better. I told the kids we were here two years ago and were down at half and came back. Bottom line is that (the team) feels more confident that they can get things done,” said TCNJ coach Eric Hamilton.
Mike Orihel put the game out of reach with a 1-yard touchdown run which was setup by a 41-yard Encarnacion run, ending the scoring at 30-20.
“We had the game in hand in the first half. We had an opportunity to do some things in the third quarter but couldn’t capitalize. We let (TCNJ) hang in the game. Coming off an emotional victory against Robert Morris, I think we might have run out of gas,” said Rowan coach Jay Accorsi.
“We are always trying to make plays, but I think physically and mentally both players and coaches were a little tired from last week and it showed tonight in the second half. But we were able to gut it out and put the game away,” Accorsi concluded.
The Rowan defense allowed only 161 yards of total offense and one touchdown. Linebacker Randy Tosh led the Profs with nine tackles. He had one forced fumble and a sack. Linebacker Todd Trout had two sacks and a forced fumble. Defensive tackle Ed Kunder and defensive end Keith Heimerl had one sack each.
On offense Mike Orihel was 21-for-33 with 248 yards and two touchdowns, one passing, one running. Encarnacion and Rob Richardson rushed for 115 yards and 109 yards. Matias Spahn was 3-for-3 on field goal attempts from 24, 28, 33 yards. Spahn also nailed three extra points giving him 12 for the game.
For the Lions, running back Leeaire Brown carried the ball 12 times for 50 yards. Quarterback Jeff Struble completed 11 of 17 for 111 yards, while Chris Bell connected on four of nine passes for 46 yards. Wide out Ryan Ross had four catches for 65 yards.
Linebacker Terence Nish had a game-high 12 tackles, including three for a loss and one sack for TCNJ. Safety Miles Shanklin and linebacker Josh Baker totaled nine tackles apiece. Defensive end Joseph King had two sacks and linebacker Nicholas Steffner added one sack.
Cortland thumps Montclair
Sophomore quarterback Alex Smith completed 16 of 31 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score as Cortland defeated Montclair State, 39-14, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference contest. The Red Dragons upped their record to 4-1 overall and a league-leading 3-0 in the NJAC. Montclair is 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Cortland scored the game's final 26 points, including 19 in the second half, to erase a 14-13 second quarter deficit. The Red Dragon defense allowed only 14 yards in the second half and 219 for the game, and limited the Red Hawks to 27 rushing yards on 31 attempts.
Game of the Week
Kean at Montclair State, 6 p.m., Upper Montclair, N.J.: Kean upset Montclair 21-17 in 2004. Since former Montclair offensive coordinator Charlie Cocuzza took the helm at Kean in 2003, he has been really competitive with his former employer. Will the Cougars make it two in a row at Montclair this year?
Notes
Union's Dylon Walton-Yedlin led the Dutchmen in their 23-17 overtime win against Kings Point to go to 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Liberty League. Walton-Yedlin accounted for four sacks for 38 yards and five tackles for losses, with seven total tackles and three quarterback hurries. And he did it with one hand in a cast.
Salisbury freshman quarterback Ronnie Curley earns his first rookie of the week award after being the leading rusher in Saturday’s 77-13 victory over Apprentice. He ran for 74 yards and scored two touchdowns on eight carries. He was also a perfect 3-for-3 for 22 yards passing.
TCNJ’s Terence Nish earns NJAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after collecting 12 tackles (six solo, six assisted) in the Lions' 30-20 NJAC road loss to Rowan. In the contest, he notched three tackles for a loss, including one sack. Through just four games this season, he has registered a career-high 37 total tackles. Nish currently ranks second in the NJAC in tackles with an average of 9.2 per game.
Senior wide receiver Matt Willis caught six passes for 81 yards and four touchdowns in a 70-41 Hartwick loss to St. John Fisher.