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| Wooster celebrates an incredible comeback against archrival Wittenberg. Wooster athletics photo by Matt Dilyard |
The College of Wooster authored a comeback that left its opponent at wit's end on Saturday, while 3-5 Redlands maintained control of its own destiny, and Utica survived on a memorable final play at Morrisville State on Saturday in Week 9 action.
With 11 seconds remaining, Mateo Renteria found tight end Cole Hissong in the end zone, completing an epic comeback which saw Wooster rally from a 26-point second half deficit. The Scots had trailed 33-7 before coming back and defeating archrival Wittenberg 44-43 at Wooster's John P. Papp stadium. The go-ahead touchdown, plus a game-sealing interception by senior Chris Savaglio at Wittenberg's 42-yard line with :03 remaining secured Wooster's first win over its archrival since the 2008 season finale.
Drama was lurking at every snap on the decisive drive. Wooster was faced with a fourth-and-3 from its own 37-yard line, and Renteria moved the chains with an 18-yard completion to Troy Baughman. Andrew Hammer picked up the needed yardage on a third-down snap with a 9-yard pickup, and later, Hissong went for 7 yards on third down. Had either Wittenberg defender secured the sack against Renteria on the go-ahead play, it would have set up a fourth-and-goal situation from about 18 yards out. In addition, Wittenberg nearly picked off Wooster's two-point try, and had Christian Sweet secured the pick, he would have had an empty field ahead of him for a defensive two-point score.
The defenses rose to the occasion when the two high-powered offenses of Aurora and Benedictine met on Saturday. Aurora entered the day with a 6-1 record, averaging 53 points per game, and Benedictine came in at 6-1, averaging 45 points a game, which narturally resulted in Aurora escaping with a 20-13 win. Benedictine forced a three-and-out on its first defensive series and the Eagles offense took a 7-0 lead with 10:09 left in the opening quarter when Evan Wydajewski connected with Nick Shelton on a 29-yard TD on fourth down. The Benedictine special teams also came up big when Cyrus Taylor blocked an extra point late in the third quarter to preserve a 13-12 lead. But Aurora took the ball with 11:03 left in the game and marched down on 12 plays to score and take a 20-13 lead following a two-point conversion and the Spartans' defense got three stops from the Aurora 29 to preserve the lead and the win. Jhequay Chretin racked up 209 yards on 30 carries for Aurora in the victory.
On the final play of the game, Utica beat a running clock to snap the ball, and quarterback Braeden Zenelovic hit Joey Nare on a wide open pass play with no time left on the clock to lift Utica to a 20-17 win over host Morrisville State. The Pioneers improved to 7-1 and were fortunate that the officiating crew let them slide on not being set for one second before snapping the ball on the final play.
Morrisville State (6-2) led 17-7 midway through the fourth quarter before Terrence Toussaint picked off a Morrisville pass. The Pioneers then embarked on a 78-yard drive and Zenelovic hit Travis Decker for a TD to cut the lead to three points with 3:46 remaining. Utica forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with 1:59 left, then 12 plays and 86 yards in the remaining time to walk off with the win. A nine yard pass to Doug Elsesser on the Pioneers' 11th play of the go-ahead drive was caught in-bounds, leaving the clock to run under ten seconds to go. With the clock approaching zero, the Pioneers rushed the snap. Thinking the game was over, the Morrisville defense did not move. That left Nare wide open for the uncontested winning touchdown.
Redlands started the season 0-4, and 1-5, but remains in control of its own destiny after defeating Pomona-Pitzer 27-24 in overtime. That win puts the Bulldogs at 3-5 overall and 3-1 in the SCIAC, with a game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ahead next week. Claremont is unbeaten in the conference and a win for Redlands, plus one against winless Whittier the final week of the season, would put the Bulldogs in the field at 5-5. Redlands walked off with the win when Tyler Tremain ran for a 27-yard touchdown in overtime.
Springfield pulled away with a strong second-half effort to defeat Merchant Marine, 27-13, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference play on Saturday. Winners of its last five games, Springfield is now 6-2, 4-0 in conference play while the Marineers dipped 5-3, 3-2. The win sets up a winner-take-all game between Springfield and Catholic for the conference's automatic bid in the final week of the regular season. David Wells actually threw for more yards than he ran for at the helm of the Pride's triple-option offense. Wells was 8-for-12 for 108 yards through the air as he threw three touchdowns and also ran for a team-best 61 yards. It marked the most completions for the Pride since connecting on eight passes against Utica on Oct. 4, 2008.
Gallaudet moved one step closer to an Eastern Collegiate Football Conference championship with a 27-13 victory over Anna Maria before a Senior Day crowd of 451 at Hotchkiss Field. The Bison (6-2, 4-1 ECFC) are in position to win its first conference title since 2013 when they travel to Alfred State (4-4, 2-2 ECFC) next Saturday, Nov. 5, as a win secures the championship and the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. GU ran for 345 yards on the ground and held the ball for a season-high 41 minutes and 48 seconds as the AMCATs defense couldn't stop the Bison rushing attack. Quarterback/slot Brandon Washington led the way with 131 rushing yards on 22 carries and one touchdown. Mikka Harvey ran for a career best 118 yards on 14 carries including a 52-yard scamper while Dre'Vaughn Mackall tallied 97 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Alma moved to 8-0 for the first time since 1968, defeating Olivet by the score of 49-35. Carter St. John led the aerial attack for Alma going 24-for-34 passing for 227 yards, with four touchdowns and an interception. The freshman also led the Scots on the ground with 91 yards on 11 rushes and 2 more touchdowns. Alma is 8-0, but has the 188th-ranked strength of schedule among 230 non-NESCAC teams. Mount St. Joseph improved to 8-0 as well, with a 70-21 win against Bluffton. The Lions are unbeaten with the 208th best strength of schedule among the 230 non-NESCAC teams.