Box Score (New/Sortable Format)
EDINBORO, Pa. – Edinboro won its third straight game while thrilling a Homecoming crowd with a 44-24 win over local rival Gannon in a PSAC West contest on Saturday afternoon. The victory, coming in front of 5,021 fans at Sox Harrison Stadium, boosted the Fighting Scots to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the PSAC West. Gannon falls to 1-5 and 0-3, respectively.
Edinboro has now won all seven meetings with the Golden Knights, although the Fighting Scots did see their streak of shutouts come to an end against Gannon. Edinboro had posted shutouts in the last two meetings, and actually extended the streak to ten straight quarters before Matt Szczupakowski kicked a 25-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the half.
By that time Edinboro held a 17-3 lead and that could have much been considerably bigger. Three of the Scots' first four possessions reached Gannon territory, but all they showed for it was a 27-yard field goal by freshman
Sean Seefeldt in the first quarter.
A
Kenny Pettis interception, which he returned 35 yards, gave the Scots a first down at the GU 20 on the next possession. A sack would the drive and Edinboro had to settle for a 40-yard field goal attempt by Seefeldt, which was no good.
Another interception early in the second quarter, this one by
Branden Williams, gave the Scots the ball near midfield. It was Williams' 16th career pickoff, moving him into sole possession of third place in career interceptions. After picking up one first down another sack again ended the drive, forcing a punt.
Edinboro would score on its next two possessions of the quarter, however. The first came in lightning-quick fashion after a short Gannon punt. Starting at the GU 45,
Cody Harris completed a 33-yard pass to
Marcus Johnson, and on the next play the junior found
Seth Hembree for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 10:07 left in the second quarter. It marked the first of the 6'7” senior's career.
After one first down Gannon was forced to punt on its next possession, with the Fighting Scots taking over at their own 27. After a pair of incompletions Harris connected on his next four passes. A 16-yard completion to
Shawn Walker gave the Scots a first down at the GU 41, and on the next play he found
Ben Eisel behind the Gannon secondary for a 35-yard gain to the six. Harris swept around next end on the next play for a six-yard TD run and a 17-0 lead with 6:23 left in the half.
Edinboro opened up a 24-3 lead with a score on the first drive of the third quarter. The Scots needed just four plays to traverse the 43 yards after Willie Lowe returned the second half kickoff 53 yards. Again it was all Harris, as he completed three straight passes, two to Eisel covering 31 yards down to the six, before he sprinted to the left corner of the end zone for his second six-pointer on the ground.
Gannon would answer with a 13-play, 66-yard drive that culminated in a six-yard touchdown run by Jansen Jones. That closed the gap to 24-10, but Edinboro would tack on two scores in less than a minute to start the fourth quarter to blow the game open.
The first was courtesy of Eisel, who culminated a 13-play, 80-yard march with a leaping grab in the end zone for 10-yard scoring play on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The defense stepped up and held Gannon to a three-and-out. Alec Gluvna blocked the ensuing Golden Knight punt, with
Devin Ghafoor picking it up and returning it 18 yards for a touchdown. With 14:03 left in the game Edinboro's lead now stood at 37-10.
The score by Ghafoor was equally notable because it snapped a string of 13 straight scoring drives in which Harris took part in.
That was just the beginning of the scoring in the fourth quarter. Gannon would drive 75 yards in just five plays as Liam Nadler threw for 72 yards then covered the final three on the ground.
Edinboro came right back with its own drive of 54 yards, eating up 5 minutes 54 seconds.
D'Andrea Vaughn covered the final two yards, starting out left then darting back to the right behind a block by right tackle
Shawn Ellenberger. That gave Edinboro a 44-17 lead with 6:29 to play.
Gannon would tack on one more score as Jones scored his second touchdown of the day on a two-yard run with 3:45 to play.
Edinboro would end the day with 412 total yards, with Harris accounting for 358 of that. He completed 28 of 34 passes for 312 yards, his second straight 300-yard effort, while adding 46 yards rushing on 13 carries. He threw for 2 TDs and ran for two more. Harris is now fifth in career passing yards with 5,224.
Johnson was his favorite target once again with 8 catches for 94 yards. The junior wide receiver moved into 15
th place in career receptions with 85 and is also 15
th in yards receiving with 1,225. Eisel posted career-highs of 4 catches for 68 yards.
Gannon would finish the afternoon with 349 yards. Nadler, who came in averaging over 270 yards per game through the air, ended the day with 263 yards while completing 24 of 47 passes. However, the redshirt freshman threw three interceptions and he accounted for 138 of those yards in the fourth quarter when the game was no longer in doubt.
Jones was the game's leading rusher with 79 yards on 18 carries. Abraham Ocasio caught 7 passes for 95 yards and Justin Caliste had 5 catches for 48 yards.
The Edinboro defense came up with four sacks and three interceptions to go with the blocked punt.
Bruce Davis had a team-high 9 tackles, including a pair of sacks by the former Iowa Hawkeye. Denzel Jones also had 9 stops, while Pettis finished with 8 stops, an interception and two passes broken up. The senior, who came in as the top tackler in Division II, saw his streak of four straight games with double-figure tackles come to an end. He still has 65 tackles on the year, eclipsing his career-high of 61 set a year ago.
The Fighting Scots are back home for a second straight week next Saturday, October 13, hosting 22
nd-ranked Indiana(Pa.). Kickoff at Sox Harrison Stadium is set for 12 noon.
