MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (November 14, 2015) - The Edinboro University football team put the 2015 season to an end Saturday afternoon, falling at Millersville in the season finale, 31-21. The Fighting Scots finished the season with a 0-11 overall record and a 0-7 PSAC West record, while Millersville capped their '15 campaign with a 2-9 overall record and a 1-6 PSAC East record.
This marks the first time that an Edinboro football team has finished winless since 1951, when the team finished 0-5-1 under head coach Art McComb.
Freshman quarterback
Jack Wallman started under center for Edinboro for the second straight week after throwing for 258 yards and two touchdowns on 31 completions against Seton Hill last week. Wallman and the offense combined for 240 total yards and were 1-for-11 on third down conversions on Saturday. Their total possession time was 16:23. Wallman finished the day going 11 for 34 with one touchdown and two interceptions. The Marauders held on to the ball for 43:37 and totaled 402 yards, with 301 yards passing. They were 8-for-19 on third downs.
The Edinboro offense had a rough pair of drives to begin the game, going three-and-out both times. Wallman completed one of four pass attempts for five yards on those two drives.
Millersville got the first score of the day on their first drive that covered 86 yards in 11 plays. Quarterback J.J. Paige went a perfect four-for-four on the drive for 58 yards. At the Edinboro three yard line, Paige recovered the ball after a high shotgun snap and fired a touchdown strike to receiver Sean Quarterman to put the Marauders up, 7-0, with 7:05 remaining in the first quarter.
The Edinboro offense got things moving in the second quarter. Beginning at their own nine yard line, Wallman used a pair of completions and a defensive holding penalty to his advantage to bring Edinboro to their own 41 yard line. Running back
Cory Bell then took a handoff and ran 59 yards for a touchdown to put the Fighting Scots on the board.
Austin Reese converted the extra point to knot the contest up at seven with 13:28 to go in the first half.
With less than four minutes remaining in the first half and the ball at their own 24 yard line, Paige went to the air again and connected with running back Cimirrow Moat for a 76-yard touchdown to put Millersville up again, 14-7.
Two plays into Edinboro's ensuing drive, Wallman's pass was intercepted by linebacker Sean Dugan, giving the Marauders the ball at the Edinboro 41 yard line with 2:22 to go in the first half. Millersville made it down to the Edinboro four yard line before kicker Evan Stahl split the uprights with a field goal with 39 seconds left in the half for a 17-7 Marauders halftime lead.
The second half began with each team exchanging a pair of scoreless drives. Facing 4
th and 9 on their own 42, Edinboro elected to go for it. But an incomplete pass turned the ball over to the Marauders. Millersville made the most of this opportunity on the very next play, when Paige linked up with Moat on a screen pass that saw him run into the open field, break out of a tackle at the 20 yard line, and score on a 42-yard touchdown reception to put the Marauders up, 24-7.
The Fighting Scots trimmed Millersville's lead to 10 when Wallman found wide receiver
Darren Massey through the air for a 61-yard touchdown, followed by a Reese extra point, to make the score 24-14 with nine seconds left in the third quarter.
Most of the fourth quarter was quiet. That was until Millersville cornerback Joey Pham picked off a pass by Wallman with 1:18 to go in regulation and returned it 48 yards for the game-sealing Marauders touchdown, making it 31-14 Millersville.
While the writing was on the wall, Edinboro refused to go down without one more score. Cornerback and return man
Mitch Thomas supplied that for Boro on the ensuing kickoff with a 91-yard kick return for a touchdown. Reese again provided the extra-point magic to make the final score 31-21 in favor of Millersville.
Bell had seven carries for 76 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Massey had three receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver
Sean Rolick totaled four receptions for 56 yards and sophomore receiver
Alex Caratelli hauled in three passes for 23 yards.
Freshman linebacker
Trey Hall led the Edinboro defense with 12 total tackles with seven solo tackles. Junior linebacker
Austin Mietz had two sacks and seven total tackles while redshirt-junior lineman
Josh Kibbie had 1.5 sacks and eight total tackles. Graduate defensive end
Armani Davis tallied one sack and five total tackles.
Thomas registered four kick returns for 147 yards, including the 91-yard touchdown return.
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