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EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. – With less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Colonels of Wilkes University (2-2/1-0 MAC) recorded 14 unanswered points to earn a come from behind 38-35 victory over the Lions (2-2/0-1 MAC) Saturday afternoon at the Ralston Athletic Field Complex in 2010 MAC opener for both teams.
Setting up what would become the game-winning field goal was an interception by Kevin Gerhart. The senior picked off the Lions pass and returned it 23 yards to put the Colonels deep into Albright territory. Prior to the interception, Wilkes had overcome an 11 point deficit late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 35-35. After the turnover, the Colonels used a seven yard run to set-up Chris Horn's game-winning field goal, which he made from 30 yards out.
Not looking to take any chances the Colonels kept the ball low on the kickoff. Albright fielded the ball cleanly and tried to set-up what they hoped would be the biggest return of the day. Unfortunately, Wilkes stopped the Lions dead in their tracks, and on the final Albright drive sealed their win with a sack.
Leading up to the last minute heroics, Albright actually took control of the scoreboard after trailing 24-14 at the half. Albright's no quit attitude guided them to two touchdowns in the third and one in the fourth. With an 11 point lead and only five minutes to play, Albright had to keep the Colonels out of the endzone. Despite their best efforts, the Colonels were able to get a field goal, touchdown, and two point conversion to tie the game at 35-35 with just seconds left on the clock.
It was a tough day overall for the Lions on both sides of the ball. Missed tackles gave the Colonels great field position, while missed opportunities by the offense, kept Wilkes in the contest. On top of that, the Lions once again were called for entirely to many penalties, which kept numerous Colonels' drives alive.
On the day, Albright totaled 373 yards of offense on 63 plays. Junior tailback #
Josan Holmes# broke the 2,000 yard career rush mark with 99 yards on 20 carries. He also tied the all-time career rushing record with his eight TD of the year.
Quarterbacks #
Adam Galczynski# and #Ben Schaffle# combined for 181 yards passing and were 11-for-22 respectively. Also helping out the late Albright surge was #
Ty Hughes# on his 22 yard touchdown run and #
Clif LeGrand# with his four yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.
Defensively, junior #Joe Arneth# tallied two interceptions, while #
Mark Bergery# added another. #
Don Gould# had a career afternoon with nine tackles and the Lions only sack #
Nick Goodling# recovered his first fumble of the year, with #
Keith Bruno# forcing the turnover.
Saturday's match-up got off to a very rough start for the Lions as they were flagged for a peronal foul, which kept the opening Wilkes drive alive. That penalty along with a pass interference call, would result in the Colonels first touchdown of the day.
The Lions wasted little time tying the game at 7-7 as #
Luke Wallace# converted a 43 yard pass from Galczynski into his first TD reception of the year. On the day, Wallace totaled 71 yards on four catches.
Before the first quarter came to an end, Wilkes added on one more score to jump out to a 14-7 lead. They then extended that lead in the second with a touchdown and field goal to make it 24-7. Albright was able to find the endzone one more time before the halftime break to cut Wilkes' lead to 10. Scoring the final TD of the first half was Holmes on a four yard run.
Football returns to action next Saturday when they host Lycoming College at 1 p.m. in a Middle Atlantic Conference game.
