(boxscore)
Widener battled to the end before suffering a 30-27 Middle Atlantic Conference loss to Wilkes at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.
Wilkes (4-6, 4-3 MAC) looked to have all the momentum when Darnell Corbin intercepted a pass from freshman quarterback Al Humes (Ridley Park, PA) and raced 47 yards for a touchdown. Chris Horn missed the extra point with 3:43 left in the third quarter after his successful one was negated by a false-start penalty, leaving the Colonels with a 23-21 lead.
Widener (4-6, 2-5) early in the fourth quarter regained the lead, helped in part when Wilkes quarterback Rob Johnson muffed a handoff and senior Mike Walker (Springfield, PA) recovered at Colonels' 24 yard line.
Humes on the first play completed a 22-yard pass to sophomore Michael Penna (Philadelphia, PA) at the two yard line. Junior Ian Decker (Phillipsburg, NJ) three plays later barreled in from the one, but Humes' pass on the two-point conversion failed for a 27-23 lead with 11:47 to play.
Wilkes got the ball back midway through the period and went on the winning march, getting a 23-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Jason Prushinski on fourth down and eight for the game's fourth lead change. Horn's extra point made it 30-27 Colonels with 2:46 left that ended a 10-play, 65-yard drive.
Widener on the ensuing drive received a 14-yard run from junior Salah Hawkins (Wilmington, DE) and a 27-yard pass from Humes to Hawkins down to the three-yard line. Humes on first and goal ran a quarterback sneak, but he fumbled into the end zone and Tim Lombreglia recovered for the Colonels.
The play was a tough end to a respectable day for Humes, who completed 24-of-39 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns. Hawkins notched 25 carries for 96 yards, senior Tim Kilkenny (Doylestown, PA) had five catches for 52 yards and sophomore Joe Favinger (Mohnton, PA) recorded 10 tackles.
Johnson completed 15-of-28 passes for 198 yards with Prushinski closing with five catches for 114 yards. Corey Gilroy played great in the secondary with three pass breakups.
Widener cruised to a 409-277 advantage in total offense, including 143-79 on rushing yards.
Jonathon Kocher had a two-yard touchdown catch from Johnson early in the game, but Widener got it back later in the first quarter on Hawkins' two-yard scoring run for a 7-7 tie.
Junior Marc Bandola (Clarksburg, NJ) hauled in a five-yard touchdown pass from Humes midway through the second, but Johnson found Sean Madden on an eight-yard scoring strike with 4:10 left in the half for a 14-14 tie.
Freshman Cedrick Clayton (Cinnaminson, NJ) caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Humes with two minutes to play in the half for a 21-14 Widener lead. Wilkes closed to 21-17 with 5:08 remaining in the third as Horn boomed a 47-yard field goal.
Senior TD Davis (Reisterstown, MD) notched a 31-yard interception return and freshman Keith Wilson (West Chester, PA) blocked a punt for the Pride.
