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No. 9 Football Sees Great Season End with NCAA Quarterfinal Loss at No. 1 Mount Union

(box score) / (pictures from trip)

No. 9 Widener's incredible run that included a league-record 19th Middle Atlantic Conference title ended in the NCAA quarterfinals with a 72-17 setback at top-ranked Mount Union in Alliance, OH.
 
Widener (11-1) got the first big bounce when freshman defensive end Stacey Sunnerville (Freehold, NJ) forced and recovered a fumble at the Pride 29 yard line.  On third down and 26 at the Purple Raider 45 yard line, sophomore Anthony Davis (Upland, PA) did his thing by making a great leaping catch in double coverage that got the ball to the three yard line.
 
Senior James McFadden (Warminster, PA) capped the drive on a 21-yard field goal with 7:45 to play in the first quarter for a 3-0 Widener lead.
 
Mount Union (13-0) struck back on the ensuing possession for a 7-3 lead.  Quarterback Kevin Burke was 4-for-4 on the drive for 42 yards, ending it on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jasper Collins with 6:08 left in the quarter.
 
Tyler Almieda drilled a 27-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second quarter for a 10-3 Purple Raider lead.  That drive was aided on a huge third-down, 46-yard pass to Julius Moore that took it to the Pride's 12 yard line.
 
A blocked punt by Mount Union's Nick Driskill gave the home team a short field at the Widener 28 yard line.  A great combination of runs and passes resulted in a four-yard touchdown keeper from Burke with 10:26 remaining gave the Purple Raiders a 16-3 lead.
 
Mount Union figured a fake punt was needed to crack Widener and executed it.  Punter Brandon Mathie took a snap on fourth down and five at the Pride's 41 yard line, ran to the right and just got the first down at the 35 yard line.
 
Burke ended the 10-play, 72-yard drive on a 10-yard keeper up the middle with 6:18 to go in the half, making it 23-3.
 
Bad breaks continued to haunt Widener as a low snap on a punt left the ball at the visitors 13 yard line for Mount Union.  The home team continued to hold its own as Blair Skilliter ran all three times on the drive, ending it on a three-yard run with 4:33 to play in the half for a 30-3 margin.
 
Driskill came up with his second blocked punt with 3:06 to play in the half and recovered it in the end zone, giving the Purple Raiders a 37-3 lead.
 
Mount Union ended the half with a 351-76 edge in total offense and scored on all five of its trips into the red zone.
 
Senior Chris Haupt (Bloomsburg, PA) in the second half threw a two-yard touchdown pass to freshman Philip Ragona (Oceanside, NY) and a 36-yard yard scoring toss to senior Steve Marrero (Reading, PA).
 
Haupt threw for 322 yards in his final game, completing 29-of-64 passes.  He ends his standout career with 9,907 passing yards, 88 touchdown passes, 13 300-yard passing contests and 10,256 yards of total offense that are all school records.
 
Davis closed with 106 yards receiving and 222 on kickoff returns for 328 all-purpose yards.  Ragona amassed 102 yards receiving on a game-high nine catches.
 
Junior Dylan Ditmer (Exton, PA) again played great with 13 tackles, including eight solos.  Senior Joe Wojceichowski (Riverside, NJ) and junior Colin Masterson (Swarthmore, PA) had eight tackles apiece.
 
Burke completed 28-of-38 passes for 380 yards and two touchdowns to go with 14 carries for 115 yards.  Collins had six catches for 102 yards.
 
The Pride saw their 12-game winning streak dating to last season halted and fell to 17-11 in their history in the NCAA Tournament.  It was the team's 10th trip to the quarterfinals and it dropped to 6-4 in this round.
 
In addition to extending its lead in league championships, Widener was playing in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th season in its history.
 
Widener entered the contest 11-0 for the fourth time in school history (1980, 1981, 2001).
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