CHESTER, Pa. (Oct. 15, 2016) – The Widener University football team fell to nationally-ranked Stevenson by a 45-21 score on Saturday afternoon at Leslie C. Quick Stadium in a battle between the last two unbeaten programs in Middle Atlantic Conference play. The Mustangs rallied with 38 unanswered points between the second and fourth quarters to pull away.
 
Widener was forced to punt on its first possession, but the Pride got another life when Preston Addo fumbled the ball on the return and senior captain Alex Stewart (Pittsgrove, N.J.) recovered it at the 15-yard line. Working with a short field, freshman Chris Randle (Lindenwood, N.J.) was handed the ball five times and capped the drive with a one-yard rush to give the hosts a 7-0 lead at the 9:36 mark.
 
After Stevenson answered on its next opportunity to tie the score at 7s through one quarter of play, the Pride regained the lead in the second frame. Sophomore Justin Hardy (New Castle, Del.) returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards to the Widener 45 to give the hosts good field position before Randle continued to stay busy with carrying duties and eventually found the end zone with another one-yard rush at 13:35.
 
Stevenson (6-0, MAC 5-0), however, scored a pair of touchdowns before the half to take control. With the teams tied at 14 and destined to go into the break all knotted up, Adoo made up for his mistake earlier in the game by returning a 44-yard punt by freshman Michael Raczak (Jamison, Pa.) 66 yards in the other direction on the return for a score. The play, which concluded with just 28 seconds on the clock, gave the Mustangs a 21-14 advantage at recess.
 
The visitors used the big play on special teams as a turning point as well as a wave of momentum to take charge in the second half. After Tim Sternfeld converted a 27-yard field goal for the only points of the third quarter, the Mustangs continued a hot stretch of scoring 38 unanswered into the fourth and final stanza. Quarterback Daniel Williams found Devin Williams for an 83-yard touchdown reception with 12:22 left, and then Austin Tennessee and Mike Datu each reached paydirt with interception returns for 60 and 28- yard touchdowns, respectively, with the plays occurring just 16 seconds apart to put the game out of reach.
 
Randle paced a Widener running game with 132 of the team's 200 rushing yards on 25 carries. He also finished with three touchdowns. Quarterback Alex Krivda (Sellersville, Pa.) was limited to just 65 yards in the air and threw two picks which were returning for scores. Defensively, senior Steve Gozur (Hatfield, Pa.) had a team-leading 9.5 tackles.
 
Stevenson's Daniel Williams was 18-for-26 on pass attempts for 240 yards. Devin Salisbury caught 10 balls for 95 yards, while Devin Williams reached the 100-yard plateau on three catches. Both players also scored a touchdown. On defense, Izaiha Pitts had 11 tackles and Tennessee contributed 6.5 tackles in addition to notching a long interception return.
 
Widener (4-2, MAC 4-1) will look to stay in the hunt for a postseason berth when it visits Misericordia on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 1:00 p.m.