DALLAS, Pa. (Oct. 22, 2016) – Sophomore
D'Andre Sapp (Queens, N.Y.) rushed for a pair of touchdowns and was among six players to reach paydirt as the Widener University football team raced to a convincing 51-9 victory over Misericordia on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon at Mangelsdorf Field.
After Misericordia (0-7, MAC 0-6) was forced to punt on its first possession, Widener started with the ball on its own 23 and quickly marched down the field for the first score of the game.
Montrell Hicks-Taylor (Newark, Del.) caught a long toss from senior
Alex Krivda (Sellersville, Pa.) for 39 yards to put the visitors in good field position, and Sapp charged in for a touchdown from 12 yards away to put the Pride on the board. The 77-yard drive only took 2:36 off the clock.
The Cougars took advantage of a blocked punt to get their first points by converting a 37-yard field goal at 5:33, but the visitors marched down the field on their next possession and were able to reach paydirt again without any trouble. Sapp rushed 10 yards to record his second touchdown of the afternoon and give the guests a 14-3 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
The teams continued to exchange scores in the second quarter. After
Michael Raczak (Jamison, Pa.) kicked a line drive through the uprights from 39 yards out, the Cougars scored a 64-yard touchdown when Sam Gillison caught a short pitch from Jeff Krisiak and marched down the left sideline.
Haydn Warren (East Brunswick, N.J.) then caught an 11-yard pass from Krivda to make it 24-9 with 5:41 left to play in the half. The Pride dodged a bullet when the Cougars could not slice the deficit after blocking another punt, and the teams went to the recess with the visitors leading by 15.
With the offense struggling to earn good field position in the second half, the defense stepped up to put points on the board. Misericordia made it into the red zone and was threatening to score, but a ball that was stripped by senior
Byron Cooper (Philadelphia, Pa.) was scooped up by classmate
Travon Barnes (Randallstown, Md.) and brought back 87 yards to make it 31-9 with 6:42 on the clock. Hicks-Taylor then put the game away by racing 75 yards for a touchdown just 2:09 later.
Led by Hicks-Taylor, the Pride had a commanding 342-63 advantage in rushing yards. Hicks-Taylor registered a team-leading 110 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown, while
Nick Milone (Wallingford, Pa.) added 81 yards and
Richard Brown (Trenton, N.J.) had 70.
On the defensive side on the ball, senior captain
Steve Gozur (Hatfield, Pa.) recorded a team-high seven tackles and had one pass breakup. Cooper added four tackles in addition to forcing a fumble that led to a score.
Misericordia, which was limited to just 197 yards of offense, was offensively paced by Krisiak. He completed nine passes for 139 yards. Gillison recorded 74 receiving yards, which included a 64-yard touchdown reception. Rand-Willever recorded a game-high 10 tackles, while Henn added nine tackles and had six solo.
Widener (5-2, MAC 5-1) returns home to face reigning champion Albright on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1:00 p.m.
