ACFC Week 2 Summaries
ACFC Weekend Report - Week 2
September 8 results
Apprentice School 17, Frostburg State 7
Salisbury 40, SUNY Brockport 14
Wesley 24, Delaware Valley 21
September 14 games
Wesley at Widener
September 15 games
Salisbury at Christopher Newport
Frostburg State at Randolph-Macon
Cortland State at SUNY Brockport
GAME STORIES
Builders Win ACFC Opener 17-7 Over Frostburg State
NEWPORT NEWS, VA. - Covering all the angles on Saturday against Atlantic Central Football Conference rival Frostburg State University, the Apprentice School used a little bit of offense, defense and special teams in recording a 17-7 victory in front of 2,200 fans at Apprentice Field.
The first half saw a continuation of Apprentice School's 3-0 loss last week to Division II Fairmont State when defense held fort as neither team had the ball in decent field position. Senior Quentin Forbes forced a fumble late in the first quarter which was recovered by junior Mike Hogan on the Frostburg 10. The Builders were held on downs and sophomore Matt Edelen converted a 23-yard field goal with 15 seconds left for a 3-0 Apprentice lead.
Frostburg State took its opening possession of the second half and scored on a 56-yard scoring drive. The last 15 were an Andre Dixon pass to Benjamin Tate for a touchdown with 11:35 left to go ahead 7-3.
In the fourth quarter, the Builders offense started to show signs of getting together as they marched on an 80-yard drive with senior quarterback Kyle Franklin connecting with senior wide receiver Travis Reid on a 13-yard scoring pass. Edelen's extra-point put the Builders ahead 10-7 with 13:07 left in the game. The scoring pass to Reid was his 21st career touchdown reception to set the school modern-era record.
"Offensively we started to show signs of who we can be, especially putting together the 80-yard scoring drive," said Apprentice School coach Phil Janaro. "Our defense played some heroic ball today and kept us alive until we could get those scores in the fourth quarter."
Special teams struck again for the Builders as senior Tony Scott blocked the tenth kick of his career coming through on a punt with 6:57 left. Junior Lawrence Frost picked it up and ran 34 yards for the final touchdown.
"What more can you say about special teams," said Janaro. "We punted the ball well and in pressure spots, and we blocked another punt."
Freshman Lamar Lancaster was the leading rusher for the Builders with 79 yards on 14 carries. Franklin was 14-of-26 for 88 yards passing, while Reid caught eight passes for 50 yards. Defensively, sophomore Jeremy Smith was the leading tackler with eight, then sophomore Thomas Moultrie with seven. Scott and freshman L.A. Colon added six apiece as the Builders held Frostburg State to 208 yards of offense.
The Apprentice School is off next week and will then travel to Emory, Va. and face Emory & Henry College on September 22 at 1 pm.
Salisbury Defeats Brockport in Golden Eagles Opener
Curley runs for 75 and passes for 76 yards for the Sea Gulls
BROCKPORT, NY -- Ronnie Curley rushed for 75 yards and a touchdown and threw for 76 more with a touchdown to lead Salisbury University to an Atlantic Central Football Conference (ACFC) win, 40-14 over SUNY Brockport on Saturday at Special Olympics Stadium.
With the game 17-14 at halftime, the Sea Gulls scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to account for the 40-14 final score. The Sea Gull defense had two key interceptions both leading to touchdowns for Salisbury.
Salisbury (2-0, 1-0 ACFC) began the game in Brockport territory after they took the opening kickoff and returned it to the Golden Eagle 46 yard line. Six plays later, the Sea Gulls capped off the drive with a three yard touchdown run to give Salisbury the early 7-0 lead. The Golden Eagles answered with a 53-yard drive capped off when McCormick turned the corner and scampered 23 yards for the tying touchdown with 37 seconds to go in the first quarter, 7-7.
After quarterback Zack Luke (Cambridge, NY/Cambridge) threw an interception deep in his own territory, The Sea Gulls responded with a touchdown two plays later to push the score to 14-7 with 11:30 to go in the first half. The Golden Eagles (0-1, 0-1 ACFC) took the kickoff and strung together a nine play 67-yard drive ending with McCormick's second touchdown of the day to tie the score at 14-14 with just over seven minutes to play in the second quarter. The Sea Gulls ended the scoring with a 29 yard field to take a 17-14 lead into intermission.
After a three and out to start the second half, the Golden Eagles punted to Salisbury who then drove 69 yards for a touchdown capped by a 56-yard run by Sea Gull quarterback Ronnie Curley to push the score to 24-14 with ten minutes to play in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles put together a long drive that extended deep into Salisbury territory that ended when Luke rolled to his left and just under threw wide receiver Mike Smith (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) in the end zone and the pass was intercepted. The Sea Gulls responded with an 80-yard drive including a 47-yard touchdown pass to give Salisbury the 31-14 lead with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter.
Salisbury would go on to add a field goal and a late touchdown for the
40-14 final score. The Sea Gulls out gained the Golden Eagles 293-132 on the ground and held the advantage in total yards, 427-301. Luke finished the day 16-27 passing for 169 yards and two interceptions. Junior Garet Lynch (Valley Stream, NY/Springfield Gardens) finished with 34 yards on the ground pushing him over 1,000 career rushing yards at SUNY Brockport.
Defensively, Chris Loveland registered 10 tackles for the Sea Gulls to lead all tacklers. Ryan Hesnan finished with nine tackles of his own for Salisbury. Kyle Lackie (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga) and Jarrett Woodfork (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Ludden) each recorded nine tackles to lead SUNY Brockport.
Wesley Saves Victory with Comeback
Dover, DE - For the second consecutive week, the 7th ranked Wesley Wolverines used a second half comeback to steal victory from quality visiting opponents. Down 21-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Wesley (2-0) scored the final 17 points to down traveling Delaware Valley Aggies (0-2) at Wolverine stadium.
Delaware Valley used three Wesley miscues to help build their 21-7 lead. Early in the first quarter, Wesley snapped a ball over the punters head to give the Aggies a short field. Three plays later, Mike Isgro connected with Joel Foreman to give Delaware Valley a 7-0 lead midway through the first period.
Two possessions later, score stood knotted a 7-7 when Jason Schatz connected with Michael Clarke on a 31-yard score. The play was one of just two passes on the seven-play, 80-yard drive.
In the second, Charles Squitiere returned an interception 52 yards to the Wesley 46, silencing a Wolverine drive deep into Aggie territory. Matt Cook took care of the rest with runs of 35, and five yards before he bounced off tackles on the right side for a six-yard touchdown run.
Wesley found itself down two touchdowns after Schatz fumbled as he was sacked in the third quarter. Delaware Valley recovered at the Wesley four and handed off to Cook three more times, ending with his second touchdown of the day, a one yard plunge.
The Wolverines showed some wrinkles in their offense, lining up Larry Beavers as a shotgun quarterback with Schatz out wide. While Wesley did not score on either drive in which it used the formation, the alignment gave the Wolverine offense a change of pace that would serve the tradition formation well in the fourth quarter.
On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, Schatz hit Beavers on a hitch on third and seven and the speedy junior took the ball 56 yards cutting back from the flat and outracing Delaware Valley to the end zone. The score stood at 21-14 with Delaware Valley ahead by a touchdown and 9:05 remaining.
After forcing a three and out after Sean Matthews sacked Isgro on the third down, the Aggies' punt went just 28 yards and the Wolverines took over at midfield. Wesley converted a fourth and eight when Schatz and Beavers connected on a 13-yard completion, but on the next fourth down, the coaching staff called on freshman kicker Collin Blugis. Blugis answered with a 37-yard field goal that split the uprights to make it 21-17 in favor of Delaware Valley with 7:39 to play.
The defense came up big again on the next series. Jeremiah Santiago hit Isgro, forcing a fumble. Matthews jumped on the loose ball and Wesley had life, taking over at the Aggies' 22. After Delaware Valley stuffed the Wolverines on the first three downs, Schatz took a shot at the end zone on fourth down. Big tight end Jon Lanouette went up and came down with the ball, crashing into a pair of Delaware Valley defenders as he landed, knocking all three into the end zone. After the extra point, Wesley had completed its comeback with a 24-21 lead and just 5:31 left.
The defense shut down the Aggies' last gasp with Chris Mayes picking up his first career sack in a timely manner, taking down Isgro on third down.
The defense helped key the second half comeback, allowing just 43 yards and one first down over the final two quarters. Matthews led the way for the second week in a row, registering 11 tackles, two for loss, one sack, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass. Starting due to injuries to Josh Nevid and Brandon Huntbach, Gabe Tranchetti and Josh Jones came up big with 10 stops apiece.
Beavers caught six passes for 102 yards and a score. Clarke hauled in four passes for 95 yards. Aaron Jackson handled much of the load in the running game, carrying 19 times for 70 yards.
Schatz tossed three scores for the second straight week, completing 19-of-38 for 261 yards, breaking a Delaware Valley steak of 13 games not allowing the opposition to top 20 points.
Matt Cook led all players with 92 yards rushing for the Aggies. Isgro finished just 8-of-18 for 69 yards. Foreman's two catches and 44 yards both led Delaware Valley.
John Pursell had a big game on defense for Delaware Valley, making a game-high 16 tackles, including four for loss and forced a fumble.
The Wolverines outgained the Aggies 346-to-162 on the afternoon.
Wesley takes the road for its first road game next weekend, traveling to Widener for a rare Friday night contest. Kick off is at 7:00 PM.