Mid-States Football Association

Leg work makes difference for #5 Cougars in win at #18 Malone

Sun, Nov 4, 2007 - [Football] - Viewed 490 times

CANTON, Ohio -- The answer is: Jeff Wedding.
Not Daniel Carter.
Not Taylor Vieck.
Not Doug Wasylk.
The question?

Who became the first University of Saint Francis player to rush for 100 or more yards in a game in the Cougars' 10th season?
Who'd have thunk it? Yet Wedding used his legs as well as his arm to help lead the fifth-ranked Cougars to a hard-earned 31-17 win over 18th-ranked Malone College in Canton, Ohio, late Saturday afternoon and into the early evening.
Wedding ran for 117 yards on 11 carries and the Cougars rushed for 336 yards against a Pioneers' defense that came into the game ranked No. 2 in the Mid-States Football Association against the rush. MC's rush defense had given up an average of 87.4 yards a game -- until Saturday.
USF's 336 yards rushing, 3 rushing TDs, and 523 yards total offense were all season bests by a Pioneers' opponent.
"Jeff did a great job of reading the defense and taking what was available, many times the quarterback run," USF coach Kevin Donley said. "I think it really kept them off-balance and he did a good job of finding receivers at the right time. This was a tough game, a win I want our players to enjoy a little bit before we start thinking about our final regular-season game.
"Let's just say we had to battle through a fair amount of adversity," Donley said when asked about USF getting called for nine penalties in the first half worth 75 yards.
That 'adversity' started on MC's first possession when the Pioneers maneuvered 62 yards in 14 plays including two 15-yard penalties against USF. Jarrell Hunter thwarted the MC scoring threat when he picked off a Billy Bob Orsagh pass at the USF 7 and returned it to the 10.
"That was a huge pick because they really had some momentum," Donley said.
Rhys Barnhart booted the Cougars to a 3-0 lead with a USF record 33-yard field goal with 19 seconds to play in the first quarter. The two teams traded pointless possessions until just 1:39 remained in the half. Derek Deardorff slipped behind the USF defense and hauled on a perfect pass from substitute MC quarterback Dom Liberati for a 72-yard strike.

Liberati replaced Orsagh, who had battled illness during the week.
"That 72-yard TD pass may have been the slap in the face we needed," Donley recalled. Bart Schnur was the first Cougar to slap back. MC kicked away from MSFA kickoff return leader Daniel Carter to Schnur, who motored 41 yards to the Malone 41 and with an offside penalty tacked on, USF started at the MC 36 with 1:28 to play. All it took to regain the lead was a 19-yard Wedding run and a 17-yard Carter dash. USF led 10-7 with 1:14 to play.
MC came right back to advance to the USF 9, but after an illegal shift penalty, Liberati threw for the end zone and Cody Capps picked it off. He ran it back to the USF 22, just barely stepping out of bounds. He had designs on a TD run and came so close.
At the half, Wedding had 86 yards rushing on six carries, a 14.3 average per carry. MC's Bernard Payton, the MSFA's leading rusher with 121.6 yards per game and 20 TDs (rushing and receiving), had 84 yards on 17 carries.
Nothing was settled, however, since USF only led 10-7 against a team averaging 472 yards total offense per game and 34.4 points per game.
Wedding connected with Zach Rainey for a 36-yard TD strike on USF's second possession in the third quarter -- a six play, 83-yard drive that increased the Cougars lead to 17-7 with 5:52 left in the quarter.
USF appeared to deal the Pioneers a back-breaker when the Cougars marched 99 yards in 8 plays to score on a Marcus Rush 7-yard bulldozer-like run. Rush got the drive started from the USF 1-yard line with a 40-yard burst up the middle. USF offensive tackle Derek Bryant kept the drive intact when he recovered a USF fumble.
MC closed the deficit to 24-10 early in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard Mike Skvor field goal, but the Cougars retaliated with another big defensive play. USF's Justin Milcarek pounced on Josh Settlemire's fumbled punt fair catch attempt at the MC 16-yard line and three plays later Daniel Carter scored on a 2-yard run. USF led 31-10 with 9:11 to play.
MC scored on a 3-minute, 72-yard 11 play drive when Liberati snuck in from the USF 1-yard line, then the Pioneers recovered the onside kick. Donavon Evans halted the MC threat to make things interesting when he picked off a Liberati pass brilliantly getting a toe down before going out of bounds with 2:01 to play.
USF won for the ninth time at Fawcett Stadium in nine games and secured its ninth consecutive win in 10 games against the Pioneers. The Cougars won despite a 206-yard effort by Payton, his second game with 200-plus yards this season and his sixth consecutive game with 100 or more yards rushing.
Payton set four new Malone rushing records. The 6’1’, 205 lb. senior from Pomona, CA, has now carried the ball 256 times this year for 1300 yards, breaking the previous single-season marks of 225 rushing attempts and 1165 yards that were each set by running back Joel Peterson in 2001 (attempts) and 2002 (yards). Also, with 206 yards on Saturday, Payton has now rushed for 100 or more yards in six consecutive games and has gained over 100 yards in eight of the Pioneers’ ten contests. These two accomplishments, six straight 100-yard games and the total of eight 100-yard performances in a single season, break the previous Malone records of five consecutive 100-yard games (Dan DeGeorge, 1994) and seven total 100-yard performances (Joel Peterson, 2001).

MC sports information contributed to this report