A Tale of Two Halves in 28-7 Gator Victory over Wooster
Turner, Smith set single-season records in win

Box Score

Meadville, Pa. - November 3, 2001- It was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves. After totaling just 80 yards, no points and four first downs in the first half of today's game at Robertson Field, the Allegheny College football team staged a dramatic turnaround in the second half for a 28-7 victory over the College of Wooster. Trailing 7-0 after the first half of play, the Gators scored 28 unanswered points, and piled up 251 yards to erase the deficit.

The Gators Jon Turner and Bubba Smith set single-season Gator records on the same play, as Smith hit Turner for a 9-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. The reception gave Turner 54 for the season, a school record, while the TD pass, coupled with one earlier in the game, gave Smith 19 for the season, also a school record.

The Fighting Scots jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the 14:39 mark of the second quarter, when Scott Jones went in from 1-yard out, taking a pitch left from quarterback Justin Alaburda. But the story of the first half was the Wooster defense holding the Gators scoreless for the fourth straight quarter, as the Allegheny passing game was just 3-of-10 and Wooster sacked Smith four times.

In the second half, though, Allegheny dominated the field position battle, starting eight drives beyond its own 40-yard line, while limiting Wooster to 7-of-9 drive starts inside its own 25. After having good field position early in the third quarter, but not scoring, the Gators knotted the score on their third drive of the half. Smith hit Wyatt Jones on a flat pass for a 3-yard TD at the 7:27 mark of the third.

The Gators took over on the Wooster 35-yard line as the Gators defense took over, holding the Scots to 8 yards on its first seven drives of the half. Three plays later, Shane Ream went in from 30 yards out to give Allegheny a 14-7 lead. The Gators scored on its third consecutive possession as Smith went in from eight yards out for a 21-7 lead at the 1:46 mark of the third quarter. Allegheny closed out the scoring at the 4:21 when Smith and Turner connected for the ninth time this season, to make it 28-7.

Turner breaks the record of 53 set first by Jay Lewis in 1969 and equaled by Ronnie Anderson in 1995. Smith broke Kyle Adamson's record of 17 TD passes, which he set in 1996. Ream finished the day with 32 carries for 149 yards, moving to 3,983 career yards as he looks to become the first Gator to go over 4,000 yards next week. Jared McNeilly finished with three catches for 60 yards, while Tim Carl had four grabs for 75 yards.

Alaburda was 12-of-35 on the day for 146 yards, while Smith completed 16-of-28 passes for 196 yards. Ryan Hartschuh caught five passes for 74 yards to lead Wooster, while Turner had four grabs for 34 yards. The Gators improved to 5-4 (4-2 NCAC), while Wooster fell to 2-6 (2-4 NCAC).