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Gators Opening Day Woes Continue With Loss to Baldwin-Wallace
September 6, 2003
For the sixth straight season, the Allegheny College football team dropped their opening day game, this time by a score of 45-26 to third-ranked Baldwin-Wallace in Berea, Ohio. The Gators quickly fell behind as the Yellowjackets took advantage of good field position to jump out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
Baldwin-Wallace piled up 532 yards of offense in the contest, 407 on the ground and 125 through the air. Mark Anders led the Yellowjacket offense with 167 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries. Bubba Smith (Doylestown, Ohio/Chippewa) led the Gator rushing attack with 39 yards and went 13-for-28 passing for 190 yards and three TD’s.
Baldwin-Wallace took advantage of a short field on their first possession of the game, driving 42 yards on four running plays with Anders capping it off on a six-yard run just 3:11 into the first quarter. Anders made quick work on the Yellowjackets second drive, rambling 56 yards on the home team’s second possession of the contest. Baldwin-Wallace pushed the lead to 21-0 with 1:47 left on the clock, taking advantage of Rashawn Allen’s fumble on a punt. This Yellowjacket drive was short as well -- just 41 yards on six plays capped off by Ander’s second six-yard score of the game and third touchdown.
After Kevin Hille’s 38-yard field goal made it a 24-0 game, the Gator offense finally came to life. Smith hit senior Jon Turner (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) for a 39-yard pass down the sideline, then found Turner again on a third-down pass to the Yellowjacket five-yard line. Smith capped it off with a touch pass to senior Brian Woods (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) to get Allegheny the board, cutting the margin to 24-7 with 8:51 left in the second quarter.
Yellowjacket quarterback Dan Larlham answered the Gator score by ending a six-play, 80-yard drive with an eight-yard scamper and then hit wideout Gary Kopchak from 23 yards out to make it 38-7. Senior Aaron Polack (Medina, Ohio/Medina) hit a 21-yard field goal for Allegheny to send the game into the half.
The scoring continued into the third as Larlham picked up his second rushing TD of the game, but Woods erased that score with a 66-yard run and catch from Smith. After the Gator defense forced a fumble, Polack hit a 35-yard field goal to make the score 45-19.
Allegheny tacked on one more score in the fourth as Turner caught a two-yard touchdown pass to move him into a second-place tie for career touchdown receptions with 16 and cap the scoring at 45-26. He finished the game with eight receptions for 92 yards and the one score.
The Gators are on the road again in week two as they take on rival Washington & Jefferson in a 6:00 p.m. game on Saturday, September 13.