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Gators Dominate Denison, 37-0; Now In NCAC Driver’s Seat
October 25, 2003
Gators Dominate Denison, 37-0; Now In NCAC Driver’s Seat
Smith, Turner Rewriting Gator Record Books
Senior quarterback Bubba Smith (Doylestown, Ohio/Chippewa) became the Gators all-time lead with 410 career pass completions and tied the career record for passing touchdowns with 48. Smith’s favorite target, senior wideout Jon Turner (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area) became the Gators all-time leader in receiving yardage as he caught nine passes for 137 yards in Allegheny’s 37-0 win over Denison on Saturday afternoon at Robertson Field. Smith finished the game 27-for-36 for 361 yards and a touchdown.
For his career, Turner is the career record holder with 146 receptions for 1,813 yards. He is tied for the career touchdown receptions record with 18.
With the win, Allegheny is in sole possession of first place in the NCAC, pending the results of the Oberlin-Wabash game on Saturday afternoon. The Gators entertain Wittenberg (6-1, 3-1 NCAC) next weekend in a game that will likely determine the conference champion and who receives the NCAA automatic qualifier. Allegheny hasn’t beaten Wittenberg, who cruised to a 63-0 win over Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday, since the 1996 season.
Against Denison, the Gators racked up a season-high 580 yards of offense while holding the Big Red to just 184 yards. The Allegheny defense continues to shutdown opposing offenses as they held the NCAC’s second-leading rusher, Phil Bouwhis to just 53 yards on 10 carries. The defense has now allowed just 43 points over the last 20 quarters, an average of 8.6 points per game. Senior Matt Komar (Chesterland, Ohio/West Geauga) led the defense this week with seven stops and one pass break-up.
After scoring via the big play last week against Wooster, the Allegheny offense put together six scoring drives of six plays or longer against Denison. After the Gators forced a three-and-out on the Big Red’s first possession, they drove 84 yards on eight plays to take a 6-0 lead on Smith’s one-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Marko Fonzi (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood). The point-after was missed, making the score 6-0. The pass tied Smith with Kyle Adamson ’98 for first all-time with 48 career touchdown passes.
Junior running back Jamie Sye (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) ran for two two-yard touchdowns before the end of the quarter, capping a six-play, 66-yard drive, and an eight-play, 32-yard drive to give Allegheny a 20-0 lead. Sye finished the game with 21 carries for 122 yards and three touchdowns. The junior tailback stretched the lead to 27-0 with 10:15 left in the third with a six-yard run that capped a 10-play, 78-yard drive.
Sophomore tailback Kyle Geiser (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) added a one-yard run with 1:59 left in the third that ended a 12-play drive that started at the Gator 11-yard line. Senior kicker Aaron Polack (Medina, Ohio/Medina) added a 28-yard field goal to cap the scoring.