Wooster Wins in Final Seconds

Oct 21, 2006

Boxscore

WOOSTER, Ohio – For the second consecutive year, The College of Wooster Fighting Scots (6-1, 3-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) used a play in the waning seconds of the game to win the contest, this time a 43-yard Hail Mary as time expired, giving Wooster a 27-21 victory over the Allegheny College Gators (4-3, 2-2 NCAC).

Allegheny quarterback Jimmy Savage (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) completed 21-of-42 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown, completing eight of those to Jim Lieb (Carrolltown, Pa./Northern Cambira) for 97 yards.

After a pair of failed drives by each team, the Gators took advantage on their third possession, as the team used nine plays to travel 73 yards, scoring when Mario Tarquinio (Charleroi, Pa./Charleroi), above in a photo by Matt Dilyard, plunged into the end zone from a yard away, tying him with head coach Mark Matlak with his 28th career touchdown, however the missed extra point kept the deficit at 6-0 with just under six minutes to play in the first quarter.

Wooster countered after another pair of punts, scoring when quarterback Justin Schafer dove into the end zone from three yards away, culminating a 13-play, 70-yard drive, giving the host Scots a 7-6 lead with 6:41 left in the first half.

On their next possession, the Gators milked the clock, driving to the Wooster four yardline, before Savage found Wooster native Dallas Robinson (Wooster, Ohio/Northwestern) for their fifth touchdown of the season, with the extra point pushing the Gators ahead by a 13-7 margin with just over a minute before halftime, sending the Gators into the locker room with the six-point advantage.

Wooster took the second half kickoff and ate up over eight minutes of clock on a 19-play, 89-yard drive, taking the offense to the Allegheny 12 yardline before Schafer found Shaun Swearingin for the touchdown, taking a 14-13 lead with 6:13 to play in the third quarter. The Wooster offense continued to thrive on their next turn with the ball, as Dustin Sheppard rushed in from seven yards away, capping a five-play, 65-yard drive, pushing the host lead to 21-13.

Allegheny responded with a 16-play, 80-yard drive, scoring when Tarquinio plunged in from a yard away for his second score of the day, as the squad converted on the two-point conversion when Tarquinio took an option from Savage and passed the ball to Robinson in the back right corner of the end zone, knotting the game at 21 apiece.

The game seemed to be heading to overtime, as the Scots had the ball on Allegheny’s 43 yardline with four seconds left to play, as backup quarterback Bobby Reiff, the hero in last season’s 37-34 Wooster win, threw a Hail Mary that was tipped and picked up by wide receiver Swearingin, giving the Scots the 27-21 victory.

Tarquinio ended the game with 87 yards on 25 attempts and two touchdowns, while Wooster put two players into triple figures in rushing yards, Sheppard with 21 attempts for 109 yards and Schafer 18 carries for 101.

Schafer finished the game after completing 11-of-28 passes for 94 yards, while Reiff was 3-for-6 for 57 yards, the majority of those coming on the game’s final play.

Robinson finished with six catches for 50 yards, while freshman Jake Vite (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg Area), above right in a photo by Matt Dilyard, had four catches for 49 yards. Aaron Gertz had a team-best five catches for 36 yards, while Swearingin had four catches, two for touchdowns, and 69 yards.

Mateo Villa (Windsor, Ohio/Middlefield Cardinal) and Andy Toner (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) each had nine tackles as Curt Anderson (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia Notre Dame) ended with seven stops. Joe Zaso (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne) had the game’s only turnover when he picked off a pass at the end of the first half. Bobby Block picked up a game-high 10 stops, as Keith Adams had seven.

The Gators next take to the gridiron on Saturday, October 28 when the team takes on the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University, in the first night game featuring two NCAC teams in the league’s 22-year history, also homecoming for Allegheny.

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