Football
Lebanon Valley 42, Widener 38
Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - For the third straight week, Lebanon Valley found itself down in the fourth quarter, and for the third straight week, it came back to win.
The Dutchmen scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the go-ahead scramble by quarterback
Caleb Fick, to come back and edge Widener 42-38 in a thriller at Arnold Field.
Lebanon Valley improved to 4-4 and 3-2 in the MAC behind Fick, who threw for 193 yards and a career-high four touchdowns along with his rushing score.
Ed Tobin caught a career-best seven catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The LVC defense, led by
Jason Gigous' 20 tackles, made two big fourth-quarter plays, first on
Nic Shirey's midfield interception to set up Fick's touchdown, and then as
Alex Gilchrist sacked Chris Haupt on a key down during Widener's final drive.
"We found a way to win, but the other thing we found out about our team is that we have a big heart," said Head Coach Jim Monos. "We made our share of mistakes, but we also made our fair share of big plays in the fourth quarter"
Widener's Brendan Curran ran for four touchdowns, all of them from a yard out; back-up quarterback Tevin Campbell ran for 102 yards on 14 carries in the first half before leaving the game with an injury.
LVC led 14-0 to start the game after Tobin shook his coverage for a 37-yard touchdown catch and
Zach Bleiler stripped Haupt and ran the recovery back 15 yards for a touchdown.
Campbell took over for Widener and torched LVC, scoring on a 34-yard run and then setting up back-to-back Curran touchdowns to start the second quarter.
Brendan Riley caught a one-yard touchdown pass late in the quarter, but Widener went up 28-21 at the half after Curran's third touchdown came with 15 seconds to go.
Curran scored again to begin the second half, but LVC began to claw back, beginning with
Yahya McIntyre's first career touchdown late in the third, and tying it at 35-35 with Tobin's second touchdown of the afternoon on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Matt Brelin hit a 27-yard field goal with 9:26 to go to retake a 38-35 lead, and Widener got the ball right back as Gary Fish hit
Ben Guiles at midfield and popped the ball out for Shane Szumski to fall on.
LVC's defense made sure Widener didn't capitalize, with a Bleiler sack stopping the drive, and Kevin Huelster unloaded a disasterous 10-yard punt to give LVC the ball at their own 37.
Looking to drive for the win, Fick was intercepted by Kevin Franklin at midfield, but three plays later, Shirey negated the turnover when he picked Haupt and set LVC up at their own 44. Consecutive first-down completions to Riley, Tobin, and McIntyre put LVC inside the 10, and Fick scrambled out for a four-yard score with 2:26 remaining.
Widener had one last chance, but hurt themselves with an offensive pass interference call in the end zone, and Gilchrist dropped Haupt to force a third-and-30 at midfield. After an incompletion,
Dane Eichelberger intercepted the ball at the two yardline, and LVC was able to kill the clock.
Game Notes
Gigous' 20 tackles were only two short of the school record ... Bleiler had a disruptive game, finishing with 3.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries with the touchdown ... Jur'ey Fowlkes also had an interception to join Shirey and Eichelberger ... Widener had superior offensive numbers, racking up 417 yards to LVC's 323 ... Widener led 34:47-25:10 on possession ... Fick is the first LVC quarterback to throw four touchdowns since Dan Kelly had five in his final career game against Albright in 2006 ... Fick finished 17-for-32, and did not take a sack ... LVC got to Haupt four times, and also knocked Campbell out of the game early in the third quarter after a keeper ... Jake Zeigler took over punting for the first time in his career and did well, averaging 31.0 with one inside the 20 and a 42-yard boomer ... Widener did not return a punt for positive yardage ... Huelster averaged just 19.7 yards per punt for Widener ... Ben Guiles had a relatively quiet game, carrying 20 times for 83 yards ... LVC also lost a fumble on a Zeigler kick return ... Widener was 3-for-4 on fourth-down conversions ... Sean Fakete took over PAT duties and went 6-for-6 ... The game start was delayed to 1:30 p.m. due to bus trouble for Widener.
