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Saturday, September 28, 2002

From local and wire dispatches

Duquesne Coach Greg Gattuso didn't hesitate. He called the play.

There were seconds left in yesterday's game, the Dukes were tied with Dayton, 28-28, and had driven to the Flyers' 10. Quarterback Niel Loebig went to the sideline during a timeout and told Gattuso that wideout Jeremy Conley would be double-teamed. Gattuso said, "I don't care, throw it to him."

Loebig followed orders, lofting a high spiral toward Conley deep in the corner of the end zone. Conley, a 6-foot-3 senior, pulled it in for a touchdown reception on third down with nine seconds left to lift Duquesne to a 35-28 victory against host Dayton.

"It came down to a big play at the end," said Conley, an Allderdice High graduate who had nine catches for a school-record 245 yards receiving. "It was a normal fade to the corner, and everything went right. It was just me and the corner, and whoever got the ball first."

Conley's touchdown completed an 80-yard drive in the final 2 1/2 minutes as the No. 2-ranked Dukes (4-0) defeated No. 1 Dayton (3-1) in a showdown between NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major heavyweights.

"He's the best I've seen. Period," Gattuso said of Conley. "Going into the game, I thought the teams were very evenly matched. The only advantage I thought we had was our receivers against their defensive backs."

Loebig completed 22 of 37 passes for 411 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a 22-yarder to Michel Warfield and a 26-yarder to Loran Cooley.

"Conley's awfully good. He put on a show," Dayton Coach Mike Kelly said. "He just leaps over the top and fights defenders off."

The Dukes took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on Mike Hilliard's touchdown runs of 11 and 3 yards. Dayton made it 14-7 early in the second quarter on Tony Hurps' 6-yard run, but the Dukes led, 21-7, at halftime on Warfield's touchdown catch.

Dayton pulled within 21-13 after three quarters on Jesse Obert's field goals of 22 and 37 yards. Aaron Furman went 14 yards with a Loebig fumble for a touchdown to tie it 21-21 early in the fourth quarter. Loebig's touchdown pass to Cooley made it 28-21 at 9:39 and Dayton tied it at 28-28 on Kelly Spiker's 22-yard pass to Sean Borchers with 2:34 to go.

Loebig's completions of 11 and 30 yards to Conley set the stage for the dramatic finish.

Duquesne dominated the statistics with 24 first downs and 436 yards to Dayton's 11 first downs and 205 yards. The Dukes turned the ball over four times -- two fumbles and two interceptions. Dayton had one turnover on a fumble.

"This is a great win," said Gattuso. "Dayton has been the best program since I-AA Mid-Major has been around."

Other games

IUP 43, Millersville 16: Quarterback Brian Eyerman (North Allegheny) continued his assault on the IUP record books, throwing for four touchdowns to power the Indians to a victory at Millersville. Eyerman's touchdown passes pushed his career total to 66, breaking the IUP record of 65 held by Tony Aliucci (1988-91). Eyerman completed 14 of 23 passes for 221 yards with no interceptions. Carmelo Ocasio caught four touchdown passes for the Indians, ranked 14th in NCAA Division II, tying the IUP single-game record set twice previously, most recently by Jai Hill against Clarion in 1990.

California 51, Cheyney State 7: The Vulcans raised their record to 4-0 under new coach John Luckhardt as Wesley Clemons rushed for 112 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries and Brandon LeDonne completed 15 of 24 passes for 278 yards and touchdowns of 22, 23 and 79 yards to Dedric Anderson.

Washington and Jefferson 21, Thiel 17: The visiting Presidents (2-1, 1-0 Presidents' Athletic Conference) defeated the Tomcats (1-3, 0-1) for the 21st consecutive time as Brian Dawson threw touchdown passes of 4 and 11 yards to Todd Fry in the third quarter. Dawson competed 11 of 25 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns and Joey Nichols rushed for 118 yards on 27 carries. *East Stroudsburg 30, Edinboro 24: The Fighting Scots (3-1) fumbled on the 6 in the final seconds in the loss at East Stroudsburg (3-1). Edinboro redshirt freshman Justin Bouch made his first collegiate start and completed 22 of 35 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns and Alonzo Roebuck rushed for 130 yards on 22 carries.

Bloomsburg 38, Slippery Rock 14: Jeff Valentino completed 13 of 28 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns and Ryan McKavish had nine catches for 153 yards as the Rock (2-2) lost at Bloomsburg (3-1). Bloomsburg, which led, 21-0, at halftime, featured Mike Ceroli's 169 yards rushing and a touchdown and Andrew Herrmann's 214 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Clarion 31, Kutztown 7: Quarterback Adam Almashy ran 1 and 6 yards for touchdowns and threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Justin Sickeri to lead the visiting Golden Eagles (3-1) over the Bears (1-3).

Johns Hopkins 28, Carnegie Mellon 7: George Merrell rushed for a touchdown and threw for a score as the Blue Jays (3-0) defeated the visiting Tartans (2-2). CMU quarterback Jarrod Highberger, who replaced starter Robb Finkey in the second quarter, ran 2 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. He completed 11 of 29 passes for 131 yards.

Sacred Heart 28, St. Francis 0: Joe Kroells passed for 110 yards and a touchdown and Ed Pricolo rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown as visiting Sacred Heart (2-2) handed St. Francis (0-3) its 26th consecutive loss.

Trinity International 21, Geneva 14: Masa Matsumoto ran 15 yards for a touchdown with 25 seconds left as Trinity (3-1) defeated the visiting Golden Tornadoes (2-2). Geneva tailback Josh Mullen rushed for 104 yards on 20 carries, Aaron Price had seven catches for 98 yards and Ben Swallow completed 14 of 27 passes for 169 yards.

Grove City 28, Bethany 20: Steve Roberts rushed for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Todd Smargiasso completed 7 of 8 passes for 133 yards and a 27-yard touchdown to Jason DeMeo as the visiting Wolverines (2-2, 1-0) defeated the Bison (1-3, 0-1) in the PAC.

Gannon 35, W.Va. State 21: Darmel Whitfield rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown and passed for 112 yards and a score to lead the visiting Golden Knights (3-2) over West Virginia State (1-3).

Mercyhurst 17, Northwood 14: Jim Schuler came off the bench to complete 3 of 4 passes for 84 yards and a 68-yard touchdown to Faheem Williams and Marcus Patton rushed for 67 yards on 20 carries as the host Lakers (2-2) defeated Northwood (1-3).

Waynesburg 39, Alfred 3: Sophomore Jeff Dumm (Charleroi) ran 1 and 12 yards for touchdowns and passed 66 yards to Bobby Hogue, 13 yards to Dominick Hunter and 62 yards to Ivan Hawkins for scores to lead the visiting Yellow Jackets (2-1) over Alfred (1-3).

Juniata 34, Wilkes 26: Craig Moshier scored on runs of 37 and 3 yards and Greg Troutman threw two touchdown passes to lead visiting Juniata (4-0) over Wilkes (1-2).