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Sunday, October 13, 2002

From local and wire dispatches

On a dreary, rainy day in Jersey City, N.J., Duquesne’s season turned even brighter.

The Dukes scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to overtake host St. Peter’s, 14-3, in a showdown for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Duquesne, ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major, took a huge step toward capturing its fourth consecutive MAAC championship and a spot in the ECAC Bowl against the champion of the Northeast Conference. The Dukes, winners of 19 consecutive games against league opponents, is 6-0 and 3-0 in the MAAC.

No. 5 St. Peter’s (4-3, 3-1) has been Duquesne’s chief challenger in the league the past two seasons.

After St. Peter’s took a 3-0 lead on James Galea’s 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter, Duquesne’s Niel Loebig plunged a yard for a touchdown with 11:06 left in the game and tailback Mike Hilliard secured the win on a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:18 left.

Hilliard had career highs of 35 carries and 133 yards, and Loebig completed 14 of 27 passes for 178 yards. Senior wideout Jeremy Conley had six catches for 91 yards.

But Coach Greg Gattuso praised the job the defense did, limiting St. Peter’s to eight first downs and 132 yards. St. Peter’s quarterbacks Andre Harris and Mike Seber combined to complete 2 of 9 passes for minus-4 yards.

“Our defense was outstanding,’’ Gattuso said. “It gets overshadowed too often. They’re just warriors. They love a street fight, and they got it today. St. Peter’s played hard and had a great game plan, but we were able to make some big plays at the end.

“Our drive after their field goal was huge. We decided to just do what we do. We were able to spread things out.’’

Other games:

Wagner 29, Robert Morris 0: Robert Morris (3-3, 2-2 Northeast Conference), which was shut out last week for the first time in the nine-year history of the program, hasn’t scored in eight quarters. Andrew Geyer, a freshman quarterback from Deer Lakes, completed 6 of 15 passes for 69 yards in his first collegiate start. He was intercepted twice and sacked seven times. Develand Campbell rushed for 48 yards on 17 carries, but the Colonials had only 3 net yards on 31 carries. Robert Morris had four first downs and 72 yards, and Wagner (4-2, 2-1) had 12 first downs and 242 yards. Wagner’s David Bateman passed for 105 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Davis ran 2 yards for a score.

Clarion 34, West Chester 28: Glenn Lovelace rushed for 181 yards and touchdowns of 45 and 53 yards and Adam Almashy rushed for 100 yards and completed 9 of 15 passes for 94 yards as the Golden Eagles (4-2) defeated the visiting Rams (2-4). Almashy has 1,089 career rushing yards to become the first Clarion quarterback to go over the 1,000-yard plateau.

California 34, Lock Haven 19: Wesley Clemons rushed for 174 yards and touchdowns of 1, 1 and 23 yards and Dustin Strayer completed 17 of 26 passes for 211 yards and an 8-yard touchdown to Garvin Graves as the Vulcans (5-1, 1-1 PSAC West) defeated visiting Lock Haven (3-3, 0-1). California had 23 first downs and 477 yards, and Lock Haven had five first downs and 92 yards.

Thiel 21, Waynesburg 13: Daryl Moore passed for 237 yards and three touchdowns and Shannon Alston had 11 catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns as the Tomcats (3-3, 2-1 Presidents Athletic Conference) took a 21-0 halftime lead and held on to defeat the visiting Yellow Jackets (3-2, 1-1). Thiel has won consecutive games for the first time since 1991 and has a two-game win streak in the PAC for the first time since 1989.

Shippensburg 13, Slippery Rock 7: Tyler Novak’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Sekel in overtime lifted the Red Raiders (4-2, 2-0 PSAC West) over the visiting Rock (3-3, 1-1). Shippensburg tied the score, 7-7, with Jarrod Dech’s 5-yard run in the fourth quarter. Slippery Rock had taken a 7-0 lead in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Brandon Markus.

Central Connecticut 28, St. Francis 10: Major Cole rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown as the Blue Devils (3-4, 1-2 NEC) rallied from a 10-0 deficit after the first quarter to defeat visiting St. Francis (0-5, 0-3) and hand the Red Flash their 28th consecutive defeat. For St. Francis, Michael Hall rushed for 110 yards and a 1-yard touchdown and Derek Border completed 5 of 14 passes for 64 yards.

Westminster 23, Bethany 20: Josh Simpson’s 38-yard field goal with 4:46 left capped a 65-yard drive to lift the Titans (3-2, 1-1 PAC) over the visiting Bison (1-5, 0-3). Westminster’s Scott Froelich rushed for 143 yards and a 10-yard touchdown and Matt Robison passed for 164 yards and a 45-yard touchdown to Matt Steve.

Allegheny 56, Hiram 0: Jamie Sye rushed for 92 yards and touchdowns of 3 and 2 yards and Bubba Smith completed 12 of 13 passes for 141 yards and a 5-yard touchdown to Brian Woods as the Gators (2-3, 1-1) defeated visiting Hiram (0-5, 0-2) in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Smith also scored on runs of 10 and 2 yards, and Woods scored on a 79-yard kickoff return.

Geneva 17, Malone 10: Kelly Lennox rushed for 111 yards and a 1-yard touchdown and Ben Swallow completed 11 of 18 passes for 118 yards as the visiting Golden Tornadoes (3-3, 1-1) defeated Malone (3-2, 0-2).

Tiffin 49, Gannon 48: Darmel Whitfield rushed for 165 yards and touchdowns of 38, 15 and 16 yards and completed 19 of 29 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown as the Golden Knights (3-4) lost to visiting Tiffin (1-5).

West Liberty State 47, W.Va. Wesleyan 37: Tim Hicks completed 17 of 23 passes for a school-record 403 yards and touchdowns of 6 and 40 yards to Ryan Russell and Delino White rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns as West Liberty State (3-3, 2-0) defeated visiting West Virginia Wesleyan (2-4, 1-1) in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Youngstown State 24, Florida Atlantic 17: P.J. Mays ran for two touchdowns as Youngstown State (4-2) withstood a late rally to defeat Florida Atlantic (0-6) in Miami, Fla.