Three Touchdowns for Sherman in 52-28 Loss to Culver-Stockton
Canton, Mo.–The William Penn football team tried to keep up with Culver-Stockton in a shootout, but ultimately ran out of points in a 52-28 Heart of America Athletic Conference North Division setback Saturday.
WPU (1-8, 0-3 North) posted 369 yards of offense with 20 first downs, but yielded 574 yards and 21 first downs to the Wildcats (7-2, 3-0 Heart).
C-SC, which scored just five plays into the game, permitted a big 32-yard pass from Rodney Hall (Fr., Detroit, Mich., Psychology) to Luke Masters (Sr., Branson, Mo.), but then appeared ready for a blowout by stopping the Statesmen on their next set of downs.
The hosts tacked on another quick TD and it was 14-0 just 6:23 into the afternoon.
Paced by three runs of at least 18 yards, the navy and gold bounced back, capped by a 27-yard scoring run by Ben Sherman (Grad., Troy, Pa., Master’s of Sports Management). The graduate student, who hit paydirt three times, rushed the ball 24 times for 98 yards.
WPU’s day got exponentially better on the very next play from scrimmage as Tramon Lias (So., Chicago, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) intercepted a Wildcat pass. Following a big first-down run by Alex Jung (Sr., Fullerton, Calif., Exercise Science) on third-and-five, Sherman plunged into the endzone from five yards out and William Penn was suddenly tied with its host at 14-14.
The excitement was short-lived for the Statesmen as C-SC responded with a long kickoff return, and then two plays later, punched it in. The Wildcats continued with a three-and-out defensive stand, but a long field goal at the start of the second period sailed left and the score remained 21-14 in favor of the home team.
Another short WPU drive put the defense back on the field and the crew unfortunately was burned yet again on another big pass play to make the score 28-14.
A heavy dose of Sherman temporarily cured William Penn’s woes as he ran the pigskin six times, eventually crossing the goal line from a yard out to pull the Statesmen to within seven points at 28-21.
That would be the smallest the margin would be the remainder of the day as the Wildcats tallied two more touchdowns for a 42-21 halftime advantage.
Both sides scored on their opening possessions of the second half and it looked as if they were destined to combine for over 100 points. Hall got the Statesmen within two scores with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Aviles (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Nursing) for their final points. Unfortunately, C-SC went primarily to the ground for its next score to go up 49-28.
With its sizeable lead, the fourth quarter was just a formality for Culver-Stockton as it slowed the game down. The home crew did, however, add a field goal in the opening minutes of the stanza to cap the day’s scoring.
Led by Sherman’s near century-mark tally, William Penn finished with 247 yards on the ground. Hall also called his own number 20 times for 73 yards, while Jung scampered 46 yards on four tries and Masters had 22 yards on two runs.
Hall completed six of his 14 passes for 122 yards with his longest strike being completed to Gavin Rountree (Fr., Stephenville, Texas, Sports Management) for a team-long 50 yards. Rountree hauled in two balls for 59 yards.
Zenin Hall (Fr., Chicago, Ill., Business Management) topped the defense with six tackles and a pass breakup. The trio of Lias, Turner Ellis (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa, Secondary Education), and Rogan Pforts (Sr., Wapello, Iowa, Industrial Technology) also managed five stops Saturday.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Dubuque next Saturday to face Clarke in Heart North play at 1 p.m.
