Penn Defeats St. Ambrose at home
William Penn University Athletics
The Statesmen football team did just enough in all respects to beat a strong foe and remain perfect with a 41-35 win over St. Ambrose in Midwest League play Saturday.
#12 nationally-ranked Penn (7-0, 4-0 MWL) put up big offensive numbers once again, but a talented Fighting Bee (3-4, 1-3 MWL) squad also found success with the ball, outgaining the home team 472-464. It was the first time this fall that the Statesmen were on the losing side of the yardage battle.
Penn came out on top, though, and remains one game ahead of St. Francis (Ill.) and McKendree, next week’s opponent.
It has been either big feast or little feast for the Statesmen, but at least no famine, as four of their wins have been by 25 or more points and the other three have come down to the wire in some sort, winning by 15 or fewer points.
St. Ambrose, whose 26-21 loss in 2009 was its first in the series in 12 contests, was determined to get revenge and came right out and scored on the game’s drive to make it 7-0 early.
Penn responded with its own scoring drive, going 85 yards on ten plays in 4:40 to even the game at 7-7. Dalton Phelps (So., Tipton, Tipton HS) rushed in from four yards out, his sixth touchdown of the year.
Taylor Parsons (Fr., The Woodlands, Texas, College Park HS) then took over with a pair of rushing scores. The first came on the first play of the second quarter, a seven-yard scamper, and the second was a one-yard plunge on the team’s next drive. The Statesmen scored on each of their first three possessions.
The fourth drive was also going well, as Penn, leading 21-14 late in the second, had the ball at midfield. Unfortunately, Bernard Luster (Sr., Corinth, Miss., Northeast Mississippi CC) was stripped of the pigskin, the lone turnover for the home squad.
A major momentum swing then occurred as the Fighting Bees marched the ball right down the field and scored, tying the contest at 21-21 with 1:44 on the clock.
Although not necessarily equipped for a two-minute offense, Penn had little trouble finding its way down the gridiron, doing so both on the ground and in the air. With just 15 ticks left, Parsons found Luster in the endzone for an eight-yard scoring play.
The Statesmen extended the advantage back to 14 points on their first drive after intermission. Facing a third-and-nine, Parsons launched the ball downfield and connected with Jacob Ballanger (Jr., Carlisle, Waldorf) for a 56-yard score.
Ballanger hauled in three catches for 74 yards.
The substantial lead would not last, however, with St. Ambrose putting the ball back over the goal line on the ensuing drive.
Penn then neared midfield before punting for the first time on the afternoon, but the defense got possession back as Rushawn Stewart (Jr., Houston, Texas, Eisenhower HS) intercepted Barney O’Donnell just outside the visitor red zone.
It took seven plays to accomplish, but the lead jumped back to two scores as Parsons again hit paydirt on a one-yard rush. The extra point was blocked, but the game still seemed well in hand with just 55 seconds remaining in the third stanza and the score 41-28.
The freshman had an all-around great day, completing nine-of-12 passes for 134 yards and rushing 30 times for a team-best 152 yards. He accounted for five of Penn’s six scores and now has 15 rushing TDs this fall. With four games left on the slate, Parsons is all but assured of demolishing the school’s current record of 18 rushing touchdowns (Jack Boender, 1958; Ryan Van Dalen, 2008).
The following two drives quickly stalled and then St. Ambrose began one of the biggest drives of the game, moving all the way to the Penn 11-yard line.
Fortunately, the Statesmen defensive unit forced three incomplete passes and then sacked the signal-caller to obtain the ball.
With 7:28 left, Penn attempted to shorten the game with a successful running attack, which in the end, netted 330 yards. The drive, capped by a 43-yard dash by Jonques Wells (So., Columbus, Miss., New Hope HS), drew over four minutes off the clock, but unfortunately did not result in the single point. The Statesmen were unable to convert on fourth-and-four at the St. Ambrose 23-yard line and the Fighting Bees still had life.
The visitors looked anything but methodical in their final scoring drive, but did advance the ball inside Penn’s red zone. Then, with only 23 seconds left, the Fighting Bees scored on a pass play, and with the made PAT, they trailed by just six at 41-35.
Enter, the onside kick. The ball was kicked perfectly by Patrick Schmadeke, skipping high off the ground, and the Penn hands team failed to contain it, giving possession one final time to St. Ambrose with only 20 seconds left.
The first play from scrimmage, a ten-yard completion, was called back because of a false start penalty, forcing St. Ambrose to try the old Hail Mary. O’Donnell scrambled for several seconds before sending the pass deep. Fortunately, he underthrew his intended receiver and a leaping Chris Adeshina (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Highland Park HS) came down with it to seal the win.
Although Parsons took most of the carries, Wells, with eight rushes for 73 yards, and Shawn Davis (Fr., Hamersville, Ohio, Western Brown HS), with 12 runs for 68 yards, also knocked out some real estate Saturday.
The Penn offense was very good in keeping drives alive, converting nine-of-13 third-down conversions and one-of-two fourth-down tries. The unit kept the defense fresh, winning the time of possession battle, 34:24-25:36.
In addition to his interception, Stewart paced the defense with eight stops, while Sean Colemon (Jr., Burlington, Burlington HS) added seven tackles. Jason Johnson (Fr., Geneseo, Ill., Geneseo HS) had one quarterback sack, while Michael Welch (Fr., Houston, Texas, Booker T. Washington HS) and Damon Harrison (Jr., Lake Charles, La., Lake Charles Boston HS) shared the other sack.
Next: Penn travels to Lebanon, Ill. next Saturday to face McKendree in MWL action at 1:30 p.m.
