No. 5 Wesley Wrangles Aggies 31-12
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Wesley College's Shane McSweeny (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) tossed three touchdowns, including two to Ellis Krout (Dallas, Texas/Roosevelt) as the fifth ranked Wolverines defeated Delaware Valley 31-13.
Wesley (3-0) led 24-0 after three quarters and the Wolverine defense put an end to what seemed like a traditional fourth quarter comeback in the series with the Aggies. In 2007, the Wolverines scored 17 points to come from behind and last season, Delaware Valley (2-1) used 15 fourth quarter points to pull out a win.
This season, though, Wesley's lead proved too big to overcome. After a scoreless first quarter, the Wolverines capped a 14-play, 98-yard drive with 20-yard field goal by Collin Blugis (Odenton, Md./Arundel) for a 3-0 lead with 7:44 left in the half.
Later in the quarter, McSweeny hooked up with Barry Garrard (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 3:13 to go. Wesley then forced the Aggies to punt and took over with less than a minute left at the Delaware Valley 31. Five plays later it was Krout on the receiving end of a three yard touchdown from McSweeny for a 17-0 lead with just 11 seconds to play in the first half.
After catching a short score in the first half, Krout hauled in a 61-yard touchdown in the third quarter to put the Wolverines up 24-0.
Delaware Valley finally got onto the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter with the first touchdown against the Wesley defense in 2009. Mike Isgro hit Chad Peterman for a 28 yard score and cut the Wesley lead to 24-6 with 13:41 remaining in the game after a failed two-point conversion.
The Wolverines were forced to punt on their next drive, but the Aggies fumbled the return and Yvenel Sainsume (Lincoln, Del./Milford) dove on the ball at the Delaware Valley 12 to regain possession for Wesley. Garrard picked up seven on first down and McSweeny claimed the final five on second down for a 31-6 advantage.
With only 1:20 left in the game, Wesley attempted a 50-yard field goal that came up short and Charles Squitiere returned it 100 yards for a late touchdown and a 31-13 final score.
McSweeny finished the game 17-of-24 for 173 yards and three touchdowns. He added another 47 yards rushing. Krout caught four passes for 83 yards and two toucdowns. Abeeb Badmus (Sharon Hill, Pa./Interboro) led a ground game that featured eight different rushers. Badmus ran for 59 yards on 12 carries.
Linebacker Jeff Morgan (Vineland, N.J./Vineland) returned from injury to register a pair of sacks. Marcus Wilson (Pennsauken, N.J./Camden Catholic) had a team-high eight tackles. D3football.com Team of the Week honoree Mike Asiedu (Yonkers, N.Y./Gorton) made seven stops, including 1.5 for loss and half a sack.
While the defense had its 166:19 run without allowing a touchdown broken, Wesley forced the Aggies into five turnovers. The Wolverines recovered three other fumbles in addition to Sainsume's recovery and lineman Chris Mayes (Waldorf, Md./Westlake) registered his first career interception in the first half.
The defense also kept the Aggies out of the redzone all afternoon and limited them to just 59 yards on 31 rushes.
Delaware Valley's Isgro was 22-of-34 for 282 yards, one touchdown and one interception. While running back Matt Cook led the team with five receptions, he was limited to just 17 rushes for 46 yards.
Kyle Gesswein and Chris James had nine tackles apiece for the Aggie defense.
The Wolverines complete a three game road trip next weekend at LaGrange.
