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Oct. 11, 2008
IUP scored 17 points in a span of 6:47 in the fourth quarter to erase a 17-0 deficit but ultimately fell victim to a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth down that gave Edinboro a 24-17 victory and all but eliminated the Crimson Hawks from playoff contention. IUP, ranked 16th in the American Football Coaches Association poll, fell to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the PSAC West. Edinboro, ranked 18th in the nation and sixth in the Super Regional One, improved to 6-1 and 3-1 in the division. The Crimson Hawks, unranked in the region poll last week, must win out and get a lot of help to make the NCAA postseason tournament for the second consecutive year. The loss was the first in three games for IUP head coach Lou Tepper against the team he coached from 2000-05. Edinboro led 14-0 at halftime on touchdown runs of one and three yards by Ulysee Davis and expanded its advantage to 17 points on a 39-yard field goal by Merle Bouchat with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter. But the Crimson Hawks then turned to their hurry up offense and began to move easily through the Fighting Scot defense. IUP drove 80 yards in just six plays, all but one coming on five completions by Andrew Krewatch, and his 16-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Lestochi on the first play of the fourth quarter finally got the Crimson Hawks on the scoreboard. The defense forced a three and out, and the red-hot offense again quickly moved down the field. Five more Krewatch completions, including connections of 24, 16 and 10 yards to Cameron Mobley, set IUP up at the Edinboro seven. Krewatch used his legs to cover the rest of the distance, and his third career rushing touchdown brought IUP to within 17-14 with 11:04 left in the game. With all the momentum on the Crimson Hawk side, the defense again stopped the Fighting Scots, allowing only one yard on three plays and taking over at their own 37 after a short 22-yard punt by Ryan Genco. After an incompletion on first down, Krewatch and Lestochi hooked up on a 30-yard pass and a roughing the passer penalty against Mike Perillo moved the ball to the Edinboro 18. IUP could not move the ball further and settled for a 36-yard field goal by Craig Burgess to tie the game at 17 with 8:06 left. But the Edinboro offense came back to life on its ensuing possession. On third and seven, Trevor Harris hit Rich Cerro for 17 yards to the IUP 38 to keep the Fighting Scot drive alive, leading to the decisive moment of the game four plays later. Harris, facing fourth and seven at the Crimson Hawk 35, found Gary Nolen on a short pattern, and Nolen negotiated his way through the IUP defense and into the end zone to put Edinboro in front for good at 24-17 with 4:39 remaining. On the first play of the next IUP drive, a Krewatch pass bounced off the chest of Leo Wood and into the hands of Y'Hoshua Murray to give Edinboro the ball back at midfield. Despite not moving the ball a single yard, the Fighting Scots managed to run seven plays and take advantage of several penalties to run 3:05 off the clock, leaving IUP just 1:21 to go 84 yards after the Genco punt went out of bounds at the Crimson Hawk 16. After Edinboro's fifth sack of Krewatch on the day, the IUP quarterback passed for 31 yards to Mobley and 12 yards to Ken Witter to move the ball to the Fighting Scot 48. Four incomplete passes later, the Crimson Hawks turned the ball over on downs. Krewatch finished 22 of 38 for 313 yards, with nine completions for 97 yards going to Witter. Krewatch moved ahead of Scott Woods and into fourth place on the IUP career passing yardage list with 6,223 and third place in career completions with 467, 15 ahead of Tony Aliucci. Witter moved up to seventh in career receptions with 122 and ninth with 1,670 receiving yards. Donta Green and Myke Wells led the defensive effort with 11 tackles, one more than Andre Henderson. Green and Jermaine Smith both had sacks of Harris while Rob Plowman and Anthony Guerra combined on a third sack. Harris became Edinboro's all-time leading passer, finishing the game with 7,540 yards after completing 26 of 36 passes for 290 yards Saturday. Nolen had six receptions for 86 yards, including the game-winning touchdown. Davis was the leading rusher in the game with 79 yards on 21 carries. IUP returns home Saturday for a 1 p.m. game versus Mercyhurst. |
