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Four turnovers, Cardinals' big plays trip up #18 H-SC, 33-21 HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (October 25, 2008)–The football must have looked as big as the moon as it slowly descended upon two Hampden-Sydney defensive backs late in the third quarter with visiting Catholic University leading the Tigers 27-21. Cardinals' quarterback Keith Ricca had just popped up an errant third down pass from the Cardinals' 11-yard line deep down the sidelines toward intended receiver Ryan McManus, and two Tiger defenders rose quickly to snare the delivery with plenty of green in front of them. As quickly as Hampden-Sydney fans prepared to stand up and cheer the interception, those same fans were firmly planted in their seats, mouths agape, as the football squirted through the hands of both Tiger defenders and into the waiting arms of McManus, who sprinted the remaining 86 yards to the Hampden-Sydney 3-yard line. That play set up an eventual 7-yard touchdown pass from Ricca to McManus that put the Cardinals up 33-21 with 14:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. The difficult turn of events proved a mountain too high for Hampden-Sydney (7-1, 4-1 ODAC) to overcome, as Catholic (6-1, 2-1 ODAC) stopped the Tiger offense on two fourth down attempts and forced a fourth H-SC turnover in the final 14 minutes of play to shock the No. 18 team in the land and take control of the ODAC standings with a 33-21 win at Lewis C. Everett Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Entering the showdown with the Cardinals, the Tigers led the ODAC in takeaways, forcing 21 turnovers on the season, but held just a plus-two turnover margin, thanks to 19 turnovers. Those giveaways finally caught up to the Hampden-Sydney offense, which racked up 493 yards of offense, but surrendered four interceptions to Catholic's defense. Catholic opened the scoring on its second drive of the game after Nick Olivero returned a Tigers' punt 13 yards to the Hampden-Sydney 25-yard line. The Cardinals needed just six plays to take a 7-0 lead on a Greg Brown one-yard plunge with 9:00 to play in the first quarter. Hampden-Sydney answered late in the opening frame to knot the score at seven, embarking on a four-play, 55-yard drive spurred by a 38-yard completion from Corey Sedlar (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) to Josh Simpson (Richmond, VA/Mills Godwin) and capped by a Simpson eight-yard scamper. That was when Ricca caught fire. The younger brother of Hampden-Sydney great J.D. Ricca threw a pair of touchdown passes in a matter of 4:44, a 3-yarder to Alonzo Cooke and a 6-yarder to McManus, to put the Cardinals ahead 21-7 with 10:10 remaining in the first half. Simpson's 13-yard touchdown jaunt five minutes later brought Hampden-Sydney back within 21-14, but on Catholic's ensuing possession, Ricca, who threw for 281 yards and three scores in the first half, led the Cardinals on a three-play, 71-yard drive that concluded with his 23-yard scoring strike to McManus, extending the Catholic lead to 27-14 at the break. The Hampden-Sydney defense stiffened in the second half, surrendering a meager 111 yards to Ricca and holding Cardinals' running back Greg Brown to 35 yards on 27 carries. The Tigers crawled back within one touchdown following a Simpson's third score of the game, a two-yard run that closed the gap to 27-21. But facing a third-and-nine with under a minute to play in the third quarter from his own 11, Ricca found the magic again, connecting on his prayer to McManus that dug the Cardinals out of a hole and put Catholic in the driver's seat to claim a conference championship. Simpson turned in a valiant performance before he appeared to re-aggravate his toe injury midway through the fourth quarter. The senior rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and caught five passes for 82 yards. Travis Wertz (Boyds, MD/Damascus) hauled in a team-high seven passes for 90 yards while Sedlar threw for 322 yards on 21-of-46 passing, including the four interceptions. Senior Andrew Sellers (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring) led the defense with 10 tackles, 4.5 for loss. Hampden-Sydney was just 2-of-13 on third-down conversions and 0-of-4 on fourth down. The Tigers earned 28 first downs opposed to just 19 for the Cardinals, and out-rushed Catholic 171-17. Ricca finished with 392 yards and four touchdowns through the air. McManus caught seven passes for 186 yards and three scores to lead the Cardinals' receiving corps. Catholic snapped a seven-game losing skid to Hampden-Sydney with the victory. Hampden-Sydney is off due to a scheduled bye week next Saturday, but returns to action Saturday, November 8 when it travels to Alabama to take on Huntingdon. Kick-off for that contest is slated for 12 pm CST. www.hsc.edu/athletics |
