Tigers Paw Cardinals 49-39
Offense scores a season-high 39 points

10/20/2007

WASHINGTON - Catholic University football suffered a tough defeat Saturday afternoon at the hands of the Hampden-Sydney Tigers (6-2, 4-1 Old Dominion Athletic Conference).  The Cardinals fell 49-39 in an offensive battle where the teams combined for almost 1,000 offensive yards.  With the loss the Cards fall to 4-3 on the season and remain winless in ODAC play.

The Cardinals scored first when Noah Rogers (Lorton, Va./Bishop O'Connell) caught a six-yard pass from Keith Ricca (Poolesville, Md./St. John's Prospect Hall) on CUA's second drive of the game.  The play had come about off of a blocked punt by Dean Petrone (Hamilton, N.J./The Hun School) which gave the Cards solid field position.  CUA went up 7-0 thanks to a kick from Brendan Deluca (Gambrills, Md./St. Mary's (Md.) who made every PAT he attempted for the game.  Late in the first the Tigers tied it up when Corey Sedlar hit Josh Baumgartner in the end zone on a seven play, 76 yards drive.

The second quarter was all about offense as the teams combined for 35 points in the 15 minute stanza.  Josh Simpson powered his way through the Cardinal defense for an 11-yard score.  Simpson would continue to punish the Cards with a total of three touchdowns on the day.  CUA came back at 8:44 when quarterback John Jacobs (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) found Miles Sabrick (Douglassville, Pa./Reading Central Catholic) in the very back corner of the end zone.  The quarter remained a shootout as Sedlar answered with a TD pass to Drew Smith but the Cards came back and Ricca fired one to Andrew Buis to once again even the score.  Though it looked as if they would go into the break tied, the Tigers had one more attack in them when Sedlar completed a 38-yard pass to Smith with seconds left to go ahead 28-21.

Using the momentum from the final drive of the second quarter, the Tigers came out and needed just two plays to strike again and force the Cards to look at a 14-point deficit.  Sedlar found Michael Brooks open in the middle of the field to make it 35-21.  The Cards recovered a poor snap later in the half getting great field position but could only come away with the field goal by Deluca.  Simpson ran another one in late in the quarter but with less than a minute to go CUA answered once more off of a rush by Greg Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Malvern Prep). The score going into the final quarter of play was 42-30 in the Tigers' favor.

With less than two touchdowns between them, the game wasn't over as they started the fourth but at 9:15 Simpson's one-yard rush gave HSC some breathing room.  The Cards had a number of solid offensive drive but couldn't get things going.  With two minutes remaining and the Tigers deep in their own territory, Anthony DelBorrell (Laurel, Md./DeMatha) scored a safety for the defense to make it 49-32.  The Cards hustled to generate some points on the final drive and managed to get seven thanks to a quarterback sneak from Ricca making the final 49-39.

The Hampden-Sydney offense outgained CUA 539-437.  The Tigers managed a balanced attack with 174 rushing yards and 365 in the air while the Cards had 43 yards on the ground and threw for 394.  Both squads had 27 first downs in the game.  Ricca was 32-55 with two touchdowns and Jacobs finished 9-12 with a TD.  Sedlar was 27-39 with four touchdowns for the game.  Simpson had 150 yards on 32 carries with three TD's for the Tigers and Brown led all CUA rushers with 36 yards on 13 carries and a score.  Smith had 210 yards receiving which proved to be the story of the game for Hampden-Sydney.

Defensively, Bill Gross (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and DelBorrell led all players with 14 tackles apiece.  Gross had five tackles for a loss of 15 yards.  Michael Ware led the Toger defense with 13 tackles for the game.

The Cards will continue their home stand next weekend with a noon game versus the Emory & Henry Wasps at Cardinal Stadium.