Football Edges Emory & Henry

November 1, 2008 

EMORY, Va.-  The CUA football team remained in control of its own destiny today as the Cardinals handed Emory and Henry a 38-23 loss on the road.

Catholic came into this game as the favored team after handing Hampden-Sidney its first conference loss of the season last Saturday. The Cardinals brought their offensive dominance with them today and took control of the half after scoring late in the first quarter. Keith Ricca (Poolesville, Md./St. John's Prospect Hall) found Greg Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Malvern Prep) out of the backfield for a tying touchdown at 7-7 with 1:38 left in the first quarter.

Ricca threw a 22-yard pass to Ryan McManus (Malvern, Pa./Malvern Prep) that put the Cardinals up 14-7 with 11:52 to play in the half. The team tacked on three more points with seven minutes to play in the opening half after Brendan Deluca (Gambrills, Md./St. Mary's (Md.)) hit a 23-yard field goal to increase Catholic's lead 17-7.

Emory & Henry went looking for a response to the Catholic offense and finally found an answering drive toward the quarter's end. Darren Richardson returned the Cardinal kickoff for 30 yards to get Emory going. After an E&H first down, Brent McDonald threw a 44-yard strike to Jonathan Hawkins to put the Wasps on Catholic's 2-yard line. Cain Ringstaff ran the ball in to close the gap 14-17 with 3:52 to play in the half. 

On their ensuing possession, Catholic was able to mount another scoring drive to take the momentum back. Ricca threw a 41-yard dart to Cardinal receiver Miles Sabrick (Douglassville, Pa./Reading Central Catholic) that moved the ball into E&H territory. The Wasps picked up their defense and forced a fourth and four, but a crucial pass-interference penalty gave the Cardinals a new set of downs. Ricca tossed his third touchdown pass to Pete Mercatanti (Newtown, Pa./Pennington School) putting Catholic up 24-14 with 54 seconds to play in the half. 

Emory and Henry returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown, to bring the game within one, but a failed PAT preserved the one point CUA lead.  After a few E&H holding penalties and a turnover in the second half, Catholic scored a touchdown as Ricca hit Sabrick on a post route that put Catholic up 31-23 with 1:48 to play in the third quarter. The Cardinals struck again in the fourth after the Wasps committed a false start penalty, suffered a quarterback sack and delivered a bad punt. Catholic took the ball and marched down the field to score another touchdown after a big catch from Deluca that put Catholic up 38-23 with 11:16 to play in the game.

Ricca finished with 27 completions on 37 attempts with 345 yards and five touchdowns.  Ricca's favorite target on the day was Sabrick who finished with nine catches for 184 yards and a touchdown.

CUA will return to action Saturday, November 8, 2008 as the Cardinals will travel to Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.