Oberlin, Ohio (Sept. 10, 2022) – Alvernia University (1-1) held off a fourth quarter push by Oberlin College (0-2) as the Golden Wolves defeated the Yeomen 38-35 on Saturday afternoon in non-conference football action at Oberlin's Knowlton Field.
Alvernia led 31-14 with 14:11 to play in the game, but Oberlin came storming back to cut Alvernia's lead to just three, 38-35, with 1:39 to play. The Yeoman failed an onside kick attempt but still had two timeouts to spare, forcing Alvernia to pick up a first down instead of running out the clock.
Alvernia faced a 2
nd and ten, and
Lorenzo Green picked up nine of the ten needed yards. Oberlin used its finial time out, and Alvernia handed off to
EJ Lee who picked up two yards and the needed first down. The Golden Wolves lined up in victory formation to run the clock out on a 38-35 win.
It's Alvernia's first win under first-year Head Coach
Steve Azzanesi.
"I'm just happy for the team. You work and work and work, and then it's great when you win a game," said Coach Azzanesi. "It takes a lot of work, and I'm glad the guys got the feel of what the result is from all of that hard work."
Alvernia won the coin toss and differed to the second half as
Brett Conrad opened the game for Alvernia with a 64-yard kickoff. Alvernia's defense immediately got to work, with
Jyleen Neals tackling for a loss on 2
nd and 7, and
Tajon Whiten making a stop on 3
rd and 11 to force a punt.
Just like the defense, Alvernia's offense opened the game firing with Lee taking off on a 31 yard rush to put Alvernia in Oberlin territory.
Colin Payne then found
Joseph Perkins for a seven yard gain before Lee picked up another first down on a six yard rush. Alvernia continued to work the field, with Payne finding Ka'More Gill for a nine yard pickup to put Alvernia on the Oberlin 8-yard line. Payne then finished the drive with a jump ball to
Neeko Scurlock that Scurlock picked off over his defender to put Alvernia on the board, 7-0, with 10:56 to play in the first.
Alvernia's defense again came up strong on Oberlin's next drive. Oberlin was lined up to punt the ball away on its own 49-yard line when the Yeoman had a bad snap that
McCabe Piavis recovered to set Alvernia up on the Oberlin 38. But, Alvernia could not get anything going on its second drive as the Golden Wolves punted away.
The Golden Wolves and Yeomen traded possessions to close out the quarter with Alvernia leading 7-0.
Alvernia started the second quarter with a 1
st and 10 on the Oberlin 29-yard line after Payne completed back-to-back passes to Lee and Scurlock. After back-to-back rushes, Alvernia faced a pending third down until Oberlin was called for a sideline infraction that moved Alvernia to the Oberlin 13 yard line. Lee rushed it twice for Alvernia to put the Golden Wolves on the eight yard line, and Payne then found Scurlock in the endzone for the second time to extend Alvernia's lead to 14-0 following a Conrad PAT.
Alvernia's defense came up big again on the next drive with Oberlin picking up one first down before
Taron Gale intercepted a pass across the middle to put Alvernia on its own 33 yard line.
Alvernia could not take advantage of the turnover and went to punt the ball away, but the Yeomen broke through the punt protection and grabbed the ball right off of
Hunter Bojanic's foot. The Yeomen returned the ball to Alvernia's 4-yard line, and they needed just one play to punch the ball into the endzone for its first score of the game to make it 14-7 with about ten minutes to go in the half.
Alvernia's offense responded on its next drive with the Golden Wolves rushing the ball four straight times, including one on a fourth down conversion, to get the drive moving. Payne then completed a pass for eight yards to Green, and Green rushed for three more on the next play to put Alvernia at 3
rd and 2 on the Oberlin 36. Lee then popped off on the next play, flying down the field for a 33-yard rushing touchdown to put Alvernia up 21-7.
Gale then intercepted his second of the afternoon on Oberlin's next drive, but the Golden Wolves turned the ball over on a fumble on its ensuing drive to give Oberlin the ball back with 1:47 to play in the half. Alvernia's defense kept Oberlin out of the end zone as the Yeomen threatened as time expired in the half. The Golden Wolves took a 21-7 lead going into the break.
The Golden Wolves came out of the half and kept their foot on the gas on the opening drive. After an 8-yard rush from Green started off the drive, Payne completed a 27-yard pass to Perkins to put Alvernia back in Oberlin territory. Later in the drive, Payne rushed for 15 yards to put Alvernia in the red zone, and two plays later Payne found
Owen Morton across the middle. Morton took the edge and ran down the sideline before diving over the pylon for Alvernia's fourth touchdown of the game and giving Alvernia the 28-7 lead.
Oberlin responded with an eight play, 57-yard drive to cut Alvernia's lead in half, 28-14 with 7:21 to play in the half.
The Golden Wolves and Yeomen traded possessions through much of the remainder of the third quarter, until Alvernia got the ball back on the Oberlin 39 with 2:54 to play in the quarter. Alvernia ran the clock down while moving 32 yards down the field as the quarter expired. Payne was sacked by the Yeomen to open the fourth quarter to stall Alvernia's drive. Alvernia sent out the field goal unit, and Conrad completed the 31-yard attempt to extend Alvernia's lead to 31-14 with 14:11 to go in the quarter.
Oberlin put together a nine-play 65-yard drive on its next possession that was capped off by a 10-yard touchdown reception to bring the Yeomen within ten, 31-21, with 11:23 to go.
The Yeomen attempted an onside kick, but it narrowly went out of bounds as the Golden Wolves regained possession with the penalty.
Alvernia wasted zero time on its next possession, with Lee taking off for a 48-yard touchdown run to make it a three-score game, 38-21, with 11:04 to play.
The Yeomen did not intend on going down without a fight, as Oberlin put together an 11-play, 73-yard drive that ate up over five minutes to get back within two scores, 38-28, with 5:34 to play.
Oberlin again tried an onside kick. This time the attempt stayed in play, but Morton was able to snag it and wrap it up to give Alvernia the ball back on its own 27-yard line with 5:34 to play. But, Alvernia went four-and-out to give the ball back to the Yeomen on their own 35 with 3:55 to play.
Again, Oberlin was able to pick apart Alvernia's defense and work its way down the field. The Yeomen were able to complete the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to get within three, 38-35, with 1:39 to go.
The Golden Wolves were able to grab Oberlin's third attempt at an onside kick and ran out the clock for the 38-35 win.
Lee led Alvernia's offense with 148 yards rushing with two touchdowns and averaged 7.8 yards a carry. He lost just three total yards on the ground, and had three carries for over 30 yards.
"I haven't seen every running back in the country, but he's definitely one of the most dynamic running backs out there," said Azzanesi of Lee's performance. "He's a guy that can really move the chains in chunks and it's fun to watch him do his thing."
In addition to his performance on the ground, Lee added 25 yards on four receptions.
Payne finished the night with 19 completions on 29 attempts for 181 yards. He threw for three touchdowns and was sacked just one time and did not turn the ball over once.
Alvernia finished the night with a balanced spread of 31 rush attempts and 29 pass attempts.
On the defensive side of the ball, four players got to the Oberlin quarterback, including Sayles with 1.5 sacks.
Neals finished the afternoon with 13 tackles, including two for a loss. Gale finished with five tackles and two interceptions.
Alvernia now turns its attention to Stevenson University as the Golden Wolves head to Maryland to take on the Mustangs next Saturday.
"We have to finish, we have to finish teams off," said Azzanesi. "It's a lot easier to learn how to do that after winning compared to the other way around. We can build on the win, but learn from it as well."
