After forcing the Cougars into a three-and-out on their first drive, the Pride needed just four plays to go 40 yards on their initial march following a bad punt that stayed away from junior All-America Anthony Davis (Upland, PA/Chester). The drive ended when freshman quarterback Seth Klein (Wernersville, PA) found junior Adam Marcucci (Sicklerville, NJ) wide open on a 23-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead.
After another three-and-out, it was back to the grind for Widener’s offense and its latest march resulted in a 36-yard field goal from sophomore Ryan O’Hara (Royersford, PA) with 9:19 left in the first quarter for a 10-0 cushion.
The Pride were pinned back at their two yard line early in the second quarter, but did not need to worry. An 18-play drive, 98-yard drive that featured 14 runs ended when sophomore Richard Brown (Trenton, NJ) bulldozed in from the one with 5:46 left in the half for a 17-0 margin.
Widener (4-2, 4-1 MAC) received the second half kickoff and continued its dominance for a 24-0 lead. The run game again was prevalent against Misericordia, which entered last in the league in rushing defense. Ten rushing plays over a 13-play drive culminated when sophomore Christopher Wickes (Bear, DE) scored on a one-yard run with 11:33 remaining in the third.
The Cougars then made things interesting, scoring touchdowns on each of their next two drives for a 24-14 deficit. Quarterback Jeff Puckett ran outside for a seven-yard run and Dean Lucchesi recovered Puckett’s fumble in the end zone with 2:04 to play in the third.
Widener on its next march got back to business and Klein continued his solid play, finding a wide-open Davis for a 28-yard scoring pass with 34 seconds left in the period for a 31-14 lead.
The fourth quarter featured the game’s signature play. Puckett went back to pass and got crushed by senior linebacker Dylan Ditmer (Exton, PA), forcing a fumble. Sophomore Brandon Jones (Baltimore, MD) picked up the loose ball and ran 65 yards untouched for the score and Widener’s second defensive touchdown of the year.
Ryan Kurtz ran one in for the Cougars from one yard to close the scoring.
Klein, who entered today third in the country with a .762 completing percentage and third with 31.4 completions per contest, completed 21-of-27 passes for 249 yards. He bumped his season total to 178 completions, already eighth-best in school history.
Davis’ touchdown was his 30th career, good for sole possession of fifth place in school history. He ended today with seven catches for 108 yards and now has 2,326 career receiving yards, moving himself into sixth place in Widener annals.
Junior Couve LaFate (Wilmington, DE) totaled 18 carries for 85 yards for the Pride, who had 441 yards of total offense, converted 9-of-17 third downs and 3-of-4 fourth downs.
Senior Preseason All-America Colin Masterson (Swarthmore, PA/Ridley) had a game with 11 tackles for the Pride, who held the Cougars to just 133 yards passing.
Puckett had 25 carries for 92 yards and completed 12-of-22 passes for 133 yards. Ben Camacho posted nine tackles for the Cougars (0-6, 0-5).
Widener is back home next Saturday to host FDU-Florham, starting at 1:00 pm.
