Davidson, NC – Cole Mazza ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns and Stetson forced Davidson into five turnovers as the Hatters spoiled the Wildcats homecoming on Saturday afternoon with a 40-34 decision.
The Hatters improved to 3-5 overall on the year with their third road win, and picked up their first win in the Pioneer Football League to improve to 1-3 in conference play. Davidson fell to 1-8 overall and 0-5 in league play with their 14th consecutive PFL loss.
Despite jumping out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, the Hatters were lucky to only be down 24-20 at halftime. Mistakes and missed opportunities cost Stetson scoring chances and gave Davidson short fields to work with, and the Wildcats took advantage.
“We made a lot of mistakes, especially in the first half,” Stetson coach Roger Hughes said. “We had opportunities to take advantage of some turnovers we created, but then we turned it over and gave it right back.”
Mazza gained most of his yards in the first quarter, piling up 108 yards over the first 15 minutes, in helping Stetson jump out to the lead. He had 62 yards on his first three carries, but the Hatters failed to take advantage on a second and goal from the 1 and were turned away by the Davidson defense.
It was not until after the Wildcats drew first blood on a 47-yard Trevor Smith field goal that the Hatters were able to finally get on the board. It took just two plays – a 23 yard pass from Ryan Tentler to Kegan Moore and Mazza's 45-yard touchdown run – to give Stetson its first lead of the day.
The Hatters quickly got there again after Davidson's Cam Cheuvront fumbled the kickoff after a 46-yard return. Jonathan Strahl recovered for the Hatters. It appeared as if Stetson would be unable to take advantage of the mistake, but the Hatters reached into their bag of tricks.
On fourth down, and in punt formation, the ball was snapped to the up man, Rob Coggin. Coggin through a short pass to Marlin Hall, good enough for the first down, but Hall broke a pair of tackles and raced 52-yards for a touchdown.
Always a key for Stetson, the play of the special teams in the game had the head Hatter shaking his head.
“I am both happy and upset,” Hughes said of his special teams' play. “We fumbled a kickoff return, we have to cover better on kickoffs, we have to punt better and we had two missed PATs. On the flip side, we kicked off well, we covered their onside kick and we scored a touchdown on a fake. It was a mixed bag. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.”
The second quarter for Stetson was almost all bad. Davidson turned to its ground game and unleashed running back Jeffrey Keil. The freshman responded by turning in the sixth best rushing performance in Davidson history – 215 yards on 33 carries with two touchdowns.
Keil got his first points early in the second quarter, scoring on an 11-yard run to cut the Stetson lead to 14-10.
After the Hatters gave the ball right back when Ja'Vonta Swinton fumbled the kickoff, it was the Wildcats' freshman quarterback, Taylor Mitchell, who found Trey Huelskamp for a 20-yard TD strike, putting Davidson back on top 17-14. It was the second of seven lead changes in the game.
The Hatters answered with their only points in the quarter following the fifth interception of the year by Chris Atkins set the offense up at the Davidson 25. Mazza capped the short drive with a four-yard TD run to put Stetson back up 20-17.
That lead lasted just 99 seconds when Mitchell, who was making his first career start, hooked up with William Morris for a 27-yard TD pass. The Wildcats took their 24-20 lead into intermission.
“We challenged our guys at halftime,” Tentler said. “Coach Hughes came in and told us that we were playing horrible and were not doing anything right. We had a few good plays, but we were running wrong routes and that got me really confused. We challenged those guys at halftime and we played better in the second half.”
Hughes said he had to give his squad a wake-up at halftime.
“I told our guys at halftime that they should go over to the Davidson locker room and ask if that is all they have,” Hughes said. “We gave them every opportunity with the way we played and were still very close in the game. We thought if we made some adjustments and got some things corrected we would be fine.”
Things did go better in the second half. Ryan Powers got things started on the opening possession with the first of his two interceptions in the game. His 21-yard return set the Hatters up at the Davidson 19 and, three plays later, Tentler connected with Chris Crawford on a 14-yard TD pass, giving Stetson a 27-24 lead.
Davidson came right back, relying on Keil to carry the load, which he did. Kiel ran the ball five times on the next Wildcats possession, gaining 45 yards, including the final 17 for his second touchdown to put Davidson back in the lead.
Stetson answered right back, putting together a nine-play drive to go back in front for good. The big plays in the drive were a 31-yard pass from Tentler to Darius McGriff and a 22-yard Tentler run that should have resulted in a touchdown. He dived at the end of the run and hit the pylon with the ball, but was marked out of bounds six inches short. Two plays later he threw to Jonathan Strahl for the go-ahead score.
“As long as we were able to finish the drive, it doesn't matter who scores,” Tentler said. “We were able to waste a little clock.”
Powers again put Stetson in scoring position late in the third quarter with an interception and return to the Davidson 9. Mazza needed two runs, the second for a one-yard touchdown, to push the Stetson lead to 40-31.
The Davidson offense was on the field for most of the rest of the final quarter, but had a 15-play drive end on fourth down and another 10-play drive that ended in a field goal with just 37 seconds left in game.
Donald Payne put an end to the Wildcats' hopes of a comeback when he covered the onside kick.
“I am happy, but not satisfied,” Hughes said of the win. “I learned a long time ago that if you can't enjoy the wins, you had better get out because they don't come along that often. We have to go back and look at the film and clean things up so that we can get better. Over these next four games, each opponent will be a little bit better as we go.”
The Hatters finished with 397 yards of offense – 178 on the ground and 219 through the air – but also had two turnovers, allowed three sacks and had six penalties for 70 yards. Davidson outgained Stetson – piling up 491 yards of total offense – but the Wildcats had five turnovers.
“We have emphasized turnovers like crazy on both sides of the ball and that was the difference in this game,” Hughes said.
One player who was especially happy with the outcome was offensive lineman Griffin Vari, a native of Davidson, NC.
“This feels amazing,” Vari said. “I have lived here since I was three years old and I rooted for Davidson my whole life. It feels really good to come in and get a victory. It was tough out there because they adjusted to us. We just had to keep driving and pounding the ball. We got the victory and that is all that matters.”
The Hatters, who are now 3-1 in road games this year, will be back on the road next week, in North Carolina, at Campbell. The Camels suffered their first PFL loss of the season against Marist today and the Hatters know they will be a difficult challenge.
“Campbell was at the top of the conference and I am sure they are going to be a little upset next week,” Tentler said. “I am sure that, with their home crowd, they are going to want to beat us by a lot. They beat Davidson in a close game and we beat Davidson in a close game. I am sure it is going to be a good game.”
For the Hatters, it will be another chance to win back-to-back games, but the road won't be easy.
“We have another short week coming up with travel on Thursday, so we have to go back and get right to work on Monday,” Powers said. “There is no stopping, we just have to keep going.”
