Senior Day certainly did not go as planned for the Stetson Hatters on Saturday at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium.
The Hatters (3-8, 1-7) came out flat to start the game after a long pregame ceremony honoring 41 seniors, allowing visiting Davidson to take a 10-0 lead into the break at halftime. Then an almost five-hour delay in the proceedings, due to lightning, pushed the start of the second half back until after 7 p.m.
Stetson rallied in the second half, tying the game twice in the fourth quarter, but Davidson (2-9, 1-7) converted one of four Hatters turnovers into a 47-yard field goal with 1:24 left to play to take a 20-17 victory. The win snapped the Wildcats' 23-game Pioneer Football League losing streak.
“I am very happy with the way we played in the second half,” Hatters coach Roger Hughes said. “The long delay really was a blessing in disguise because it helped our guys get refocused. There were a lot of emotions going on during pregame with pictures and so forth, and we didn't have the focus that we needed to start the game.
“I thought they did a great job in the second half, but turnovers were the key. We had two turnovers and a crucial penalty that took away a big play in the first half. Then, in the second half, we had turnovers on the last two drives that made a huge difference. You have to credit Davidson because they made the plays when they needed to make them.”
The first Stetson turnover came on the very first possession of the game. The Hatters got the ball to open play and quickly drove into Davidson territory before senior Jason Willix, who made his first career start, was stripped by Chris Wood. Ryan Felice recovered for the Wildcats, ending Stetson's best drive of the half.
Davidson sophomore quarterback Taylor Mitchell immediately went to work, connecting repeatedly with senior wideout William Morris. That duo connected six times on the drive, the last covering nine yards for the only touchdown of the first half. Trevor Smith added the PAT kick for a 7-0 Davidson lead.
“They do a great job of moving Morris around and getting him good matchups, and we were just never able to get to their quarterback at all,” Hughes said. “We pride ourselves on our blitzes, but he did a good job of getting rid of the ball on time and we didn't do enough to disrupt the passes.”
Morris finished with 106 receiving yards in the game on 10 receptions. Overall, Mitchell completed 18-of-37 attempts for 179 yards and two touchdowns with just one pick.
The Wildcats got the ball back to start the second quarter following a Stetson punt, and used 11 plays to move 48 yards, ending with a 36-yard Smith field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Davidson had a chance to add to the lead after the second Stetson turnover, this one a fumble by Cole Mazza, but the Hatters' defense pushed the Wildcats back, forcing a 31-yard field goal attempt, which Smith missed wide right.
The Wildcats had one more scoring chance late in the half after Ben Rowell returned a Stetson punt 58 yards to the Hatters' 14, but the Stetson defense again answered the call. Senior Dylan Wydronkowski had a pair of tackles for loss, pushing Davidson back, and then another senior, Ryan Powers, blocked Smith's 41-yard field goal attempt as time expired on the first half.
After the long break in the action, the Hatters seemed to have found new live in the second half.
“The biggest thing was we didn't know how long it (delay) was going to go on,” Hughes said. “We had to prepare for the second half, but it went so long that we had to feed the players. Fortunately, it went long enough that we just gave them their post-game meal. I thought the coaches did a great job of getting the players ready to go for the second half and they came out with a lot of emotion. With the exception of one drive in the second half, we shut them down.”
After forcing a Davidson punt to start the third quarter, the Hatters got their first points of the game on a 39-yard Grant Amick field goal. The Wildcats managed to run just 13 plays in the third quarter, gaining 42 yards.
Stetson got the ball back late in the quarter and began to find success moving it. Freshman Arkee Brown had some solid gains on the ground and quarterback Ryan Tentler hooked up with Kegan Moore for a 31-yard gain on third down to give the Hatters momentum heading to the fourth quarter.
That is when the real fireworks started. Brown had runs of 12, 9 and 3 yards to the Davidson 12 and then Mazza did the rest, waltzing in for the touchdown with 12:29 to play, tying the game at 10-10.
The momentum from that score didn't carry over to the defense as Davidson quickly answered to regain the lead. Mitchell connected with Nick Wheeler for 23 yards and then Jeffrey Keil ran for 20 more, quickly moving the Wildcats into the red zone. A facemask penalty on the Hatters set the stage for an 8-yard TD pass from Mitchell to Jaris Scott, putting Davidson back up by seven.
After an exchange of punts, that left Stetson at its own nine yard line with 7:06 to play, the Hatters reached into their bag of tricks. Mazza rolled out on a halfback pass and connected with Moore for a 77-yard gain to flip the field.
“When Cole threw the ball, the first thing I heard was that it slipped out of his hand,” Hughes said. “Cole has a very good arm, but Kegan came back for the ball and made a great run after he caught it. That gave us some great momentum after they had just retaken the lead.”
Even after the long pass, the Hatters had to roll the dice on a fourth down play from the Davidson 11 with 5:14 to play. Stetson went for it on the play and, even though Tentler's pass toward 6-foot-7 freshman tight end Donald Parham fell incomplete, the Wildcats were flagged for pass interference.
“After I called the fourth down play, I had second thoughts and called timeout,” Hughes said. “Ryan came over and I asked him what he thought and he suggested throwing to Donald on the backside because he is such a difficult matchup for any defensive back. We got the penalty on the play and ended up scoring anyway.”
Mazza did the honors to cap the drive, diving over from the one with 4:28 to play, tying the score again at 17.
With the game on the line, the Stetson defense stood up and made another stop, forcing Davidson to punt, but on the first play after getting the ball back, Tentler was intercepted by William Curren, who made a tremendous leaping catch.
The Hatters again stood tall on defense, but Davidson converted the turnover into points on a 47-yard field goal with just 1:24 left on the clock.
Stetson's last chance to steal the victory evaporated on the next possession when Tentler was again intercepted, this time by Ryan Leak.
“They broke on the ball and came down with it,” Hughes said of the picks. “On the last interception, Kegan slipped down. He would have been wide open, but he slipped and Ryan had to go to his second read. When Kegan slipped, it allowed the defense to double Darian Wright and that second defender made a great play on the ball.”
Moore finished with just three receptions in the game, but piled up 111 yards. Tentler completed 13-of-22 pass attempts for 173 yards, but the Hatters managed just 104 yards rushing in the game.
On defense, Donald Payne again led the way, despite playing with leg injuries. He finished with 12 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, and was also credited with three pass breakups. Stetson finished with a total of 10 tackles for loss in the game, but managed just one sack.
