JACKSONVILLE, Fla.— Very similar to when Tennessee Titans' wide receiver Kevin Dyson was tackled at the one-yard line on the game's final play in Super Bowl XXXIV, Stetson was denied a touchdown on this game's final play as Jacksonville University desperately held off a hard charging Hatter team and defeated Stetson 13-10 in the Hatters' season finale at D.B. Milne Field.
With 2:38 to go, the Hatters started the final drive at their own 10 yard line. Stetson marched 88 yards over the next two minutes and thirty-three seconds, and had a first down and goal with six seconds to play. After a spike of the ball to stop the clock, Stetson elected to go for the win with five seconds left. Junior quarterback
Colin McGovern threw a swing pass to the outside that was caught by senior wide receiver
Ja'Vonta Swinton, who was wrestled down inside the one yard line as the clock expired to conserve the win for Jacksonville.
The pass was a swing pass to Swinton on the far sideline. He caught the ball at the two yard line and got to the one before being denied the pylon by the Jacksonville defense.
On an exuberant final drive, McGovern converted a third down pass and a fourth down pass to junior tight end
Donald Parham during the drive to keep it alive. Freshman wide receiver Justin Jordan and redshirt freshman
Jeremiah Nails also caught passes during in the final moments.
Despite not scoring, the 89-yard drive was the longest by the Hatters on the afternoon in what was otherwise a defensive struggle that saw Jacksonville lead 6-3 heading to the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville scored with 14:08 to go to cap off an 11-play 80 yard drive to make the score 13-3. But the Hatters fought back and made the score 13-10 with a 10-play 64-yard drive that was finished off by a 10-yard touchdown pass by McGovern to Parham.
After Stetson scored to make it a three point game, Jacksonville went three and out and punted to the Hatters who failed to sustain the drive. Jacksonville though could not ice the game, and a big third down stop by the Hatters forced the Dolphins to punt it back, giving the Hatters a final drive over the final 2:38 before time expired.
In what was otherwise a great defensive game, Parham had another great game, making 11 catches for a career-high 165 yards, plus a touchdown. McGovern completed 27 of 45 passes for 273 yards. Sophomore running back
Bryce Blackmon added a career-high 80 yards on 10 carries.
Defensively, Stetson was led by junior defensive back
Conrad Fonseca with 12 tackles, while graduate linebacker
Jeb Boudreaux added 11. Redshirt freshman linebacker
Tyler Mirabella added 10 tackles. The Stetson defense forced the Jacksonville offense to five fumbles, but the Dolphins recovered four of them to prevent turnovers.
Stetson ends its season at 2-9 overall and 1-7 in Pioneer Football League action, while Jacksonville improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Pioneer Football League games.
