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Dover, DE – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team rallied late but never overcame its first half offensive struggles as the Cru fell to Wesley College 19-9 in an NCAA Division III National Quarterfinal game Saturday in Dover, Delaware. UMHB ends its season with a 12-1 overall record after advancing to the quarterfinals for the fifth time in the 13-year history of the program. Wesley improves to 12-0 on the season and the Wolverines will host defending national champions Wisconsin-Whitewater in the National Semifinals next Saturday.
The two teams would trade punts on their opening possessions before the Cru came up two yards short on a fake punt at the Wesley College 44-yard line. The Wolverines would pin UMHB back at its own three-yard line with a punt following the ensuing drive. Wesley would force a three-and-out and took over at the Cru 35-yard line following a short punt into the stiff breeze. Four plays later, Wolverine quarterback Justin Sottilare hit Ellis Krout with a 24-yard TD pass as Krout skied over Cru defensive back
Chad Cannon to make a circus catch in the back corner of the end zone. UMHB blocked the extra point and Wesley would lead 6-0 with 6:18 remaining in the first quarter. The Cru would force a fumble on the Wolverine's first possession of the second quarter and
Alan Munoz hit a 41-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3. Wesley would add a pair of Dan Tryon field goals to take a 12-3 halftime lead. The UMHB offense managed just 61 yards of total offense in the first half.
The Cru blocked a Wesley College punt and recovered it at the Wolverine's 27-yard line on the opening possession of the second half, but UMHB fumbled the ball right back to Wesley three plays later. The Wolverines capitalized, marching 86 yards in 12 plays before Sottilare and Krout hooked up again, this time from 23 yards to make it 19-3 with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter. The Cru would have another chance to cut the lead on the ensuing possession, driving the length of the field and setting up a first-and-goal from the four-yard line.
Quincy Daniels and
LiDarral Bailey would carry the ball to the one-yard line, but Bailey was stopped just short on a third-down quarterback sneak. A delay of game penalty would push the ball back to the six-yard line and UMHB was stopped on a four-down option play.
The Cru would force a fumble at its own 14-yard line early in the fourth quarter and finally put together its best drive of the game. UMHB marched to the Wesley 49-yard line before a bad snap in a shotgun formation sent the Cru all the way back to its own 27. Bailey then found
Trey Hazelton for a 31-yard gain and Daniels exploded through the line and outran the Wesley defense for a 42-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-three play to cut the lead to 19-9 with 8:12 left to play. The Cru could not convert the two-point conversion. UMHB would have two more possessions, but those drives ended with a fourth-down sack and an interception as Wesley ran out the clock.
Daniels ran for 156 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries for the Cru. Bailey finished 8-23 passing for 97 yards and
Ervin Johnson caught four passes for 56 yards. UMHB was held to 239 yards of total offense and its lowest point total since a 16-7 loss to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the 2007 National Semifinals.
Javicz Jones led the Cru defense with 15 total tackles and
Silvio Diaz had 1.5 sacks, a fumble recovery and 2.0 tackles for loss for UMHB.
Sottilare was 22-37 passing for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Krout caught five passes for 95 yards and two scores and Leonard Stevenson caught seven passes for 67 yards. Brandon Wright had 62 rushing yards on 25 carries for the Wolverines. Wesley rolled up 348 yards of total offense and controlled the ball for 37:47. Both teams turned the ball over twice. Jeff Morgan had a game-high 16 tackles for the Wolverines defense and Chris Mayes had four of the team's six sacks.
UMHB finished with the second-highest single-season win total in school history, matching the 12 victories posted by the 2007 and 2008 teams. Jones also broke the UMHB single-season record for tackles by pushing his total to 120. Diaz tied the single-season school record for sacks with 9.5 during his freshman season.
The loss also closed out the careers of 19 UMHB seniors. That includes Daniels, who ends his career as the American Southwest Conference and UMHB career leader with 4,157 rushing yards and 57 rushing touchdowns. He also scored more points and more total touchdowns than any player in ASC and UMHB history.
