Football
Football: Big Red Comeback Attempt Falls Just Shy
Dan Crawford gained 77 yards and scored one TD.
Date: October 6, 2007
Location: GRANVILLE
The Big Red came storming back from a 24-point halftime
deficit but a Chase Palmer interception with 39 seconds remaining in the fourth
quarter foiled Denison's comeback hopes and
preserved a 34-27 win for Oberlin College on Saturday at
Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.
Oberlin came out of the gates hot as Cassius Harris hauled
in two touchdown passes and R.V. Carroll went into the locker room with two
touchdowns and 79 yards rushing.
In the second half a reborn Denison team took the field. They asserted themselves on their first drive
of the third quarter that resulted in a 9-yard touchdown run by Jon Berg (Washington, Pa./Trinity). Freshman running back Dan Crawford (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper
Arlington) would add a 34-yard TD run on their
next possession to cut the Oberlin lead to 3`1019 with 7:41 left in the
quarter.
The two teams would go scoreless on their next two drives
but with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter the Yeomen gained a little breathing
room when Zach Richard connected on a 29-yard field goal bumping their lead to
15 points with just over half of a quarter to play.
Denison quarterback Mike Barnes (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield)
had been chased all over the field by the Oberlin defense all afternoon. He finished the day with 92 yards gained on
the ground but after eight sacks, his net yardage totaled just 28 yards.
Following the Oberlin field goal Barnes carried the ball three straight times
and in between, had a 55-yard touchdown run called back because of a Denison holding
penalty. With temperatures flirting with
90 degrees, Barnes was forced to leave the field due to severe exhaustion. Without even one warm-up toss, sophomore Tom Simeone (Bethesda, Md./The Potomac
School) entered the game and completed four straight passes to move the Big
Red down to the one-yard line where Berg punched it in for his third score of
the day. Now trailing by nine, the DU
offense stayed on the field for the two-point conversion.After a holding penalty on the first
point-after attempt gave the Big Red another chance, Simeone found Brandon Taylor (Cincinnati,
Ohio/Anderson)
for the conversion to get within one touchdown at 34-27.
With 3:37 left in the game the Denison defense would need a quick stop.Oberlin nearly had to give the ball back to Denison after just three
plays but a third and two conversion by Carroll allowed more time to come off
the clock. After the first down, two
penalties on the Yeomen brought up a 4th and 20 situation with just under one
minute left and a 38-yard Palmer punt gave DU the ball with 52 seconds left on
the clock.
With Barnes still on the sideline, Simeone returned with no
timeouts to try and tie the score. He
hit Taylor with a quick out pattern on the first
play which was good for eight yards on his second play of the drive, while
looking down field for Taylor
again, Palmer stepped in front and picked off the pass to preserve the win for
the Yeomen.
Denison
finished the game with 264 yards to Oberlin's 426.The Yeomen tallied eight sacks that were good
for 57 yards and each team recorded one interception. Crawford led the DU rushing attack with 71
yards off seven carries.Berg finished
with 50 yards off three carries. Barnes
and Simeone combined to go 13-of-21 for 108 yards.Nick Thompson was their favorite target as he
finished with four catches for 34 yards.
Oberlin was led by Carroll who carried the ball 25 times for
138 yards and two scores. Quarterback
Greg Mangan was 16-of-23 for 220 yards and two touchdowns, both to Harris who
finished with 84 yards receiving.
The Denison defense was paced
by Joe Ulrey (Marengo, Ohio/Highland) and Jason Wright (Granville, Ohio/Watkins
Memorial) who posted 14 and 10 tackles, respectively. Freshman cornerback Nick Weiss notched his
first career interception and Kyle Yeary
(Reading, Ohio/Reading) added eight
tackles for the Big Red.
Oberlin (2-3) safety Kris DeVant finished with eight tackles
and two sacks.Palmer also posted eight
stops, 1 1/2 sacks and the game-clinching interception.
Denison (1-4) will be back in
action next Saturday (Oct. 13) when they travel to Delaware,
Ohio for a 2
p.m. kickoff against Ohio Wesleyan.
See the
full game statistics
