Urbana Has No. 3 ODU on the Ropes
Blue Knight penalties and turnovers lead to 50-28 setback
URBANA, Ohio (Nov. 3, 2007) – Urbana’s Larry McCartney caught two touchdown passes from CJ Westler – one on an eight-yard corner route in the closing minutes of the third quarter, and the other a six-yard fade with 8:18 left to play in the game – to bring the Blue Knights within striking distance of the NAIA No. 3 and undefeated Ohio Dominican Panthers Saturday at Ellis Field in an MSFA Mideast Division clash. McCartney,’s second TD cut what was once a 17-point lead to just a 31-28 deficit with about half a quarter to play, but the Panthers (10-0, 6-0 MSFA) went on to score three unanswered touchdowns for a 50-28 win, keeping them atop the MSFA Mideast division standings.

The Blue Knight defense looked to have ODU on the ropes on its next possession. With quarterback hurries from Travis Brisco and Shawn Lewis, plus a tackle for a three-yard loss by Kevin Weber, ODU was facing a third-and 13 from its own 31-yard line. Two passes and 69 yards later, quarterback Chris Reisert threw for his fifth touchdown of the day, converting from 41 yards out to Justin Sayre. Reisert finished with an MSFA single-game record of 556 passing yards. Sayre was the recipient of seven passes for 170 yards and four TDs. Farfsing led all receivers with 12 receptions for 178 yards and a TD, plus he rushed for one touchdown.

The Panthers scored the only points of the first quarter and went up 10-0 early in the second on an Andy Wernicke 38-yard field goal. Westler, who finished the day with 283 yards and three touchdown passes, connected with Tim Watson on a six-yard pass to get the Blue Knights on the board with 11:33 left to play in the half.

Sayre scored back-to-back touchdowns to put the Panthers up 24-7 with 5:57 left to play in the half. Westler answered as he led the Blue Knights on a 13-play, 63-yard drive that culminated in a Luther Henderson one-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds left on the clock, to close to lead to 24-14 at the half.

The Blue Knights led the possession battle, 32:26 to 27:34, but the Panthers dominated the fourth quarter, possessing the ball for nearly 11 minutes. ODU had 31 first downs (including five on penalties) to Urbana’s 21. The Panthers had 593 total yards of offense while Urbana posted 410 total yards of offense. Urbana’s Kirk Hannah led all rushers with 55 yards. McCartney finished with nine catches for 103 yards, Ian Iler had five catches for 51 yards and Barry Quinn (67 yards) and Rodney Holmes (22 yards) each nabbed four passes. Matt Branch averaged a solid 39.2 yards per punt with a long punt of 50 yards. Only one of his punts was returned, and for just six yards.

Chris Rutledge blocked a Wernicke 29-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, which led to McCartney’s second TD of the day. Eriq McCorkle led the Blue Knight defense with 11 tackles, while Josh Turnbo added nine.

Urbana (5-5, 2-4 MSFA) suffered from five turnovers (four fumbles lost and an interception), while ODU had two fumbles, but just one lost.

Urbana closes out the regular season when it hosts Marian College this Saturday, Nov. 10 at noon at Ellis Field.

Coach Place quotes:
The guys gave tremendous effort.  We had some terrible penalties as well as critical turnovers that set us back during the game, but I again I thought we played hard and we played together. We cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes against a team of ODU’s caliber and expect to win because effort, alone, does not win these types of games. We have a meeting tomorrow; we will get back to the drawing board and prepare for Saturday. 

Game Stats