Sloppy Crusaders Extend Win Steak to 6, Topple Falcons!

Despite 4 turnovers and 126 yards in penalties the North Greenville (SC) Crusaders (7-3) got a late interception of a James Flowers pass and converted it into a Marcus Wilson touchdown and a 21-14 win. NDC fell to 2-7 on the season in front of 663 fans at Korb Field. Most of the games scoring would occur in the opening 15 minutes. Greenville would score first on a Teryan Rucker touchdown that would cap a 11 play 75 yard drive to make it 7-0 Crusaders. The Falcons would answer on the ensuing kickoff. Jack Foy (Sidney,OH) would take it back 92 yards for a score and tie the game at 7. The Crusaders would then regain the lead at 14-7 as a 10 play 48 yard drive would be capped on a 1 yard run by Willy Korn. That is what the score would be heading into the halftime break. The Falcons would tie it up as James Flowers would score on a 1 yard keeper to cap a 6 play 47 yard drive and with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter it was a tie game. The game would come down to the 4th quarter. The Falcons would get down to the Crusaders 17 yard line early in the fourth where they would have 4th and 8. NDC would get a delay of game penalty to move it back to the 22 yard line. Coach Adam Howard elected to go for it on 4th down and 13. Flowers would hit Derrick Paster in stride but the Falcons usually sure handed receiver from Berea would drop the ball at the 1 yard line. The Falcons would come up with a stop on 4th and 1 from the 35 yard line to get the ball back. The next play would then be picked off by Carl Dukes. The Crusaders would then score on what would be the game winning 51 yard scamper by Marcus Wilson with 5:43 remaining.

The total yards battle was dominated by the Crusaders. They would have 431 yards as opposed to just 235 for Notre Dame. NGU would have 21 first down as opposed to 13 for NDC. NGU came in as the 4th best rushing offense in D2 and had 319 yards rushing. The Falcons were held to 112. NDC had 116 yards passing while the Crusaders gained 112. NDC forced 4 NGU turnovers while the Crusaders forced 2 NDC turnovers. NGU had 115 yards in penalties while the Falcons had just 36 penalty yards.

Marcus Wilson was the leading Crusader rusher as he had 134 yards on 18 carries including the game winning score. Isiah Anderson added 79 yards on 11 carries. Willy Korn was 8 of 13 for 108 yards with 1 interception. Sean Wright had 4 grabs for 57 yards for North Greenville. The defense was led by Nick Rosamanda and Jarius Mack who tallied 7 tackles each.

The Falcons got yet another 100+ yard game from Pedro Powell. The freshman from Liberty,OH (Lakota East HS) had 122 yards on 29 carries Saturday. James Flowers had a rough afternoon for NDC. The Sophome Qb from Strongsville,OH (Padua Fransiscan) had just 43 yards passing on 5 of 21 with the game changing pick. Derrick Paster completed a 37 yard pass early in the game to go with his 4 catches for 73 yards. Matt Preston also completed a 37 yard pass on a trick play. The defense was anchored by 11 tackles from Bo Grunder while Derrick Smith added 10. Brandon Bucknell (Twinsburg HS) had a pair of fumble recoveries. The Falcons will be back in action next Saturday when they head to the bluegrass state for a battle with the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers (4-5). Kickoff is slated for 2 PM. The Crusaders will close the season at UNC Pembroke.