R-MC Football Advances to NCAA Championship Second Round
unior Drew Campanale (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns, and the Yellow Jacket defense blanked the Red Dragons in the second half, as No. 14 Randolph-Macon outscored SUNY Cortland 35-28 on Saturday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Championship.
The Basics:
Score: Randolph-Macon 35, SUNY Cortland 28
Location/Venue: Ashland, Va. / Day Field
Records: Randolph-Macon 11-0, Cortland 9-2
How it Happened:
- The Red Dragons were forced to punt on their first possession. To cap an 81-yard drive, Campanale hit senior David Wallis (Cedar Point, N.C./Croatan) on a 71-yard touchdown pass as the Yellow Jackets took a 7-0 lead with 9:33 left in the first period.
- Cortland responded with its own scoring drive to knot the score at 7-7 with 5:56 remaining in the first quarter.
- Sophomore punter Kyle Ihle (Apex, N.C./Middle Creek) put a punt to the Cortland 8, but the Red Dragons went 92 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-7 lead early in the second period.
- Campanale capped a 63-yard scoring drive with a 44-yard TD pass to senior Zach Bowman (Midlothian, Va./Manchester) to level the score at 14-14.
- Cortland again answered, going 75 yards in 13 plays to go up 21-14 with 1:36 left until halftime.
- Campanale hit Wallis with a 50-yard pass to put the ball on the Cortland 25, then found senior Joey Hunt (Olney, Md./Sherwood) in the end zone for a 25-yard scoring play to knot the score at 21-21 with 1:07 remaining in the second.
- The Red Dragons went 75 yards in eight plays, reclaiming the lead at 28-21 with 11 seconds left until halftime.
- Both teams punted on the first possessions in the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets would go 80 yards in eight plays, as senior Nick Hale (Vinton, Va./William Byrd) scored from seven yards out to again tie the contest, this time at 28-28 midway through the third period.
- Junior linebacker Jackson Deaver (Fayetteville, N.C./Terry Sanford) intercepted a tipped ball and gave R-MC the ball on the Cortland 37. Senior quarterback Andrew Ihle (Apex, N.C./Middle Creek) scored from the one on the first play of the fourth quarter to give the Yellow Jackets a 35-28 advantage.
- Cortland advanced the ball to midfield, but consecutive sacks by senior KU Htoo (Knightsdale, N.C./Broughton) and senior Jacob Hutchinson (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run) forced the Red Dragons to punt. R-MC would pick up one first down but punted back to Cortland. The Red Dragons faced 4th and 2 at midfield. Cortland was first in the nation in fourth down conversions at 83%. Junior cornerback Ricky Thompson (Chesapeake, Va./Oscar Smith) stopped a receiver for a one-yard gain, turning the ball over to the Yellow Jackets with 6:21 remaining.
- R-MC would pick up one first down and would punt, giving the Red Dragons the ball on its 20 with 3:02 left. Following an incompletion, freshman safety Alex Biddle (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) made an acrobatic interception at midfield with 2:50 remaining. Faced with 3rd and 5, Ihle picked up a first down on an 11-yard run with under two minutes remaining. Ihle took three knees and R-MC secured the victory.
- R-MC collected 371 yards of total offense, with 259 through the air and 112 on the ground.
- Wallis had two catches for 121 yards and one score.
- Hale had 21 carries for 57 yards and one touchdown.
- Cortland had 306 yards of offense in the first half, but just 79 in the second half.
- The Red Dragons averaged 240 yards rushing per game but were held to 67 yards on 33 carries.
- The Yellow Jackets held the ball for 28:22, its lowest time of possession this season. It was the first time R-MC had been beaten in time of possession this season.
- R-MC reached the 11-win mark for the first time in program history. The Yellow Jackets won nine games in a season nine times.
- The Yellow Jackets extended their win streak to 17 games. The program record is 19, from 1967-69.
- The Yellow Jackets have scored at least 35 points in each game for the first time in program history. It was the highest point total surrendered by Cortland this season.
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