North Richmond Today

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.

By The Numbers:

• 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.

For The Record:

• 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.

Original source can be found here