Tigers top Catholic to win second straight game
Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, October 18, 2016
The Hampden-Sydney College football team claimed its second straight victory of the season Saturday, scoring 27 first-half points en route to a 33-28 win over Catholic University of America in the nation’s capital.
With the win, the Tigers improve to 2-4 on the season and 2-1 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play; the Cardinals drop to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the ODAC.
It was a tale of two halves, with the Tigers opening the game on fire with a 27-0 lead. Catholic, however, used the intermission to regroup and outscore the Tigers 28-6 in the second half, but the comeback attempt fell short.
The Cardinals cut the Tiger lead to 27-21 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Hampden-Sydney, however, was able to stop the run on its next drive, using more than four minutes of clock on 11 plays to drive 68 yards. The drive was capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run from Mike DeMasi (Virginia Beach/Frank W. Cox).
After the teams traded punts to start the fourth quarter, Catholic struck again on a 53-yard run to make it a 5-point game at 33-28 with 12 minutes to play, but the Tigers were able to hold the Cardinals off.
Hampden-Sydney had its best offensive output of the season at 567 yards with 379 passing and 188 rushing. Alec Cobb (Jamestown, N.C./Ragsdale) was 30-of-44 passing for 379 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Owen Costello (South Riding/Paul VI) caught seven passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. DeMasi had eight catches for 50 yards while also leading the run game with 31 carries, 116 yards, and a touchdown.
Patrick Kline (New Cumberland, Pa./Trinity) had a strong outing with four catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Tigers allowed 423 yards of offense on 224 passing and 199 rushing. Christian Wilder (Richmond/Mills Godwin) led the way with nine tackles and half a sack. Mike Lepore (Suffolk/Nansemond-Suffolk) tallied eight stops, and Tanner Ramey (Mechanicsville/Atlee) recorded five tackles with a forced fumble.
The Tigers face host Washington and Lee University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
