Jake Pasch forced a fumble to set up a game-winning drive for Wabash in a 29-28 victory over Hampden-Sydney College in fourth meeting between the two teams in The Gentlemen's Classic.
Wabash (1-0) trailed 28-21 with 3:11 left to play after giving up the football with a punt to the host Tigers (0-1). Hampden-Sydney took over on its own 25-yard line when Pasch knocked the ball free from H-SC quarterback Carter Sido and recovered the fumble at the Tigers' 33. Wabash needed only four plays to find the end zone, with senior quarterback Liam Thompson throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Derek Allen, Jr. to cut the lead to one point with 1:59 remaining in the game.
The Little Giants lined up for the two-point conversion and ran a reverse to Jacob Riddle. The senior wideout pulled up in the backfield and hit Thompson with a pass in the end zone for the two-point conversion and the one-point lead.
The Wabash defense locked up the victory on the next drive, holding the Tigers to seven yards on three plays before Avery Epstein knocked away a pass on fourth down to Hampden-Sydney's final drive of the game.
One year after the two teams combined for 100 points and nearly 1,200 yards of total offense in a 52-48 Wabash win, the two squads played a lower-scoring affair but still rolled up yardage. Thompson completed 17-of-27 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns, the first on a three-yard completion to Cooper Sullivan to tie the score at 7-7 early in the second period. Thompson threw one interception that ended the Little Giants' opening drive after Hampden-Sydney took a 7-0 lead on a 46-yard run by Sido in the first quarter. Wabash ran for 181 yards for 399 yards of total offense.
Hampden-Sydney matched that total with 399 offensive yards, most coming with a 246-yard rushing attack. Sido ran for 184 yards and three scores and threw for 153 yards and one score.
Donovan Snyder ran for 99 yards on 22 carries. He scored on a five-yard run to tie the score at 14-14 heading into halftime. A Thompson 17-yard run gave the Little Giants a 21-14 lead in the third quarter, which saw the Wabash defense shut out the Tigers. Thompson finished with 65 rushing yards on 11 attempts. Sido tied the game at 21-21 in the fourth on an 11-yard TD run, then gave the Tigers the 28-21 lead with 4:23 left in the game on a one-yard run to cap a 12-play, 64-yard drive.
Allen, Jr. led Wabash with seven receptions for 88 yards and the one TD. Sullivan caught four passes for 74 yards. Snyder added four receptions for 31 yards.
Pasch and Gavin Ruppert each made 11 tackles in the game for Wabash. Pasch added a three-yard sack with his forced and recovered fumble. Owen Volk made four tackles, including 1-1/2 sacks for three yards and 2-1/2 tackles for 10 yards in losses.
Wabash returns to action September 16 when the Little Giants travel to Butler University in a 6 p.m. contest.
How It Happened
Hampden-Sydney jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Wabash responded to tie it up at 7-7 with 13:29 remaining in the second quarter. Hampden-Sydney scored to go ahead 14-7 before the Little Giants responded with a score of their own to tie things up at 14-14.
Wabash followed with a 17-yard touchdown run at the 10:58 mark in the third quarter and took a 21-14 lead in the process. Hampden-Sydney then took control of the lead, building a 28-21 advantage before the Little Giants got on the scoreboard again with a 16-yard touchdown pass from to to jump back in front 29-28. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Wabash and Hampden-Sydney both had exactly 399 yards of total offense, while the Little Giants had a 218-153 advantage through the air.
» Wabash had their highest scoring quarter in the second period, when they put up 14 points.
» Wabash converted 6-of-12 third downs while Hampden-Sydney was successful on 7-of-14.
» The Little Giants had two players with more than eight tackles in the ballgame led by Gavin Ruppert, who had 11.
» The Little Giants didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» Wabash won the time of possession battle 33:11 to 26:49.
»Wabash took care of business in the red zone, scoring four times on five trips inside Hampden-Sydney's 20-yard line, with all of those scores being touchdowns.
»Both teams forced one turnover in Saturday's contest, with Wabash turning that takeaway into eight points. The Wabash offense did a good job extending drives, converting on 50 percent of third-down attempts.
» Carter Sido led the H-SC passing attack, completing 15 of his 23 attempts for 153 yards and one touchdown.
» Sido led the Hampden-Sydney rushing attack with 184 yards and three touchdowns.
Parts of this story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.