Georgetown football finally got into the win column with, according to Head Coach Bob Benson, a “resilient and persistent” effort last Saturday in a 17-10 victory over a talented Lafayette Leopard squad.
The win, the season’s first both overall and in Patriot League play, was capped on a 14-play, 95-yard drive at the midway point of the fourth quarter of what Benson called a “great team win.”
“We’ve been in four of five games in the last minute of the fourth quarter,” Benson said. “Every games is going to come down to the fourth quarter, and if we do what we’re supposed to we’re going to win. On Saturday we did.”
The game was marked by much improved play by the defensive line and secondary, an outstanding performance by junior quarterback Andrew Crawford, and continued dominance by senior wide-receiver Luke McArdle, who baffled the Lafayette secondary for 96 yards on 8 catches. McArdle remains one of Division I-AA’s most dominant performers in receiving yards and total all-purpose yards headed towards the season’s midway mark.
After a scoreless back-and-forth opening stanza, the Hoyas got onto the scoreboard first with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Crawford to junior wide-receiver Craig Agnello two minutes into the second quarter. The Leopards were able to muster three points out of the half after a 36-yard field goal with 5:15 left in the half, but the opening two quarters belonged to the Hoyas defense.
For the defense, the first half set the tone for the remainder of the game, as they held the high-powered Leopard offense to 254 yards and created three turnovers-two fumbles and an interception. Just as important, the Hoyas held the Leopards below 50 percent on third down conversions.
“Our D-line and secondary did a good job changing things up with blitzes and coverage,” Benson said. “It kept them from establishing a rhythm in the game and kept them off guard.
The defensive star of the game was inside linebacker William Skultely, who recorded 12 tackles in the game (eight solo, four assisted), including a sack for a loss of six yards.
“William Skultely is a great leader who had a great game, ” Benson said. “He plays with a high level of intensity and is a real inspiration for our guys out there. He had his best game of the year.”
The improved play of Crawford on the offensive side was equally impressive. Crawford passed for 203 yards, completing 20 of 28 attempts and came up with the touchdown pass to Agnello and several key connections with McArdle during the game. Crawford’s 71.4 percentcompletion percentage was his best of the year to date, and that his performance came without an interception was perhaps the biggest testament to his improvement over the course of the season.
“Crawford had a great, consistent day,” Benson said. “He got some good protection from the line, and his passing helped us be much better with ball control and time of possession throughout the game.”
In the Hoyas’ season-long running back roulette, John Simms made the biggest gains of the game, including the game-winning touchdown on a four-yard run. The rush finished a drive in which he reeled off 24-yards, helping to eat 6:24 off the clock. All of Simms’ 63 yards came in the second half, and his huge 22-yard gain as the team was running out the last 2:42 of the game was the crushing blow to Lafayette.
“[Simms] responded in exactly the way a classic competitor should,” Benson said. “With some athletes, they know, when your time comes, you need to perform, and he did. He had a tremendous fourth quarter. At a position where we have a lot of depth, we can’t always get him the touches, but he got them today and really responded.”
Benson’s comments underscored a relatively successful day for Marcus Slayton as well, as he rushed for 52 yards on 15 carries.
Lafayette Head Coach Frank Tavani wasn’t surprised at all with the great play of the Hoyas. “They could easily be 4-1 right now,” he said. “They fully believed they could knock us off. This is a very dangerous football team at this point in the season,” he said.
Benson pointed out the tough work ethic that the team showed leading up to the game.
“Last week’s practices composed the best practice week of the past 10 years I’ve been here,” he said. “It was high intensity, high enthusiasm, and they showed up with the right attitude all week.”
He’s confident in his team, and proud of their physical and inspired play.
“This is a good football team,” Benson said. “We were very physical and just determined. We were not gonna lose. You learn from the early-season losses and we wanted it more.”
Georgetown will return home this Saturday for the 2003 Homecoming game against Stony Brook. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. on Harbin Field.
