Football: Harper edges RVC, 14-8

Contact: Dave Costello (Admin), 815-921-4516

Saturday, September 12, 2009

After coming off a 62-0 loss at Grand Rapids last weekend, the Golden Eagles had to be concerned watching Harper College march right down the field on their first possession Saturday afternoon, especially since that drive went 86 yards in eight plays to give Harper a quick 7-0 lead. 

It had to be equally disheartening to see the Hawks convert a third and long 27-yard touchdown pass on a play that was deflected at the goal line later in the first quarter. The pass from Harper quarterback Pat Czerwiec was nicely defended by RVC, but the deflection hung in the air and fell right into the waiting arms of Harper's Brian LaSeur to give the Hawks a 14-0 lead with 8:35 to play in the first quarter.

Despite the auspicious start, the Golden Eagles defense was dominate for the rest of the day. Not only did the RVC defense win the field position battle for most of the day after surrendering the early points, but they did not allow the Hawks to score again.

Unfortunately, RVC's offense was only once able to take advantage of several starting possessions deep in Harper territory. With 6:18 to play in the third quarter, RVC quarterback Peter Scaffidi connected with Curtis Calvin on a short pass play where Calvin was able to out-maneuvere his opponent and scamper in for a 15-yard touchdown. What appeared to be a busted play on the snap for the extra point wound up a two-point conversion pass from holder and backup quarterback Chase Vire to Senuwell Smith, cutting Harper's lead to 14-8.

But RVC was unable to capitalize on its remaining opportunities in the fourth quarter and could not overcome six turnovers, including four interceptions by Scaffidi. Meanwhile, Harper came through with several big first downs late in the game to run out the clock on the Golden Eagles.

Scaffidi finished with 108 yards passing, but completed just 14 of 34 attempts to go along with his touchdown pass and four interceptions. Calvin led all RVC receivers with five catches for 53 yards. For the second week in a row, RVC struggled with its ground game, netting negative yards rushing for the second straight week.

Roderick Alton led Harper's ground attack with 94 yards on 17 carries. Quarterbacks Czerwiec and Cameron Kinley combined for 223 yards passing. Czerwiec was intercepted twice, once by Chris Muhammad and once by Cicero Porter. Jerheart Huntley recorded two sacks for RVC while Gene Hodge, Richard Gray, and David Davenport each recorded a sack.

RVC's next home game will be Saturday, October 3 at 1:00 p.m. versus North Dakota State College of Science.

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