Cru dominates Wolverines 27 to 10

The Crusaders will be heading to the NCAA Division III National Semifinals for the second time in their short history after beating Wesley College last weekend 27-10 at Scott D. Miller Stadium in Dover, Del.

UMHB was effective in all facets of the game, resulting in a win over the Wolverines for the first time in three attempts.

The Cru got the ball to start the game, but quickly was forced to punt it away. Two plays into their first drive, Wesley fumbled the ball for its first of five turnovers in the game to give UMHB a short field.

Using their trusted style, the Crusaders rushed the ball the next seven plays, finishing with a quarterback sneak by Josh Welch for a touchdown.

Late in the first quarter the Wolverines put together a good drive of their own, but were forced to settle for a field goal to make the score 7-3.

After a long 12-play drive, Joel Munoz kicked a 30-yard field goal to give the Cru a seven-point lead again. Munoz had a great game, successfully kicking all three point-after-touchdowns, two field goals, and he pinned Wesley inside the 20-yard line, four times out of eights punts.

The Wolverines appeared to answer with a score of their own when Michael Clarke caught a pass and ran into the end zone for a 63-yard play.

However, it was called back due to a penalty, and neither team scored again to make the half-time score 10-3.
“We felt good at halftime about how we were playing, but in no way felt like a 10-3 lead was going to be enough,” Coach Pete Fredenburg said.   

After forcing Wesley to punt on its initial drive of the second half, the Crusaders got the ball back. Starting deep in their own territory, Jarvis Thrasher took a hand off and got the big run the Cru was looking for, not looking for, not being stopped until the three yard line for an 83-yard run.

“We knew Wesley had a good defense, but I also knew our offensive line would start to wear them down,” Thrasher said.

Welch finished the drive two plays later, when the team surprised Wesley with a four-yard touchdown pass to Adam Aguilera.

Toward the end of the third quarter, the Crusaders put together another dominating drive in which they ran the ball seven straight plays. During the drive, Quincy Daniels carried the ball four times for 45 yards and capped the drive when he ran in from 30 yards out to make the score 24-3.

The Wolverines connected on two long pass plays for a very quick 30-second drive that ended in Wesley’s only touchdown of the game, making the score 24-10.

The Cru answered on their next drive with Munoz’s second field goal of the game, this time from 26 yards out.

Never quitting, the Wolverines marched all the way down the field to the 11-yard line. The Crusader defense, however, forced four straight incomplete passes to get the ball back with less than three minutes in the game.

 Wesley did get the ball back one more time in the game, but Brett Parker intercepted a pass to seal the victory for the Cru at 27-10.

UMHB will now advance on to play the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Dec. 8.