Box Score
MEADVILLE, Pa. – T. J. Salopek threw for a career-high 364 yards and three touchdowns, while Terry Hartford caught five passes for a career-best 185 yards to lead Allegheny to a 35-13 victory over Denison in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) football action on Saturday night under the lights.
Salopek had an 80 completion percentage, going 15-for-19 with three big passes that all led to touchdowns for the Gators (5-1, 2-1 NCAC). Mark Sutton made three catches for 102 yards, including his longest catch for 79 yards.
The offense did their part to put up the points and the defense made sure the Big Red (2-4, 1-3 NCAC) did not score many points. Cornerback Craig Stamm blocked a field-goal and an extra point, while Andy Schleihauf recorded a career-high 17 tackles. As a team, Allegheny had five sacks for a loss of 37 yards to increase the season total to 20 sacks in six games.
Nick Stephens threw two TD passes and accumulated 150 yards on 13 completions. James Hall and Lucas Graham each caught a touchdown. Nick Krempasky led Denison with 189 all-purpose yards, getting 115 off kickoffs and a team-high 68 rushing yards.
Salopek threw a 94-yard touchdown pass to Terry Hartford on the Gators first play of the game to take 7-0 lead. The play marks the second longest touchdown pass is program history, one yard shy of the record. Denison punted on its first possession and Allegheny took over at its six-yard line. Salopek winded up and hit Hartford at the 50 and he took it the rest of the way for a quick and easy lead.
The Big Red had to punt on their next possession and linebacker Taylor Dloughy recovered a Gator fumble on the catch to the ball back and at the Allegheny 23. Denison could not get in the end zone and had its 21-yard field-goal attempt blocked by Stamm and recovered by Taylor Brown.
At 9:07 mark of the second quarter, Hartford had 135 yards by making another big catch for 41 yards to set up the next Allegheny touchdown.
On 2nd and 10, Salopek scrambled out of the pocket to avoid the sack and ran 12 yards, diving into the end zone to give the Gators a 14-0 lead. He went 5-for-7, throwing for 155 yards in the first half alone. The defense held the Big Red off the scoreboard for almost 30 minutes, but Denison got its first touchdown with 2:34 left in the second quarter to make it a seven-point game.
Travis Wilkins was critical to the Allegheny defense, shooting out like a cannon to get the Allegheny’s second sack of the day to push the Big Red back to the 32. However, on the next play quarterback Nick Stephens found James Hall down the middle for the score, ending the first half.
The Gators only burned 1:51 off the clock in the beginning of the third quarter with four plays for 74 yards to make it 21-7. Brian Tamburlin scored his second touchdown of the season with a six-yard run.
Salopek made another big throw in the third quarter, hitting Sutton for 79 yards to put Allegheny 18 yards from the end zone. After a loss of seven yards on a sack by Bill Auckerman and Mike Barnum, Salopek and Sutton connected again for 24 yards for the second touchdown pass of the night for a 28-7 advantage.
Both teams scored in the fourth quarter, first the Gators capped a five play, 56 yard drive with a 15-yard pass from Salopek to Rob Carlisle. The touchdown was Carlisle’s second in as many games.
The win marks the first time Allegheny is 5-1 since the 1997 season and is the fourth-straight winning season for head coach Mark Matlak.
The Gators return to action on Saturday at Kenyon. Game time is 1 p.m.