[Football] Big First Quarter by Stevens Dooms Williamson

Coming off a 59-0 loss a year ago to Thaddeus Stevens College, Williamson knew they would need to come out strong early on against the Bulldogs and try not to fall behind big early on.  Sadly for them, the exact opposite happened, as Thaddeus Stevens scored 17 first quarter points and used that to fuel their way to a 27-6 victory over Williamson on Saturday afternoon.

The big culprit for Williamson early on was their special teams play.  Stevens got on the board first at the 8:36 mark of the first quarter after they blocked for a safety a Tyler McLaughlin (JR/Brookhaven, PA) punt to go up 2-0.  They then took advantage of a muffed snap on Williamson's next punt attempt and eventually scored on a 23-yard pass play from Rhyel Miles-Eubank to Nasir McCrae-Dixon to go up 8-0.  The extra point was not good.

Stevens then added another touchdown, once again due to a special teams mishap, with Miles-Eubanks scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run at the 4:37 mark.  Stevens then once again took advantage of a low snap on the next punt attempt that forced Williamson punter Tyler McLaughlin to run out of the endzone for a second safety with just 39 seconds left to go in the quarter to give them a 17-0 lead.

After falling behind 17-0 after the first quarter, Williamson seemed to settle down and they got on the board themselves off an incredible 20-yard touchdown grab by Garrett Watkins (JR/Mechanicsville, MD) from quarterback Jack Grace (SR/Ridley, PA).  They went for two points and did not get it.  That would be the only score of the second quarter.

Williamson received the second half kick-off and took a gamble, going for a first down on fourth and six deep in their own territory.  Unfortunately for them, they did not get the first down and it took Stevens all of two plays to add to their lead, this time on a 23-yard run by Michael Massey to put them up, 24-6.

The Bulldogs then closed out the scoring at the 12:56 mark of the fourth quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Alex Romanowski, to make the final 27-6.

"It is disappointing in the sense we shot ourselves in the foot in the first quarter.  We gift-wrapped their scores for them and you simply can't do that against a good team like Stevens," shared Williamson interim head coach Danny LaPella.  "Still, our guys battled and gave it all they could.  They didn't quit and played hard until the end."

Offensively, Williamson was led by Nazaire Miller (JR/Wilmington, DE), who had 44 yards rushing on five carries, and Garrett Watkins who had two receptions for 58 yards and the lone Williamson touchdown. 

Defensively, Chris Meiklejohn (JR/Marple Newtown, PA) has a big game for Williamson, with eight tackles, including two for loss, and a half a sack.   Chris Sheffer (JR/Drexel Hill, PA) and Gabe Walsh (FR/Glen Mills, PA) also had five tackles, while Joe Kelly (JR/Newtown Square, PA) had six tackles, and Brandon Jessup (SR/Wilmington, DE) added five tackles, including two for loss, and a sack.  Joseph Glenn recovered a fumble for the Mechanics.

Williamson drops to 1-2 on the year and next hosts the New York Crusaders on Saturday, October 8 in a 12:00 P.M. start.