GRANVILLE, Ohio — It was a simple request.
Earlham College football player
Bryant Foreman had been injured and was headed to an ambulance in the fourth quarter on Saturday. “When he was leaving the field on the stretcher, he told our team to just win,” Earlham Head Coach Gerry Keesling said. “The situation was inspiring and our guys wanted to win it for him.”
After spotting Denison University a 17-point lead during the first three quarters of the North Coast Athletic Conference contest, the Quakers did win as they staged a furious rally in the final period to post a 21-17 victory. “We had not played well up to that point offensively,” Keesling said.
The momentum had already started to swing in Earlham’s direction prior to Foreman’s injury, but two of the scores happened after he was on his way to the hospital with a back injury. As of Saturday evening, he was staying overnight at The Ohio State University Medical Center for observation with normal sensation and movement of his extremities, according to Earlham Athletic Trainer Bill Kinsey.
The winning touchdown came as
Chris Owens grabbed a 29-yard scoring pass from
James Mees with 30 seconds remaining to cap a 9-play, 80-drive, which allowed the Quakers to finish the season at 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the NCAC.
“As soon as Bryant went down, we all had to come together,” Owens said. “We were going to do it for him. It was an awesome feeling, but I have no idea how I caught it.”
The Big Red (3-7, 2-5) had one more possession in the final moments, but that ended with
Jake Carr knocking down a
Denison pass.
For the Quakers, the victory meant they would end the season at .500 or better for the first time since 2000 when they were 6-4.
On the way back
Trailing 17-0, Earlham’s comeback began early in the fourth quarter when the Quakers scored their first touchdown on a 28-yard pass from Mees to
Kyle Ripperger with 11:42 left to play.
Earlham forced
Denison to punt on its next possession with Foreman’s injury occurring on the punt return.
The Quakers responded with a 6-play, 81-yard drive to make it 17-14 when Mees and Owens hooked up on a 25-yard touchdown pass at the 7:09 mark.
After another
Denison punt, the Quakers stumbled on offense and turned the ball over on downs. At that point, Earlham’s defense forced another punt that resulted in a touchback with 2:02 left in the game to set the stage for the game-winning drive.
Falling behind
Denison scored the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter to hold a 7-0 by intermission. The Big Red added 10 more points in the third period to build a 17-0 advantage heading into the final stanza.
Mees completed 17-of-27 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns. “He’s shown signs of brilliance, but has never put anything together,” Keesling said of the first-year signal caller. “But he sure did in the fourth quarter.”
Owens led the Quakers with 10 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Jaysn Murphy had six catches for 55 yards, while Ripperger added four receptions for 57 yards and a score.
Nick Cummings rushed for 127 yards on 14 carries to lead the Quakers on the ground. It was the first 100-yard effort for an Earlham runner this season.
The most recent Earlham player to gain over 100-yards rushing in a contest was Ben Marschand, who had 135 yards in a 56-23 win at
Oberlin College last year.
Cale Gulliford led the Quakers with 14 tackles, while
Josh Lewis added 11 tackles.
Adam LaFollette finished with a pair of quarterback sacks. “Our defense was exceptional all day,” Keesling said.
The seniors
The game also was the last for Carr, Gulliford, LaFollette, Owens and fellow seniors
Neil Collins,
Max Crumley-Effinger,
Stephen Lewis,
Mike Liby,
John Metcalf,
Alex Painter,
Chris Shaw and Jay Zevin. “This was huge for so many reasons,” Owens said. “It was our senior day again and this was an awesome way to go out.”
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