Football Falls To No. 20 Washington & Jefferson 27-23

NEWPORT NEWS, VA - For the third time in five seasons, Washington & Jefferson has ended CNU's season in the NCAA Playoffs. This year the Presidents defeated the Captains 27-23 on Saturday afternoon.

W&J held a big advantage in the first half as they took a 20-0 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Presidents led 7-0 after the first on Kevin Matthews 12-yard touchdown catch from Bobby Swallow with 1:27 remaining in the opening stanza.

In the second, W&J scored twice, with the first point-after blocked to lead 20-0. Ryan Mendel scored from 13 yards out with 5:32 left and on the next CNU possession, Ryan Mullen picked off Todd Faison at the CNU 41-yard line and returned it for a touchdown. Nick Cherish tied a school record with three interceptions, his third came late in the fourth quarter that eliminated any possibility of a CNU comeback.

The Presidents would score their final touchdown with 9:31 left in the third on Mendel's 10-yard run to put W&J in command.

Head Coach Matt Kelchner made a change at quarterback, inserting Hudson Bryant as the signal caller. He led the Captains on their very next possession to a touchdown that capped a nine play, 75 yard drive that culminated in Bryant's 5-yard pass to Curfew Speight in the end zone. Then, as time expired in the third, Roland Hilliard plunged 1-yard out that capped an 81 yard, 12-play drive to cut the Presidents lead to 27-14.

With 8:35 left in the game, Bryant led the Captains to another score when he found Speight open for his second TD reception, this time from 24 yards out to put CNU within one score.

After forcing a W&J punt, Bryant tried to force a ball to a teammate when Cherish stepped in front of a CNU receiver for his third pick of the game with less than two minutes to go in the game. The Captains defense again stepped up big and forced the Presidents to punt. After a W&J timeout, the Presidents punter ran out of the end zone for a safety cutting the lead to 27-23.

On the ensuing kick-off, the kick squibbed up the middle and off a CNU player's hands who tried to scoop it up and the Presidents recovered the loose ball to seal the win.

CNU accumulated 454 yards of total offense on 77 plays. The Captains rushed for 200 and passed for 254 more. The Presidents were limited to just 181 yards of total offense, about half of what they normally average.

Mendel led the W&J offense with 120 yards on 23 carries and two scores. Swallow was 10-of-21 for 70 yards passing and one touchdown.

Roland Hilliard concluded his CNU career with 175 yards on 35 carries and one touchdown. Hilliard came in needing 21 yards for 3,000 all-time. Todd Faison started the game and went 7-of-13 for 66 yards and two picks. Bryant finished 17-of-21 for 188 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Speight caught nine passes for a career-high 126 yards receiving.

Washington & Jefferson improves to 10-1 on the year and will meet the winner of the Mary Hardin-Baylor/Hardin-Simmons winner next Saturday. The Captains finish the year 8-3.

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