RADNOR, PA – Susquehanna football advances to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight for the second straight year after a 29-0 road win at Eastern for their second shutout of the year. A pair of field goals and an Eagles safety offered the River Hawks an 8-0 halftime lead, then the offense got going as Ehrlich connected for two touchdown passes and cornerback
Xavier Maple turned in a pair of turnovers, the latter of which he ran back 80 yards for the game's final touchdown.
The River Hawks, now 11-2, have another rematch in store for them this postseason as they head down to Johns Hopkins to face the Blue Jays next Saturday. The two teams met back in Week 3 at Susquehanna with JHU winning 40-22.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Susquehanna 3, Eastern 0 – Eastern received the ball to start the game, but resulted in a three-and-out. Susquehanna got the ball past the Eagles' 30, leading to the first big decision of the day. Dominic Bourgeois lined up for a career-long, 45-yard field goal attempt with his perfect season on the line and aced it with little doubt for the early lead with 8:52 left in the first.
- Susuqehanna 6, Eastern 0 – The defense made their presence known right away as on Eastern's next drive quarterback threw a ball to the left side that Romero Lavalais Jr. stepped in front of to snag an interception for another scoring chance. Bourgeois was called on again to convert a 39-yarder, which he did to go 19-of-19 on the year and give SU a 6-0 advantage after the first quarter.
- Susquehanna 8, Eastern 0 – The only score of the second quarter came off a punt, or lack thereof. Eastern was lined up to punt at its own 20, but a high snap by the long snapper sent punter John Westfield scrambling to grab the ball, but it rolled through the back of the endzone to add two points for Susquehanna to take an 8-0 lead into halftime.
- Susquehanna 15, Eastern 0 – The offense used halftime to make some key adjustments that casted their sails for some touchdown scoring to widen their lead. True to form, they used a lengthy drive to begin the second half at seven-and-a-half minutes, capped by quarterback Josh Ehrlich getting his first touchdown pass of the day, finding Hunter Morgenroth for a 12-yard touchdown with 7:21 left in the third.
- Eastern appeared to have a window of opportunity when Ehrlich took off for a good gain, only to have the ball knocked loose and the Eagles pouncing on it to start a drive at SU's 32. But the River Hawks defense would have none of it as on Eastern's first play, quarterback Brett Nabb took a shot in the endzone, but Xavier Maple stole the ball away for a Susquehanna touchback.
- Susquehanna 22, Eastern 0 – Ehrlich got his next look at the endzone with the help of back Aaron Angelo. Stepping up on Saturday to share the load with fellow back Matt Surtz, the first-year back slipped out into the flat to catch a third-down pass, then made a move to break through to the secondary for a 20-yard touchdown reception and a three-touchdown lead.
- Susquehanna 29, Eastern 0 – As they have all postseason, the defense stepped up again with another big play to seal the game, as well as their second shutout of the year. With Eastern down at the River Hawks' 29, Nabb looked for his receiver Eddie Swinton to the left. As he gripped the ball, Maple pried it from his hands and took off down the right sideline for an 80-yard touchdown return.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Eastern's defense kept the pressure on all afternoon on Ehrlich, finishing with two sacks. The SU quarterback remained collected with his two touchdown throws that highlighted a 9-of-19 day for 73 yards. He ran 13 times for 49 yards.
- Matt Surtz got the start at running back, leading the ground attack with 91 yards on 16 carries, including a long of 23 yards.
- Both defenses performed greatly as Susquehanna yielded 229 total yards, while the River Hawks did one better holding the Eagles to 136 between 114 rushing yards and just 22 passing.
- Nabb was limited to just five completions on 12 attempts as the River Hawks forced three turnovers and sacked him three times. Once again lineman Galen Limantour was the catalyst, generating 1.5 sacks with two tackles and 1.5 for loss. Linebacker Omari Cofield had a sack also, while Jesse Ruisch was in there for 0.5 sacks with Limantour.
- Steven Seibert led with ten tackles as Ruisch, Brian Layton, Joey Formisano, and Ben Fleming each garnered seven total tackles. Formisano also forced one fumble.
- Limantour's 13.5 sacks this fall has him near the school record of 14 set by Keith Henry in 1991. Limantour had three sacks in back-to-back games between the first and second rounds of the tournament, two shy of the single-game record of five that Henry set during that '91 season against Muhlenberg.
- Bourgeois' 19-of-19 on field goals, which leads NCAA Division III, was also complemented on Saturday with each of his three extra point tries, putting him at a school-record 67-of-68 on the year.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- The River Hawks head down to Johns Hopkins for the NCAA Division III Elite Eight Saturday, Dec. 13. More information will be available in the coming days.
- Aside from their meeting back on Sept. 20, Susquehanna and Johns Hopkins are familiar foes, having been conference rivals in the Centennial Conference between 2010 and 2022.
- The Blue Jays are ranked 8th and 11th in the last respective D3football.com and AFCA rankings, while Susquehanna was ranked 22nd in the D3football.com poll.
