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College Sports

Widener advances to quarterfinals with 28-7 win

    by By Jake Kaplan, Inquirer
    Published 

The high-powered offense didn't put up the amount of points customary to most of this season, but it didn't matter. A special 2012 campaign for Widener football lives on for at least another week in large part because of its defense.

Facing a triple-option offense for the first time didn't faze the Pride. Behind a stout defensive showing on Saturday afternoon, ninth-ranked Widener (12-0) advanced to the quarterfinals of the Division III NCAA tournament with a 28-7 win over 11th-ranked Salisbury at Quick Stadium. Widener will visit top-seeded and national powerhouse Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio, next Saturday.

"It's what we've been waiting for," defensive end Stacey Sunnerville said. "Trying to make a statement."

Widener's offense entered the game averaging 50.5 points, second to only Mount Union. The unit, led by the MAC offensive player of the year in quarterback Chris Haupt, started slowly on Saturday before a pair of scores late in the first half and two more in the fourth.

Haupt passed for 347 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, while receiver Anthony Davis had 11 catches for 201 yards with both a receiving and a rushing touchdown.

Though Salisbury didn't help itself with 15 penalties for 171 yards, it was Widener's defense that proved too tough, especially in the second half. The Pride surrendered only 230 yards of offense, forced three turnovers, blocked a field goal and recorded eight sacks.

"I told them in the locker room, in 18 years of coaching, they executed that game plan better than anyone I'd ever coached," coach Isaac Collins said of his defense. "They executed it better than I could've ever imagined."