Erie County's college football teams go 3-0 on Division II's season-opening weekend
The Edinboro, Gannon and Mercyhurst football teams each won their season-opening game this past week, each in a different fashion.
ICYMI: @MercyhurstFB's Ryan Riemedio grabbed win number one of his coaching career over Alderson Broaddus. Congrats Coach!
"I'm proud of how our players handled the adversity that the game presented. It's always tough starting on the road against a good team." - Ryan Riemedio pic.twitter.com/DjZZpIY88L— Mercyhurst Lakers (@HurstAthletics) September 4, 2022
Mercyhurst 45, Alderson Broaddus 28
At Philippi, West Virginia, the Lakers scored the final two touchdowns Saturday to break open a three-point third-quarter lead and hand Ryan Riemedio the win in his first game as head coach.
Mercyhurst University football preview: Ryan Riemedio coaching era begins
Rattlers quarterback Jaylen Tregle threw his third touchdown pass of the game, for four yards to Robert Shanabarger, to bring Alderson Broaddus within 31-28 with 8 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Mercyhurst answered with Dustin Shoaf's 1-yard run late in the third and David Alize's 11-yard scoring run in the fourth to put the game away. It was Alize's second rushing touchdown.
Mercyhurst ran for 192 yards and passed for 158, and both schemes were evident in the 31-14 lead the Lakers built in the first half.
Alize ran for 130 yards to become the first Laker to gain 100 yards in a game since Garrett Owen had 182 in 2019. Quarterback Michael Lowery went 12-for-27 with two touchdown passes and three interceptions.
The Laker defense held the Rattlers to 77 rushing yards but surrendered 346 passing yards and four passing touchdowns. Tregle, one of two Rattlers QBs who played, went 18-for-33 for 263 yards and was intercepted three times.
Mercyhurst visits Lock Haven (1-0) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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Great road victory to start the season for the Fighting Scots!
1-0#TheBoro⚔️ pic.twitter.com/5NgI2IzlPM— Edinboro Football (@EdinboroFB) September 3, 2022
Edinboro 10, Franklin Pierce 7
At Rindge, New Hampshire, Reed Martin kicked a go-ahead 26-yard field goal in the third quarter and the Scots held the ball for the final 6:42 Saturday.
The Fighting Scots have won four straight games dating to a three-game win streak at the end of the 2021 season. Their last loss was 21-18 to Gannon on Oct. 23.
More: Edinboro football had momentum late in 2021. Can the Scots pick up where they left off?
The Scots started their final drive at their own 35, going 12 plays and 51 yards to run out the clock. Quarterback Isaac Bernard completed two third-down passes to keep the drive going and the ball out of the Ravens' hands.
Edinboro took the lead in the second quarter on a 58-yard pass play from Bernard to Thaddeus Standfield. Franklin Pierce tied it 5 seconds before halftime on Christian Simon's 27-yard touchdown pass from Kevaris Thomas.
Bernard threw for 177 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Standfield made a team-best four catches for 76 yards. Anfreenee Williams paced the Edinboro run game with 21 attempts for 82 yards.
Edinboro limited the Ravens to 250 total yards. Clay Cunningham led the Scots with 15 tackles, including 2½ for loss, and a sack.
The Scots visit Shepherd (1-0) on Saturday at noon. Shepherd was No. 6 in the d2football.com preseason poll.
More: College football television schedule for the 2022 season
The Gannon offense had a huge game in Thursday's 47-13 victory over Charleston as Kory Curtis passed for 3 TDs and ran for 2, while the offensive line opened big holes for 100-yard rushers Melvin Blanks and Antonio Wright Jr. @GannonU @FootballGannon @PSACsports pic.twitter.com/7eVOg8Ivhn
— Gannon Athletics (@GUKnights) September 3, 2022
Gannon 47, Charleston 13
Quarterback Kory Curtis threw for 164 yards and three touchdowns, ran for two scores, kicked four extra points and punted five times Thursday night in a home game in which the Golden Knights were little threatened.
More: Most Gannon football starters are back. Their aim is the Knights' best record since 2015.
Charleston got within 13-6 at 10:44 of the second quarter on its second field goal of the period. Gannon built the lead to 33-6 late in third on Curtis touchdown passes to Sam East and Alex Whittaker sandwiched around Curtis' touchdown run from the 1.
Curtis added another one-yard scoring run in the fourth. Myron Green closed the scoring with a 42-yard fumble recovery for a score in front of 1,237 at McConnell Family Stadium.
Melvin Blanks ran for 113 yards and a score and Antonio Wright rushed for 109 yards for Gannon. Blanks moved into ninth in Gannon career rushing yards with 2,148.
Blanks caught two passes for a game-high 72 yards and East and KeJohn Batiste each had a team-best four catches.
Davis Black completed 26-of-46 passes for 247 yards and a third-quarter touchdown. Gannon limited Charleston to 41 net yards on the ground.
The win was the 150th for Gannon coach Erik Raeburn. He is 7-9 at Gannon and won 78 games at Wabash, 57 at Coe and eight at Savannah State.
Gannon visits Millersville (0-1) on Saturday at noon.
College football Top 25 Week 1: Everything that happened Saturday
Week 1 PSAC football scores
Saturday
Edinboro 10, Franklin Pierce 7
Mercyhurst 45, Alderson Broaddus 28
Slippery Rock 42, Wayne State 10
Stonehill 33, Bloomsburg 30
West Virginia State 29, Shippensburg 6
Lock Haven 35, Post 34
Assumption 3, Kutztown 0
Friday
West Chester 17, Bentley 16
Thursday
Gannon 47, Charleston 13
Wheeling 25, Seton Hill 11
Saint Anselm 28, Millersville 10
Pace 31, East Stroudsburg 16
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Edinboro, Mercyhurst, Gannon football teams win season-opening games
