NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University football team took advantage of Gallaudet's turnovers and converted a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 19-9 against the Bison of Gallaudet University on Saturday afternoon in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action.
With the win, the Cadets picked up their four consecutive ECFC victory and improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in ECFC play, while the Bison fall to 2-3 in the ECFC and 2-5 on the year.
Leading the offensive effort for the Cadets was senior running back Al Georgio (West Greenwich, R.I.), who rushed for 143 yards and scored two touchdowns in the win.
Starting quarterback Joshua Woodward (Dayton, Maine) completed nine of the 18 passes for 124 yards with a long of 28 as kicker Wesley Medeiros (Gilford, N.H.)made two of the three field goal attempts.
Norwich's defense had a strong performance, totaling 61 tackles and limiting Gallaudet's running game to just 104 yards as Michael Finney (Killeen, Texas) led the squad with five tackles as Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) and Michael O'Neill (Winthrop, Mass.) both came up with a pick for the Cadets.
After both teams traded on a pair of drives, Norwich went to work and utilized a 14-play drive for 58 yards as Medeiros drilled the 20-yard field goal to put the Cadets 3-0.
Gallaudet looked to score its first touchdown of the game but quarterback Antoine McKinney (Racine, Wis.) coughed up the ball as senior linebacker Matt LaFevre (Milford, N.J.) jumped on the loose ball for the Cadets at the two-yard line.
The Cadets went back to work but could not convert the drive into a touchdown and had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Medeiros for the 6-0 lead with 7:59 remaining in the second quarter before the neither squad would be able to score at the end of the first half.
Gallaudet open the second half with a 79-yard kickoff return by Brandon Capuano (Lexington, N.C.) followed by an extra point from Eric Setzer (Middletown, Md.) to give the Bison their first lead of the game.
The Cadets would score again early in the fourth quarter on using six plays for 48 yards as Georgio rushed for a 16-yard touchdown to give Norwich the 12-7 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Norwich would get the ball back as Georgio drove the ball into the end zone for 10 yards to extend the lead 19-7 with 11:22 remaining in the game.
After an interception by Gladden on the Norwich two-yard line, Gallaudet would penetrate the Cadets' offensive line and sack the quarterback for the safety to make it 19-9. Gallaudet looked to score once again, but Norwich's strong defensive stand forced the Bison to turn over the ball on fourth down before the Cadets ran the clock down to zero for the 19-8 victory.
Norwich will be on the road next Saturday as they travel to Bronx, N.Y. for a 12:30 p.m. ECFC matchup.
