ERIE, Pa. - It hasn't been easy for the Gannon football team during the last three season openers against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) member Lake Erie. However, the Golden Knights used a strong second half for the second consecutive opener and subdued the Storm 26-20 Thursday night before a full house at a hot and muggy Gannon University Field.

Gannon scored 20 of its 26 points off four turnovers and Zach Boedicker (Northfield, Ohio/Nordonia) produced 287 yards of total offense during the season-opening victory. It was the third straight game against Lake Erie decided by less than a score. The three Golden Knights victories in the all-time series have come by a combined total of nine points.

Head coach Jim Kiernan's squad jumped out to a 10-0 lead after cashing in two Lake Erie turnovers. Will Giles (Nyack, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional) intercepted a pass on the Storm's first series. Gannon then marched 61 yards on five plays, finishing the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run by Tyler Batts (Homestead, Pa./Penn-Trafford).

Late in the first quarter, Lake Erie botched a hand-off and Keith Yager (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory) recovered at the Storm's 30-yard line. The Golden Knights picked up one first down, before Jeremy Ditzler (Erie, Pa./Iroquois) drilled a 32-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead 1:33 into the second quarter. The senior became Gannon's all-time leader in field goals made (28) with the successful kick.

Lake Erie rallied with a late second-quarter touchdown and later took its only lead of the game on Sean Bedevelsky's two-yard touchdown pass to Andre Wells 1:45 into the fourth quarter.

That's when Gannon finally put the game away, scoring touchdowns on back-to-back possessions for a 26-14 lead. The drives consumed 66 and 72 yards, respectively. Both ended in one-yard touchdown runs by Boedicker.

Lake Erie answered one more time, finding paydirt with 2:30 left in regulation. Randy Colling (Arcade, N.Y./Pioneer) blocked the extra point to keep the score at 26-20. Geoff Hicks (Buffalo, N.Y./Cleveland Hill) then recovered the ensuing onside kick. As a result, Gannon was able to run all but eight seconds off the clock. Two Lake Erie passes later, the final horn sounded as the Golden Knights celebrated their third consecutive close call against the Storm.

The contest featured 697 yards of total offense as Lake Erie owned a slight 352-345 edge. The entire statistics sheet was even except the Golden Knights won the turnover margin by a 4-0 count.

Boedicker was the offensive star of the night. The senior quarterback recorded his fourth career 100-yard rushing game, producing 109 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. He added 178 yards through the air on a 17-of-23 passing chart. The Northfield, Ohio native finished the game with 2,413 career passing yards, moving into Gannon's all-time top five.

Batts added 60 yards and a score on 18 carries. Levar Goff (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) led the receiving group with five catches for 33 yards. Batts and Khalid Walker (Oakland Park, Fla./American Heritage) added four and three receptions, respectively.

Defensively, Kevin Minor (South Euclid, Ohio/Shaw) led all tacklers with 12 stops and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Matthew Neal-Mink (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) added 10 tackles, including 2.5 that resulted in a loss. The performance pushed the senior into Gannon's all-time top 10 in tackles.

Giles and Khayree Connors-McChristian (Sicklerville, N.J./Winslow Township) chipped in eight tackles each.

Gannon improved to 1-0 with its third consecutive season-opening victory. Lake Erie dropped to 0-1. The Golden Knights begin a three-game road swing Saturday, September 11 at defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) champion Shippensburg. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.

For a complete box score from Thursday's Gannon-Lake Erie football game, please click here.