Nick White vs. Seton Hill
Bryce Dolak
Nick White celebrates following a sack.
10
Seton Hill SHU 0-5 , 0-2
21
Winner Gannon GAN 4-1 , 2-0
Seton Hill SHU
0-5 , 0-2
10
Final
21
Gannon GAN
4-1 , 2-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
SHU Seton Hill 0 3 7 0 10
GAN Gannon 7 0 7 7 21

Game Recap: Football | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Gannon Celebrates Homecoming with 21-10 Win over Seton Hill Behind Strong Defensive Effort

THE GAME FACTS -- HOMECOMING
Score: Gannon 21, Seton Hill 10
Records: Gannon (4-1, 2-0 PSAC West), Seton Hill (0-5, 0-2 PSAC West)
Date: Saturday, October 1, 2022
Location: Erie, Pa. – McConnell Family Stadium
 
ERIE, Pa. -- Gannon survived a howling wind, a veteran Seton Hill defense and numerous injuries to celebrate a 21-10 Homecoming win on Saturday afternoon. While the remnants of Hurricane Ian did not include any rain, a strong wind blew from one end of the field to the other all game. The Golden Knights entered the game missing All-PSAC West offensive guard Montana Nietert (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora) and wide receiver Sam East (Jackson Township, N.J./Saint John Vianney), who had enjoyed back-to-back 100-yard receiving games. Then quarterback Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) was twisted awkwardly on a sack in the second quarter and gutted his way through the rest of the game with a noticeable limp. Despite the injury, Curtis threw a pair of touchdown passes while Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) caught a 10-yard TD toss and clinched the win with a six-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. In between Ke'John Batiste (Covington, La./Covington) hauled in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Curtis in the third quarter to give Gannon a 14-10 lead after Seton Hill had jumped on top early in the third period. Gannon is now 4-1 overall for the first time since the 2014 team was also 4-0 and is 2-0 in PSAC West action. That is the first time they have won back-to-back games to start conference play since 2013. A large Homecoming crowd took in the victory, the fifth in a row on Homecoming.     

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER

Box Score:  Click Here
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

Gannon jumped out a 7-0 lead on its second possession of the game as Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) directed a 12-play, 60-yard drive into the wind. The drive was set up by Gannon's first interception of the season, with free safety Matt Wiitanen (Renton, Wash. /Pioneer) returning a pickoff 11 yards to the Gannon 40. Most of the drive came on the ground as Gannon used up 5 minutes, 29 seconds. The Golden Knights converted three-3rd-down plays, the last on a 3rd-and-goal from the SHU 10. Curtis found Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) open in the left flat for a 10-yard TD pass with 5:39 left in the opening quarter. Curtis earlier converted a 3rd-and-6 situation with a seven-yard pass to Bransen Stanley (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston), and Blanks picked up a hard-earned two-yard for a first down on 3rd-and-2 at the SHU 39. Eric Scarpino (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) converted the first of his three extra points for a 7-0 lead.
 
Seton Hill put together an impressive, time-consuming drive to close the gap to 7-3 midway through the second quarter. The Griffins took over at midfield following a punt with 18 seconds left in the first quarter. They up 8:22 while driving 46 yards on 15 plays, 12 of those runs. Twice they converted on fourth down but the Gannon defense answered the challenge as Nick White (Randallstown, Md./Milford Mill Academy) stopped Pearson Hendrix on third and goal. Luke Hauger came in and kicked a 21-yard field goal with 6:56 left in the half.     
 
While the score remained that way until the half the complexion of the game changed later in the quarter when Curtis was hit low and suffered an injury on a sack. He would stay in and actually drive the Golden Knights to the Seton Hill 22 before a series of penalties pushed them back to the 37. The redshirt junior ultimately threw his first interception of the season to end the drive. It snapped a string of 134 passes without an interception to start the season.
 
The first half ended with the two teams combining for just 184 total yards along with ten penalties for 65 yards. A crowding Seton Hill defense held Gannon to 46 yards rushing on 17 carries after the Golden Knights had run for 200-or-more yards in three of the first four games.
 
After a quiet first half both teams scored on their opening possessions in the second half. With the win at their back in the third quarter Seton Hill took advantage to hit a big play just four plays into the half. After three straight runs Jake McCormick found Mark Bails behind the Gannon secondary for a 51-yard TD pass. With 13:18 left in the third quarter the Griffins led 10-7, their first lead this season in the second half.
 
Gannon didn't trail for long as Curtis engineered the second scoring drive of the day into the win. Blanks was featured as the senior running back carried four times for 22 yards. Curtis, meanwhile, was a perfect 3-for-3 on the drive. The last was a 26-yard throw to Ke'John Batiste (Covington, La./Covington) as Gannon beat the blitz. Batiste caught the ball around the 10-yard line, sidestepped a defender and went into the end zone for his second touchdown of the season. The seven-play, 75-yard drive covered 3 minutes, 17 seconds and gave Gannon the lead for good at 14-10.
 
The score remained that way until late in the fourth quarter, but the Gannon defense had to answer several challenges. Seton Hill had the ball in Gannon territory in each of its next two possessions but the Golden Knights forced a punt each time. On the second possession, the Griffins took over at the GU 36 following a short punt into the wind but gained just one yard.
 
In fact, Gannon allowed just two first downs to the Griffins after they had taken the lead and the offense finally wore down Seton Hill with a time-consuming 10-play, 63-yard march. All but two of the plays ere on the ground but one of the two passes was a14-yarder to Johnny Freeman (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) on the third play of the drive with Gannon facing a 3rd-and-8. Blanks again played a major role as he carried five times for 39 yards. He capped the drive with 3:13 remaining in the game with a six-yard TD run, his seventh scoring run of the year. He broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and sprinted to the right corner of the end zone to give Gannon a 21-10 lead. The drive also featured an incredible nine-yard run by Curtis after a collision in the backfield.
 
Seton Hill picked up one first down and reached the GU 49 before turning the ball over on downs in the final two minutes.  
  
BY THE NUMBERS
 
Gannon is to a 4-1 start. The last time the Golden Knights opened a season with four wins in their first five games was in 2014 when they won their first four games before dropping back-to-back games. Gannon has not been 2-0 in PSAC West play since 2013.   
 
Gannon ended the day with a season-low 274 total yards, but held Seton Hill to just 201 yards, with 51 of that coming on one play. Gannon ran for 112 yards behind a revamped offensive line that was missing All-PSAC West performer Montana Nietert (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora) and threw for 162 yards, while the Griffins were held to 90 yards on the ground on 39 rushes and threw for 111 yards. Gannon won the time of possession battle, 33:44 to 26:16, and held Seton hill to 3-of-16 on 3rd down.
Oddly enough Gannon had not thrown an interception in the first four games and had also not intercepted a pass in that period. That changed during Seton Hill's first possession when Matt Wiitanen (Renton, Wash. /Pioneer) stepped in front of a pass and returned it 11 yards. It was the redshirt senior's second interception as a Golden Knight. Seton Hill returned the favor with an interception of Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) late in the first half. It snapped a string of 134 passes without an interception for Curtis, who a year ago had a run of 139 passes without an interception.
 
Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) fell just shy of his fourth 100-yard game of the season as the senior finished with 95 hard-earned yards on 23 carries. He actually had a chance to go over the mark on his last carry but was thrown for a three-yard loss while attempting to stay in bounds and run out the clock. He scored his seventh touchdown rushing with a six-yard run along with a 10-yard TD reception for eight total TDs. Blanks caught two passes for 25 yards. Gannon is now 6-2 when Blanks carries the ball 20-or-more times, along with 5-0 when he is given the pigskin 25-or-more times. in addition, Balnks becomes the first Gannon player to catch a touchdown pass and run for a score since Zevin Holley did it against Clarion in 2019.
 
Despite being hobbled for over half the game Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) completed 14-of-26 passes for 162 yards with 2 TDs and an interception. He has now thrown for 11 TDs with just one INT.
 
Ke'John Batiste (Covington, La./Covington) enjoyed another strong game as the redshirt junior led all receivers with six receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown. He has now caught 32 passes on the season, including 28 over the last four games. With second-leading receiver Sam East (Jackson Township, N.J./Saint John Vianney) out with an injury the Golden Knights needed another wideout to step up and Johnny Freeman (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) did that in the second half. The redshirt junior ended with three receptions for 41 yards, all in the second half. Two of the three accounted for first downs.
 
While Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) was able to remain in at quarterback, he was forced to relinquish his punting duties to John-Victor Oliveira (North Port, Fla./North Port). Punting for the first time in his career the redshirt sophomore averaged 42.5 yards on four punts.
 
The Gannon defense had plenty of standouts while limiting Seton Hill to 201 total yards and just 3.3 yards per play. Zharell Walker (Severn, Md. /Meade) made his first start of the season at linebacker and finished with a team-high nine tackles, including 1.5 for losses. Defensive back Chris Farnsworth (Bristol, Pa./Milton Hershey), who entered as the team's leading tackler, also totaled nine stops.
 
All-PSAC West performer Nick White (Randallstown, Md./Milford Mill Academy) had a breakout game after coming into the contest with 15 tackles, three for a loss and a half sack. The redshirt junior totaled eight tackles with three for losses and 2.5 sacks. Gannon totaled nine tackles for losses in all and had four sacks. Obi Ezeigbo (Ewing, N.J./Ewing) added a sack to give him a team-high 3.5 sacks, while Keith Thompson (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) had a half sack. Thompson finished with seven tackles.       
 
THE RECORD BOOK
 
Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla./Island Coast) entered the Seton Hill game ranked among eth leading passers in Division II. The redshirt junior completed 14-of-26 passes with a pair of TDs for 162 yards. He remained sixth in career passing yards with 3,521 in just 16 games, closing fast on Jimmy Keefe who is in fifth place with 3,682 yards. He is also fifth in career passing TDs with 31.
 
UP NEXT

Gannon will play in its second Homecoming game as the Golden Knights make the short trek down I-79 to play local rival Edinboro. The Saturday, October 8 contest is set for a 2:00 p.m. kickoff at Sox Harrison Stadium. Edinboro is 3-2 after defeating Mercyhurst on a last-second field goal 16-13. Of course it was Mercyhurst's Homecoming.
 
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