Edward Waters Tigers 4th Quarter Rally Comes Up Short; Drops Season Opener 15-13

JACKSONVILLE, Florida -- Despite a valiant fouth quarter comeback and in front of a raucous, standing room only crowd, Edward Waters (0-1) dropped their season opener, 15-13 to St. Andrews (1-0) on Saturday evening at the University Christian Football Complex.

The two teams went scoreless in the first quarter before the visitors from Laurinburg, North Carolina cracked the scoreborard first early in the second quarter. On 3rd & 24, Knights QB Kasey Otto found Kashard Cohens on a crossing pattern for 53 yards and a touchdown to take a 6-0 lead.

After three & outs on the next three series, SAU found the endzone again after a three play, 75 yard drive that ended with a four yard rushing touchdown by Chris Decker to extend the Knights lead to 12-0.

The Knights again padded their lead just before halftime with a 27 yard field goal from Carson Gibbs which gave St. Andrews a 15-0 lead at the break.

The young group of Tigers brought the fight to the Knights throughout the second half and in the fourth quarter, the tide turned in their favor. Freshman quarterback Derrick Jones (FR/Jacksonville, Florida) spelled fellow freshman Roshard Branch (FR/Plantation, Florida) in the second half and operated both scoring drives for EWC in the fourth. On the opening play of the final quarer and on 4th & 9 from the SAU 17 yard line, Jones found freshman WR Tyler Gilbert (FR/Pahokee, Florida) in the corner of the endzone to put the Tigers on the board and cut the lead to eight points at 15-7 with 14:16 left to go in the fourth.

Three more three & outs occured and with under six minutes left to go in the fourth, senior Kennard Mahone (SR/Jacksonville, Florida) put the Tigers in business with a 29 yard punt return to the SAU 41 yard line.

Jones engineered a drive down to the St. Andrews four yard line with under two minutes left to go. A tackle for loss on first down and a fumbled snap on second down pushed the Tigers back to the Knights 10 yard line. Jones threw an incomplete pass to Tyler Gilbert on third down leaving the Tigers with one down left to get the ball in the endzone. On 4th & Goal from the 10, Jones rolled out to his left and found freshman Kamaree Noble (FR/Jacksonville, Florida) in the endzone to bring Edward Waters to within two points of SAU. EWC went for two to try to tie the game, but a pass went through the hands of junior RB Richard Montgomery (JR/Jacksonville, Florida), leaving the score at 15-13 with over one minute left.

An onside kick from the Tigers was recovered by the Knights and St. Andrews kneeled on the ball to preserve the road victory.

SAU's Chris Decker led all rushers on the ground with 13 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown. EWC's Jacquez Pelham (FR/Jacksonville, Florida) was not too far behind with 7 carries for 56 yards. Derrick Jones led EWC in passing, going 6-for-12 for 67 yards and two touchdowns all in the second half. Kashard Cohens led the Knights through the air with five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, while Tyler Gilbert led the EWC receiving efforts with three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, freshman LB Aaron Louis (FR/Miami, Florida) had a tremendous open to his college career for EWC, registering 13 total tackles, including four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Edward Waters will have a quick turnaround as they will host #5 Lindsey Wilson on Friday evening at 7:00 The game will be streamed live via the Black College Sports Network at mybcsn.net/ewc.
pm at University Christian.

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