LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. (September 3, 2008) – The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania football team will play its first away contest of the 2008 season against Southern Virginia University Saturday night at Parry McCluer High School, SVU's home away home, starting at 6:00 p.m. (GAME NOTES)
The two schools have only played once in another sport—a memorable women's basketball contest in which Lincoln rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to defeat SVU in overtime in 2005. It is still the largest comeback victory in the Andy Haman era. The two schools will hook up in a women's soccer match at Lincoln on Friday September 26. The weather forecast is for showers and highs in the 70s.
The Lions unleashed a dominating defensive effort in defeating George Mason, 34-7 last Saturday. Meanwhile, the Knights are looking to rebound from a 49-6 defeat to Division I Morehead State. This will be the first football meeting in school history between Lincoln and SVU, a school founded in 1996.
The Lions held George Mason to 63 yards of total offense in their first football game in 48 years. Lincoln forced a pair of turnovers, collected four sacks, scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery and did not permit the Patriots a first down on 10 of their 18 offensive possessions. Following an interception that was returned for a GM touchdown on its third play from scrimmage, Lincoln controlled the contest.
Lincoln broke the game open by scoring 21 points during a dominant second quarter. Junior health science major Shawn Bethea (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway HS) (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) and senior health science major Steven Rudd (Philadelphia, PA/Southern) (Philadelphia, PA/Southern) both caught touchdown passes and freshman criminal justice major Dwight Williams (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) finished the scoring with a nifty 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Junior physical education major Kareem Dennis (Philadelphia, PA/Lincoln) (Philadelphia, PA/Abraham Lincoln) had an effective day running and throwing the ball, finishing with 50 yards on the ground and 188 passing.
Southern Virginia (0-1 overall) entered the season returning 22 lettermen and 12 starters (six on each side of the ball) from last season's 6-5 team, the first winning season in program history. Southern Virginia welcomes back record-setting quarterback Luke Taylor and a secondary that features all-state performers Shea Owens and Nich Deniz (earned honors in 2006).
Last week, the Knights fell behind, 40-0 before scoring their only points of the game – an 80-yard touchdown catch by Tye Hiatt early in the fourth quarter. This is the Knights home opener. They went 3-1 last year at Parry McClure High School. The Knights managed seven first downs and 33 total rushing yards. Quarterback Luke Taylor was sacked six times by the Morehead State defense.
Marcus McCollum led the Knights with 37 yards on eight rushes and Harry Collins added 10 carries for 25 yards. Taylor completed 7-of-20 pass attempts for 111 yards while Hiatt was the leading receiver with three receptions for 81 yards and one touchdown. On the defensive side Shea Owens and Colin Nash had nine tackles with Owens adding a forced fumble. Nich Deniz added eight tackles while Tim Meyer had six tackles, including 2.5 for a loss of nine yards.
The Lions return home to face a Fayetteville State squad fresh off of a 33-22 victory over Division I North Carolina Central University on Saturday September 13 at Avon Grove High School beginning at 1:00 p.m.
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