#15 CASE 21, WIDENER 20...
CLEVELAND, OH (November 17, 2007) - The Case Western Reserve University football team needed all 60 minutes to keep its perfect season alive this afternoon, as in its first playoff game in school history, the Spartans won a 21-20 nail-biter over the Pride from Widener University to move on to the second round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
The Spartans were down 20-15 with 1:27 remaining in the game, when sophomore quarterback Dan Whalen (Willoughby, OH - pictured) led the Spartans on a 14-play, 73-yard drive, capping it off by hitting senior wide receiver Jeff Mayer (Vermillion, OH) in the end zone with two seconds left on the clock for the game-winning touchdown. Whalen converted on three fourth downs on the final drive.
“We've been in this type of situation before and I think it's a situation that Dan [Whalen] really responds well to,” said Case Western Reserve Head Coach Greg Debeljak. “I knew we definitely had a chance as long as the line held up and they did a great job.”
With the win, the Spartans improve to 11-0 on the year and will host Wabash College next weekend at Case Field at 12:00 p.m. in the second round of the playoffs. Wabash defeated the College of Mount St. Joseph 31-21 in its first round game in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
The Spartans were down 14-3 going into the fourth quarter, but like the team has done so many times before this season, they played solid defense and relied on Dan Whalen and the Spartan offense to bring the team back. And they did just that.
“We knew there was enough time with two timeouts left and we could take it in chunks,” Whalen said. “After we got the first fourth down and we started to get downfield I was pretty confident we could score and Jeff [Mayer] made a great catch at the end to win it.”
Whalen led the Spartans on a 14-play, 72-yard drive to put the score at 14-9, and on the next drive, Whalen hit freshman wide receiver Shaun Nicely (Willoughby, OH) on a 97-yard bomb to put them ahead, 15-14 – their first lead of the game. The 97-yard touchdown pass is the longest play from scrimmage in Case Western Reserve football history.
The Pride would answer back, as southpaw quarterback Matt Campbell led Widener down the field 50 yards, capping it off with an Ian Decker one-yard touchdown run to put his team up 20-15 with 1:27 remaining.
Whalen finished with a game-high 306 yards through the air on 26-of-47 passing, throwing two touchdowns and one interception on the afternoon. Mayer and Nicely combined for 14 catches, 222 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. Mayer's game-winning touchdown grab was his first touchdown as a Spartan.
The Spartans turned the ball over three times on the afternoon, while the Pride turned it over twice, including a Mike Tuertscher (Cincinnati, OH) interception in the second quarter. Tuertscher finished the game with a team-high eight tackles in the victory.
The Spartans totaled over 400 yards of total offense for the seventh time this season, as they totaled 440 yards on the afternoon, while holding Widener to 262 yards.
Box Score
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