Blount-to-Heller Combination Works Again; Duo Combines On Two TD Plays In 28-21 Victory At No. 6 Shepherd, In NCAA Championship Second-Round Game
Box Score
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va. (Nov. 19) - Senior quarterback Rob Blount found classmate and wide receiver Ryan Heller on a pair of touchdown passes Saturday afternoon at Ram Stadium, including a 58-yard bomb with 4:55 remaining in the third quarter that wound up being the game-winning score, as the fourth-seeded C.W. Post football team knocked off top-seeded host and No. 6-ranked Shepherd, 28-21, in the second round of the NCAA Division II Championship.
The visiting Pioneers (10-2), now 2-3 in NCAA playoff games, advance to next weekend's national quarterfinals round, when they'll travel Nov. 26 to East Stroudsburg, Pa., for a 12 Noon match-up against the Warriors of East Stroudsburg University for the Northeast Region championship. The contest will be a rematch of the teams' Sept. 10 meeting in Brookville, N.Y., when then-seventh-ranked ESU won by a 66-49 count. Warriors quarterback Jim Terwilliger threw nine touchdown passes in the contest, while Blount became one of the first quarterbacks in NCAA Division II history to rush and pass for 200-plus yards each in the same contest.
Shepherd (11-1) took a 7-0 lead with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter when Dervon Wallace (20 car., 78 yds., 2 TD; 3 rec., game-high 89 yds.) scored on a one-yard run.
C.W. Post countered with a four-yard, right-side touchdown pass from Blount (19-for-28, 252 yards, 3 TD, INT; 16 rushes, 74 yds.) with 56 seconds left in the period, knotting the score at 7-7. The touchdown pass was the 54th of Blount's storied four-year career; he now has a school-record 56 TD passes during his time in a Pioneers uniform.
The host Rams took a 14-7 lead on the last play of the first quarter, when Wallace caught a seemingly harmless left-side screen pass from Dan Chlebowski (14-for-26, 196 yds., TD, INT) at the Shepherd 24-yard line. Wallace slipped numerous tackles, and ran to the Pioneers one-yard line, where Woody Aime forced one of his career-high two fumbles on the day. The Rams' Craig Tremel fell on the ball in the end zone, and the hosts held a seven-point advantage after the first 15-minute session.
After sophomore Chris Bone returned a punt 19 yards to the Pioneers 44-yard line on the Pioneers' second possession of the second quarter, C.W. Post needed just five plays to tie the game at 14-14. Senior running back Adebayo Adedapo (nine carries, 37 yds.) punched in a six-yard run off left guard to bring his team equal to the Rams 6:30 into the quarter.
The teams then exchanged turnovers, before Wallace scored on a 19-yard, left-side run with 5:48 left in the half to put the Rams up 21-14.
Following an exchange of possessions by the teams, the Pioneers got the ball on their own 20-yard line with 2:31 left in the first half. Blount orchestrated a 10-play drive to tie the game at 21-21 with 14 seconds left, when Heller (four receptions, 85 yds., 2 TD) caught a five-yard "out" pass from Blount.
C.W. Post got the ball to start the second half, and ran off 12 plays and 6:25 off the clock before it was forced to punt. Shepherd punted back to the Pioneers four plays later, setting the stage for the eventual game-winning score. Spurred by a 14-yard run from freshman tailback Anthony Lazarus (23 carries, 126 yards), CWP faced second-and-10 on its own 42-yard line on the fifth play of the drive. Blount rolled left, before rolling back to the right with all day to throw. He then fired a bomb on the right hash marks to Heller, who reeled the ball in at the Rams' 10-yard line over Dustin Dudinski. The senior two-sport athlete (basketball) then scampered into the end zone to give the Pioneers a 28-21 lead that would hold up for the rest of the game.