Saxons win defensive battle, shut out Thiel in season opener
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AU Press Releases
9/09/06
ALFRED, NY— The Alfred University football team defeated visiting Thiel College, 14-0, Saturday afternoon at Merrill Field in the Saxons’ 2006 season opener.
After a scoreless first quarter, AU (1-0, 0-0 Empire 8) opened the scoring with 10:45 left in the second. Thiel quarterback Billy Blankenship fumbled at his own 8-yard line and AU junior defensive end Mike Penkin (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) recovered. Two plays later junior quarterback Paul Keeley (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) hit senior tight end Matt Gibbins (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) on an 11-yard scoring pass and AU led 7-0.
The Saxons scored on their opening drive of the second half, with Keeley hitting freshman wide receiver Jared Manzer (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) with a 36-yard scoring toss. The touchdown capped an eight-play, five-minute drive.
Alfred’s defense was solid. Thiel had 202 yards in offense for the game, but half of those came in the Tomcats’ final three drives. The first ended on downs at the AU 27-yard line with just over five minutes left in the game; the second ended when senior linebacker Nick Gatto (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) picked off a Blankenship pass at the Thiel 49-yard line with 2:55 left. Thiel’s final drive ended when sophomore free safety Brian Nitsche (Portville, NY/Portville) intercepted Blankenship at midfield with less than a minute to go.
Penkin paced the Alfred defense with five tackles, including a pair of sacks. Junior tackle Don Miller (LeRoy, NY/LeRoy) had seven tackles (one for loss) and a forced fumble. Nitsche finished with four solo tackles, a fumble recovery, an interception and four passes defensed. Junior cornerback Josh Rammacher (Angola, NY/Lake Shore), making his first career start on defense, had seven solo tackles, including one for loss.
Blankenship finished with 146 yards passing but was sacked four times and threw two interceptions. Thiel wide receiver Tim Van Horn had five catches for 38 yards and tailback Steve Minton had four catches for 37 yards. Minton also rushed for a team-high 63 yards.
Alfred was held to 164 yards in offense. Keeley completed 11 of 22 passes for 64 yards and no interceptions to go with a pair of scores. Manzer had a team-high four catches for 43 yards. Sophomore tailback Julio Fuentes (Olean, NY/Olean) was injured on the second-half kickoff and was replaced by junior tailback Elmer Newsome (Hancock, NY/Cadosia), who finished with a game-high 82 yards rushing on 22 carries.
Linebacker Chris Hlinka had a game-high 10 tackles (six solo, two for loss) and a fumble recovery to lead the Thiel defense. Linebacker Michael Stimac also had 10 tackles (three solo), while strong safety Darious Thompson had seven tackles and a forced fumble.
Alfred is in action next on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 1 p.m. at St. Lawrence.
