Wearing shoes borrowed from Penn State and playing defense like Penn State, the undefeated Warriors of Lycoming College upset previously undefeated Hofstra, 20-10, today and advanced to the final of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III football tournament.
Lycoming, from Williamsport, will play another Pennsylvania college, Allegheny from Meadville, for the championship next Saturday at Bradenton, Fla., in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
Hofstra played the game without Rhory Moss, its regular quarterback. Moss, who had passed for 3,310 yards and 25 touchdowns, was declared ineligible for the contest by the university after an N.C.A.A. official notified Jim Garvey, the athletic director, late Friday afternoon of an alleged violation of N.C.A.A. regulations by Moss.
The nature of the violation was not divulged and Garvey said, in a statement, "The university has decided in the best interests of the integrity of Mr. Moss, his team mates, Hofstra University and the N.C.A.A. tournament to withdraw him from play." Commendable Performance
Tim Lynch, the sophomore who replaced Moss, did a commendable job after a slow start. But his blockers wilted under an assault from the blitzing Lycoming defense and Lynch was sacked six times. He completed 32 of 49 pass attempts for 339 yards but three were intercepted.
Lynch, who had played well on occasion when Moss was hurt, had missed almost six weeks of football because of a virus illness and returned last Tuesday for four days of practice. In the final practice Friday it was Moss who took most of the center snaps.
Joe Gardi, the Hofstra coach, believed the absence of Moss was not the point. He said: "I don't think the outcome had anything to do with the quarterback situation. They outplayed and outcoached us. The better team won."
Hofstra thus lost after 12 straight victories, the most in its football history. Its run-and-shoot offense, which had averged 47 points and almost 500 yards a game, was held to 10 and 359.
Moss, a junior from New York City, was one of a small group of players chosen randomly who took a drug test under N.C.A.A. auspices after last Saturday's quarterfinal tournament game at Trenton State. He saw today's game, mingled with his teammates afterward, but would not comment.
Garvey said that the allegations against Moss would be revealed on Monday and were likely to be appealed by Hofstra.
Frank Girardi, the Lycoming coach going to his first championship game after 23 seasons of coaching the Warriors, 19 as head coach, said he did not care who played quarterback for Hofstra.
"Not even Joe Montana," he said.
The plan was to go after the quarterback, and a defensive end, Joe Emrick, charging from the backside, sacked Lynch three times.
Girardi has had two other teams in the N.C.A.A. playoffs but none ever reached the semifinals before or won 12 games without a defeat. "This team never ceases to surprise me," he said.
His quarterback, Ed Dougherty, came up with a big game as usual. He completed half his passes, 13 of 26, for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns, 10 yards to Paul Hollomon and 37 on a screen pass near the end to the fullback, Anthony Marion.
"That was a great play," said Gardi. "And it came against our all-out blitz."
The Flying Dutchmen had a first down at the Warrior three 14 seconds before halftime but a field goal attempt failed when the holder bobbled the center pass. So the halftime score was 6-3. Hofstra had trailed only once before at the half this season, to Bucknell in its second game.
No comments:
Post a Comment