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Davidson College
Lenoir-Rhyne
Mantuo's Late Touchdown Lifts Davidson Over Lenoir-Rhyne
9/15/2007 4:22:27 PM | Football
Marc Gignac
Davidson, N.C. - Davidson freshman Kenny Mantuo will never forget his first career touchdown for two reasons. The first is that it was his first career touchdown, and the second is that it proved to be the game-winning score in a 21-20 Wildcat victory over Lenoir-Rhyne on Homecoming Saturday afternoon at Richardson Stadium.
Senior quarterback Matt McGreevy found Mantuo wide open at about the 5-yard line after a fake handoff that sucked in the Bear defense. Mantuo ran in untouched for the score, and senior Cody Elder's point after gave Davidson a 21-20 lead with 1:14 remaining.
Then with Lenoir-Rhyne facing 3rd-and-6 on the Davidson 40-yard line, Daniel Anderson hit Pete Goodman for a 10-yard pass, but Wildcat junior Peter Bakke forced a fumble and junior Tyler Lemons recovered the ball with 32 seconds left to seal the win.
It was the second huge series for the Wildcat defense. The Bears had the ball and a 20-14 lead with 5:27 to play, but the Davidson defense forced a three-and-out.
The Wildcats took over at their own 21-yard line, and on the first play of the series, McGreevy found junior Kirk Konert over the middle for a 52-yard gain. After McGreevy rushed for three yards to the Bear 27-yard line, he completed the three-play, 79-yard drive with the 24-yard pass to Mantuo.
“After scouting Lenoir-Rhyne all week, we really liked the middle of the field and put that play in,” McGreevy said of the pass to Konert. “It was a pump fake to the corner, and a throw over the middle. I saw that he had done good job getting away from his man and hit him with the pass.”
“We had such a tough time running the ball because they put nine or 10 guys in the box, but we knew that eventually, we were going to pop one on them,” added Davidson coach Tripp Merritt. “It was just a matter of beating man coverage. We knew the middle of the field was open.”
McGreevy finished the game with 15 completions on 28 attempts for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Nine different Wildcats had receptions, led by Konert's four-catch, 100-yard performance. Konert also averaged 41.1 yards a punt and placed two inside the LR 5-yard line.
The Bears' option attack gave Davidson fits, and Andrew Courman rushed for 163 yards and a TD on 21 carries. Anderson finished with 106 pass yards and 17 on the ground.
He was sacked three times, twice by Wildcat junior Will Funderburg, who finished with five tackles, three for loss, and a forced fumble. Senior linebacker Bud Crawford had eight tackles, a sack and 4.5 tackles for loss.
Lenoir-Rhyne took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field to the Davidson 1-yard line. Facing 4th-and-goal, Funderburg forced a fumble by James Pone, and Jeffrey Scott recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.
Eight plays and 80 yards later, senior Beaux Jones caught a McGreevy pass for a 24-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Courman rattled off a 26-yard run 15 seconds into the second quarter to tie the game, but Davidson regained a 14-7 advantage on sophomore Kirk Benedict's 2-yard plunge.
The Bears' Andrew Coln hit a 38-yard field goal for the only points of the third quarter, and a Lamont Savage 5-yard run gave Lenoir-Rhyne its first lead at 17-14. Coln added a 39-yard field goal with 7:18 to go to give the Bears a 20-14 cushion.
Davidson is off next week before opening Pioneer Football League play at Jacksonville Sept. 29, in a noon kickoff.
Notes: The 'Cats had 13 tackles for loss and three sacks in the contest… Benedict's touchdown was his team-leading third of the season… Two of Davidson's three scoring drives were 80 yards and the other was 79; the 'Cats have five scoring drives of 80 or more yards this season… Konert's 100-yard receiving day was the most for a 'Cat since Ryan Hubbard had 189 receiving yards against Butler in the 2006 season finale… It was Davidson's first home win over Lenoir-Rhyne since a 20-17 victory in 1973.
