The Wilkes University football team closed out their regular season on a high note with a big senior day win over Moravian University, 47-28.
The Colonels walked into Saturday’s game with a 6-3 record overall, 4-1 in conference play. They were in a tie for second place in the Landmark Conference with Moravian, with both teams only conference losses coming at the hands of Susquehanna. Both teams had clinched their spots in the Chesapeake Challenge, a partnership between the Landmark and Old Dominion Athletic Conferences, sending 2 teams each to play against each other in Salam, Va. on Nov. 23. The game today served as a battle to see who would walk into the game at second in the conference.
It also was senior day for the team, honoring 29 seniors on the team. All 29 also acted as team captains for the game, the team looking to make their last game at Schmidt Stadium a memorable one.
Scoring was slow to start in the game, with zero points scored in the first. This included two punts, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal by Jr. Nick Volpone. Following another punt, Wilkes opened the scoring on the game with a 7-yd TD run by Sr. Elijah Jules. Moravian quickly matched that with a 13-yd TD pass from Jared Jenkins to Jordan Bingham.
Another trading of punts then gave way to back-to-back Wilkes TDs. The first on a 10-yd TD run by Jules, helped by a big downfield completion by Sr. Xavier Powell to So. Juju Fears. The second TD came on the very next possession when Sr. Leroy Marshall took an interception 52 yards back for a TD, making the game 20-7. Another Wilkes TD came right at the end of the half when Powell threw a ball to Sr. Devin Higgins and was able to wrestle the football away from the near defender for a contested score and going into half at 26-7.
The third quarter saw four total touchdowns with three coming from Wilkes and one from Moravian. Wilkes’ scores all came in the form of rushing as Powell had 43-yd and 5-yd TDs respectively, and Jules added another from 10 yards out. Moravian scored off of a long, 64-yd TD pass from Jenkins to Bingham again.
By the time the fourth quarter came, Wilkes held a 47-14 lead and was just looking to close the game out. Two late touchdowns by Moravian, short touchdown runs by Jenkins and Joey Richmond, made the score look better than what it could have been as Wilkes was able to send their seniors off right with the win. The team was able to dominate on the ground, rushing for 329 yards on the day. The win gave Wilkes a second place finish in the Landmark after being predicted to finish fourth in David Beiver’s first season as head coach.
The team will get one more game in their season with the Chesapeake Challenge, as they will face off against Washington and Lee University, the third place team in the ODEC. Wilkes hosted a bowl game last year in the Chesapeake Challenge, beating Bridgewater College 35-17.
For more information on the football team and all Wilkes sports, please visit gowilkesu.com for more information.