Seton Hill opened their season on Saturday afternoon by hosting Bowie State at Offutt Field. The Griffins scored the game's first touchdown but then gave up the next 48 points in a 48-7 loss to the Bulldogs.
The Griffins won the toss and took the ball and started their first posession on their own 26 yard line. After two runs by
Jarvis McClam that set up a third and two,
Christian Strong handed the ball to fullback
Evan Byrd on a dive play and he hit the hole and raced 66 yards for the game's first touchdown.
Santiago Henao hit the extra point to give SHU a 7-0 lead with 13:55 left in the quarter. Bowie State's next possession ended on a fumble when
Cole Shuker stripped the ball and
Jeremy Perkins recovered the fumble at the 50 yard line. The Griffins moved to the Bowie State 38 yard line but a seven yard loss on first down and two incompletions ended the drive. Bowie State scored on their next two possessions to take a 14-7 lead after one quarter of action.
SHU opened with a three and out to start the second quarter and the Bulldogs drove 91 yards in 14 plays to take a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter. They scored on their next possession as well and took a 28-7 lead into the halftime break.
After punting on their first drive of the second half, the Bulldogs scored on their final three possessions of the third quarter as they built their lead to 48-7.
Bowie State had 29 first downs to just 10 for the Griffins. The Bulldogs finished with 599 yards of total offense to just 151 for the Griffins. The Griffins, who led Division II in passing offense last season, threw for just 39 yards in the air. The Bulldogs were 6 of 14 on third down compared to just 2 of 16 for the Griffins.
Evan Byrd finished the game with 2 carries for 67 yards and the one touchdown.
Christian Strong was just 7-23 for 39 yards and one interception.
Matthew Williams finished with 3 catches for 17 yards.
Matt Stewart averaged 34.7 yards on ten punts.
Noah Davis led the Griffins with 7 solo tackles.
Fardan Allen added 6 solo and 1 assisted tackle.
SHU will host Millersville next week in a PSAC crossover matchup.
