The Griffin football team began their 2023 season with a non conference matchup on the road at Wheeling on Thursday evening.
Wheeling outscored the Griffins 14-0 in the third quarter to take control of the contest and defeated the Griffins by a 35-24 score.
Wheeling took advantage of a short field on their first possession and scored on a four yard touchdown pass just over a minute into the first quarter. With ten minutes to play in the quarter,
Luke Hauger connected on a 29 yard field goal to trim the Cardinals lead to 7-3. On their second play of their next drive,
Richard Johnson Jr. recovered a fumble to give SHU the ball at the Cardinals 21.
Jake Cruz capped the drive with a seven yard touchdown run to give SHU a 10-7 lead with 8:01 left in the quarter. The Griffins took the 10-7 lead into the second quarter.
The teams just exchanged punts in the second quarter and the Griffins took the 10-7 lead into the halftime break.
Josh Cohen recovered a fumble on the second play of the second half to give SHU great field position on the Cards 30 yard line. The Griffins could not take advantage of the good field position. Wheeling then used a 13 play, 77 yard drive to take a 14-10 lead with 3:33 to play in the third. SHU fumbled on their next drive and Wheeling capitalized just two plays later as they took a 21-10 lead late in the third quarter.
On the second play of the fourth quarter,
Ky'Ron Craggette scored from one yard out to cut the Cards lead to 21-17. Wheeling answered with a 12 play, 75 yard drive to extend the lead to 28-17 with 8:35 remaining. With 4:45 left, Wheeling scored on a 36 yard run as they pushed their lead to 35-17. Cruz found
Cody Rubrecht for a 45 yard touchdown pass late in the quarter for the final score of the day.
The Griffins finished with 303 yards of offense to 299 for the Cards. SHU had 169 yards on the ground.
Rubrecht caught two passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. Craggette rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown. Cruz added 66 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Ritchie McCormack led the defense with eight tackles.
SHU will open the home portion of their schedule next Saturday, September 9th when they host Shippensburg.
