Seton Hill began PSAC West play on Saturday afternoon on the road in Erie as they returned to play after an open week last week against Gannon.
The Griffins dropped their conference opener by the score of 23-17. SHU is now 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the west. Gannon is now 1-4 overall and 1-0 in the west.
It did not take Gannon long to get on the scoreboard as they needed just five plays on the opening drive of the game to take a quick 7-0 lead over the Griffins less than three minutes into the first quarter. The Golden Knights added a field goal with 2:45 to play in the quarter as they built a 10-0 lead.
SHU moved to the Gannon one yard line on their first possession of the second quarter but had to settle for a 21 yard field goal from
Ben Zavatchan with 13:56 left to trim the lead to 10-3. On the first play of the Gannon drive,
D'Kairi Boone picked off a pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 10. Gannon retook the lead with 3:10 left in the half on a 27 yard field goal. The Golden Knights then took advantage of an interception and long return as they used the short field (3 yards) to take a 20-10 lead into the halftime break.
Late in the third quarter, the Knights extended their lead to 23-10 with a long field goal. Early in the fourth quarter,
Quinton Posey intercepted a pass and returned it to the Gannon 43 yard line. SHU needed just one play to score, a 43 yard touchdown pass from
Cody Rubrecht to
Taiyon Battle which trimmed the lead to 23-17. On their final drive of the game, the Griffins got to the Gannon 21 yard line but the drive stalled there and ended after a strip sack fumble that Gannon recovered.
Ky'Ron Craggette rushed for 165 yards. Battle had three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.
Ritchie McCormack led the defense with 11 tackles including four for loss.
Seton Hill will host California (PA) next weekend in another PSAC West contest.
