A 42-yard fumble return by Wabash junior Tamarco White (Flora, MS/Madison Central) (left) opened the door for the Little Giants, but the Allegheny Gators slammed it shut with a one-yard run in overtime to claim a 16-10 victory in Crawfordsville Saturday.
The Little Giants took a 10-3 lead with 6:16 showing on the fourth quarter game clock when White scooped up an errant toss to Allegheny’s Mario Tarquinio and raced 42 yards for the go-ahead score. The touchdown was the fourth of White’s career and appeared to give the Little Giants the momentum in the game and seemed to bring an end to a two-game losing streak.
Two drives later, however, the Gators marched 43 yards in six plays, capping the drive with a 12-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Jimmy Savage to Marko Fonzi to tie the game at 10-10 with 45 seconds left in regulation.
The Gators won the overtime coin toss and elected to go on defense to start the period. The Little Giants mustered only six yards of offense on three plays, leading to a 36-yard field goal attempt by Mark Server (JR/Plainfield, IN/Plainfield) that sailed wide to the left.
Allegheny took over at the 25 yard line where Tarquinio made up for his earlier fumble with a 22-yard rumble, giving the Gators the football at the Wabash three. Two plays later Tarquinio bowled into the endzone for the game-winner.
For the third week in a row the Little Giants scored on their opening drive when Server hit a 22-yard field goal to end a nine-play 30-yard drive. Wabash would generate only one more lengthy drive in the contest, going on a 13-play, 44-yard drive in the third quarter that ended at the Allegheny 21 yard line on fourth down. The Little Giant offense struggled all afternoon, picking up only nine first downs and 193 yards of total offense, battling a 40-mile-an-hour wind and a stingy Gator defense.
Allegheny (4-4, 3-2 NCAC) ran for 174 yards on 53 carries, finishing the game with 277 yards of total offense.
Freshman Austin Gorrell (Franklin, IN/Franklin Community) (right) had 16 carries for 99 yards to lead the Wabash rushing attack. Quarterback Russ Harbaugh (JR/Evansville, IN/Evansville Bosse) finished with eight rushes for 16 yards. He was 11-of-13 for 67 yards. Aaron Lafitte (SO/Goodyear, AZ/Ironwood) led the receivers with three catches for 29 yards.
Tarquinio had 93 yards on 31 carries and the game-winning TD. Savage was 12-of-16 for 103 yards and one TD. Dallas Robinson finished with four catches for 32 yards to pace the Gators’ receiving corps.
Wabash (5-3, 3-3 NCAC) will attempt to snap its three-game losing streak in its final North Coast Athletic Conference game of 2004 next Saturday. The Little Giants travel to Granville, Ohio, to play the Denison University Big Red.