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Football Falls 35-30 In Shootout With Frostburg State
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Anthony King and Anton Wade ran for a pair of touchdowns each as the visiting Frostburg State Bobcats held off a late rally from the Apprentice School to pull out a 35-30 victory at Apprentice Field on Saturday.
The Builders took their opening possession on Frostburg's 36 and was held to a 32-yard Nicholas Foor field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 10:28 left in the first quarter.
Frostburg then answered with an 11-play, 74-yard drive capped off by King with a 28-yard touchdown run with 4:15 left for a 7-3 lead. After pinning the Builders on its six yard line, the Bobcats took advantage of a short field as Wade ran in from the one to cap off a 22-yard drive for a 14-3 lead with 11:34 left in the half.
Apprentice School answered quickly as Phil Caralla connected with Bryan Cain on a 59-yard scoring pass on the Builders first play to cut the deficit to 14-10 with 11:10 left. That pass was the longest by the Builders this season, topping a 45-yard connection to James Abbs against Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham.
The Bobcats answered with a drive of almost eight minutes as Wade scored on his second one-yard run to finish off a 74-yard, 14-play drive. Apprentice School stopped the Bobcats twice on the one before Wade pushed his way across on a third down.
Frostburg took advantage of a Builder turnover for a final score before halftime. After recovering a fumble on the Builder 39, King finished the scoring drive with a four-yard run with 38 seconds left in the half to give Frostburg a 28-10 advantage at the break.
In the third quarter, the Builders opened fast scoring on its first possession as Caralla found Teo Ellis on a 14-yard scoring pass with 10:07 left to cut the deficit to 28-17. After holding Frostburg on its first series, the Builders found the end zone again as Sam Arnold scored on a three-yard burst for a 28-23 advantage with 3:01 left.
The Bobcats hit the end zone on its first possession of the fourth quarter as Josh Volpe found Avery Willie on a 41-yard slant pass for a 35-23 lead with 11:21 left. Willie broke two tackles at the 25 and out-raced the Builders to the end zone.
Apprentice School had one last shot taking possession on its 18 yard line with 68 seconds left. Two Caralla to Ellis connections brought the ball to the Builder 46 before Caralla hit Abbs on a 47 yard pass down to the Frostburg seven. On the next play, Caralla scrambled looking for a connection in the end zone and eventually turned and ran it in from the seven with 23 seconds left for the 35-30 margin. Frostburg recovered the onside kick attempt and ran out the clock for the win.
Caralla threw a season-high 19 completions out of 30 passes for a season-best 284 yards. Cain caught seven passes for 108 yards and a touchdown, while Abbs caught six for 113 yards. They became the second pair of receivers to break 100-yards in receptions in the same game in the last two years. Defensively, Jeremy Drayton was the leading tackler with 11 matching his season bests set against Malone and Lake Erie.
The Builders close out the season on November 14 when they host Southern Virginia University in the 60th annual Oyster Bowl at 1 pm.
