September 18, 2011 7:00 a.m. EDINBORO —
Edinboro’s victory was already in hand when head coach Scott Browning opted to spell running back Drew Herrell for a moment and decided to bring in his counterpart Brian Davis for a couple of runs in the Scots’ season-opening win over West Liberty three weeks ago.
Davis came in, ran for three yards on his first carry and then was held for no gain on the very next play. Facing a third down and seven at the West Liberty 21 yard line, Browning was ready to go back to either Herrell or fellow sophomore D’Andrea Vaughn. Offensive coordinator Doug Sams convinced Browning to do otherwise.
“Coach Sams says, ‘No. Leave him in there,’” Browning said. “He’s a good four-minute back. Leave him in there.”
Davis answered by taking the ball 21 yards for a touchdown on the very next play. The Chowan transfer responded in a similar fashion last week with a late touchdown run in a win over Merrimack.
On Saturday, the Scots gave Davis the opportunity to make an impact much earlier. And he did not disappoint.
Davis scored three touchdowns and ran for a career-high 101 yards to lead Edinboro to a 41-13 win over Cheyney (1-2) yesterday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover game at Sox Harrison Stadium.
The Scots improved to 3-0 on the year and head into their PSAC West opener at Gannon University next week as the lone unbeaten team in the West division.
“It felt really great,” said Davis. “I finally got the opportunity to show what I can really do. It just really felt good.”
Davis is the second Edinboro running back to run for at least 100 yards in a game and its third different rushing leader in three contests. Redshirt sophomore Drew Herrell had a career-high 165 yards on 16 carries in Week 1. D’Andrea Vaughn led Edinboro with 65 yards on 11 carries against Merrimack.
As a team, the Scots are averaging 190 yards per game rushing, which ranks amongst the top five in the PSAC. Edinboro ranked 11th and 14th, respectively, the last two years in rushing offense in the final PSAC statistics.
“There’s probably more there than what we’re seeing,” Browning said of Davis. “And it’s starting to show. He’s a really good back. He’s probably better right now than we are giving him credit for. I think he needs to continue to get reps. He’s earned it. He just continues to get a lot better.”
Edinboro finished the day with 349 yards of offense, while allowing just 116.
The Scots scored first on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Cody Harris to Marcus Johnson with 10:31 to play in the first quarter and added a second touchdown on a 4-yard run by Davis with 4:26 to play in the period.
Cheyney got on the board with 24 seconds left in the first on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Chris Anderson to Prince Stewart. Keir Jeter blocked the point-after-touchdown kick, making the score 14-6 in favor of the Scots.
Edinboro added a 37-yard field goal by Alex Romanias and a 2-yard touchdown run by Drew Herrell before Cheyney scored again on a 7-yard run by Justin Watkins. Davis’ second touchdown of the day and Romanias’ extra-point kick gave Edinboro a 31-13 lead at halftime.
The Scots finished things off with a 1-yard touchdown run by Davis and 35-yard field goal by Romanias. Edinboro’s defense held the Wolves to just 29 yards of offense in the second half.
Both of Cheyney’s touchdowns came on short fields. The first touchdown drive began at Cheyney’s 40 yard line when Edinboro’s kickoff sailed out of bounds for a penalty. Its second score came following an interception by Harris at Edinboro’s 7 yard line. The Wolves needed just two plays to punch the ball in the end zone.
“I thought we would be a little sharper,” Browning said after the game. “At times I thought we played well. And at times not so well.”
The big thing for the Scots were penalties. Edinboro was penalized 10 times for 84 yards.
“And they were for knucklehead things,” Browning said. “And it wasn’t just one area. They were sprinkled here and there. We need to get better.”
Harris finished the day 21-of-26 for 163 yards. Edinboro’s Nick Marino had eight catches for 62 yards.
Marcus Jones had Cheyney’s best day offensively with 52 yards on 15 carries.
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Davis comes up big for Scots
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