WATERBURY, Connecticut -
Bo Catherwood ran for three touchdowns and caught a two-point conversion to lead the American International College football team to a come-from-behind 27-20 win at Post University in Northeast 10 Conference play on Saturday, October 24.
AIC is now 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the NE10.
Fumbles early on put AIC behind the eight ball; after forcing a punt on Post's first drive, the return was muffed and the Eagles recovered at AIC's four-yard line. It took just one draw play to score and give the Eagles a 7-0 lead. AIC then fumbled the snap on its first play from scrimmage, setting up the Eagles at AIC's 24, and the hosts turned that into three points, although a
Benjamin Antoine breakup in the end zone on third down prevented even more damage.
The Yellow Jackets came close to breaking the shutout as the quarter turned from first to second; taking advantage of a roughing the kicker penalty on fourth down, AIC surged to the red zone, but the Eagles defense stood AIC up at the one-yard line to force a turnover on downs.
However, that pinned the Eagles deep, and AIC was able to force a takeaway of its own.
DeMelo Adams jumped in front of a pass and intercepted it at Post's 30, taking the ball down to the 17. Two plays later, Catherwood busted through the middle for the full distance, scoring and cutting the gap to 10-6.
Adams gave his offense the ball again, this time picking off a deep ball at AIC's 15 for his second interception in as many drives.
Lukas Kasko then made a deep pass to
Jovanny Brown, who was able to go 37 yards to the midfield line. The Yellow Jackets pushed into Post territory, and on third-and-one at the 30, Catherwood broke through again, beating the entire Eagles defense all the way to the goal line to give his team a 12-10 lead.
Post drove down into AIC territory just before time expired in the half, but the field goal attempt by Nathan Hawkins went wide.
In the third, Post took advantage of another turnover deep in AIC territory to score, turning an interception that was brought back to the AIC 12 into three points; Adams again came up clutch, breaking up a pass in the end zone on third down, limiting the Eagles to the field goal.
However, the home side's next drive went for seven, as the Eagles drove down and scored, finishing on a Jayquan Bromell catch in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown and a 20-12 lead.
AIC's next drive started at the 50, and the team ran straight at Post to put a touchdown of its own up.
Adrian Antoine started the drive with a 12-yard scamper, while
Ronjai Francis contributed a 15-yard dash. Catherwood was the finisher, cutting right and scoring from 14 yards out. He then caught a pass from Kasko for the tying two-point conversion, leveling the score at 20-20 just before the end of the third frame.
In the fourth, the Yellow Jackets fumbled another punt inside their own five, but the defense bailed the special teams unit out, stuffing four straight rushing attempts to prevent points from being scored;
Jakkai Stith and
Mikai Gamble had the final tackle on fourth down in the backfield.
That left AIC with 96 yards to traverse for a touchdown, but the offense was up to the task. Kasko threw for a pair of early-drive first downs, finding Antoine and Catherwood for big gains on third-down plays, and then regularly hitting Brown for big chunks, including a 22-yard and a 14-yard catch. Brown also finished the drive, snaring the ball at the 10-yard line and dashing the rest of the way home.
Luke Sheets hit the PAT and AIC led 27-20 with 2:04 left in regulation.
AIC needed a stop, and Stith provided it, sacking Tyler Phommachanh on second down and breaking up a pass on third down. The Eagles went for it on fourth down, but were stopped short, and the ball was AIC's.
However, the Eagles had all three timeouts, and so AIC needed a first down as well. Catherwood pushed hard, with three straight three-yard gains, but was stood up on fourth down, giving the Eagles one more shot.
They came up empty; four passes all fell incomplete, giving AIC the ball back. Kasko took one knee to run the final 18 seconds off and end the game.
Kasko ultimately threw for 133 yards on 13 attempts, while Catherwood dashed off 118 yards rushing. Brown had 93 receiving yards to lead the game. Stith led AIC with 12 tackles, including 3.5 for losses, while Gamble had 11.
AIC returns home for a Halloween matchup with Saint Anselm College at 1:00 p.m.
