William Paterson Pioneers rally falls short in 26-17 loss at Southern Virginia

(Photo by Catalina Fragoso – Double G Media)

After getting crushed 77-19 by Salisbury University at Wightman Stadium the week before, the William Paterson Pioneers were looking to rebound at Southern Virginia last Saturday. The Pioneers found themselves in a major hole down 19-3 in the third quarter but mounted a furious rally that just fell short as the Knights held on for the 26-17 victory and sending William Paterson(2-5, 1-5 NJAC) to their third consecutive defeat.

“We really did some good things on both sides of the ball and just turned the ball over too many times,” William Paterson Head Coach Jerry Flora said. “We changed the plays at halftime and executed much better in the second half and we’re able to get it to 19-17 and tried to go for two to send it into overtime. The fact we got down that much was obviously disappointing and fact we came back was even more encouraging.”

Junior quarterback James Waldron tossed a 42-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Anthony DiMarsico(6 catches for 98 yards) with 1:28 left in the third quarter. Attempting the two-point conversion Waldron successfully ran it in cutting the lead to 19-13. On the day Waldron threw for 157 yards along with two scores and two interceptions while rushing for 57 yards.

“James played well and made a couple of minor mistakes but did a nice job of coming in and hopefully will improve and get better and contribute on Saturday,” said Jerry Flora.

In the fourth quarter, Waldron orchestrated an 11-play 98- yard drive capped off by a four-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Malcolm Robinson(4 catches for 53 yards) with 5:27 on the clock. Going for two to tie the game Waldron’s pass attempt failed. The Knights managed to seal the victory on a 36-yard touchdown run by Ty Jones with 2:26 remaining.

The Pioneers travel to The College of New Jersey(0-7) this Saturday with kickoff at 2:00 p.m. Last season the Lions won 20-17.

“We’re not looking to fall behind and not turn the ball over and if we can do some of the things we did on offense and defense we should be fine,” said Jerry Flora. “We’re looking to win as many as games as we can and improve on last year’s record and goal at this point. 2-8 last year and goal this year to be better and not where we would like to be at this point but like to finish either 4-6 or 5-5 would be great.”