EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University football team battled local rival Misericordia University in a back-and-forth Middle Atlantic Conference affair before eventually falling 47-45 at Schmidt Stadium Saturday afternoon. Wilkes put up a season-high 581 yards of total offense and the lead changed four different times in the contest on Family Day at the Ralston Athletic Complex.

Jose Tabora (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/St. Augustine Prep.) threw for 410 yards and three touchdowns and added 24 yards rushing on nine carries and another score. Nick Yanik (Edison, NJ/Edison Twp.), Derek Nelson (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock) and Jeff Steeber (Shickshinny, PA/Berwick) all went for more than 100 yards receiving and each caught one touchdown.

With the loss Wilkes fell to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the MAC. Misericordia improved to 2-1 overall and stayed perfect in MAC play at 2-0.

The Colonels opened the scoring at the 11:33 mark of the first quarter after the defense forced a Misericordia three-and-out when running back Jason Wiley (Port Chester, NY/Port Chester ) scored his first career touchdown from five-yards out. The freshman drew his first career start in the backfield. Alexander DeSpirito (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Crestwood ) added the extra point to put Wilkes ahead 7-0. The drive went three plays and covered 56 yards with the big play coming on a pass from Nelson to Steeber for 40 yards after the receiver took a handoff from Tabora.

The Cougars responded with a touchdown but missed the extra point as the Colonels held a 7-6 lead with 9:01 left in the first.

Wilkes extended its lead to 14-6 on the next drive after Tabora ran one in from one-yard out to complete an eight-play drive that went 56 yards. Misericordia had a quick answer by striking for a 58-yard touchdown pass on their drive's second play to make the score 14-13 with 3:04 left in the opening quarter.

The Wilkes offense drove into Cougars territory again but were unable to come away with points on its next drive. Amari Peterson (Baltimore, MD/Dover) then made a stout defensive play to force the game's first turnover when he ripped the ball out of Sam Gillison's hands and fell on it. Wilkes was unable to take advantage as a fumble on the next play gave the ball back to Misericordia. The Cougars capitalized and took their first lead of the game when quarterback Brady Williams ran it in from 14-yards out to go ahead 20-14 with 6:37 left in the second quarter.

The two teams then traded punts and then turnovers on the next four possessions. Justin Trolinger (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) came up with the big play for Wilkes when he sacked Williams and forced him to fumble. Pat Ricci (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) fell on the loose ball to set the Colonels up at the Wilkes 48-yard line with 36 seconds left until halftime. Tabora then connected with Steeber for 22 yards and then found Nelson for gains of nine and 15 more yards. DeSpirito connected on a 20-yard field goal to send Wilkes into the half down 20-17.

Wilkes regained the lead at 24-20 on the first possession of the third quarter as Wiley scored his second touchdown, this time from one-yard out. Wiley had a 32-yard run on the drive after Devon Fink (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) returned the kickoff 35 yards.

The seesaw continued when Williams connected with Gillison for 68-yards to put the road team back ahead 27-24 with 3:07 left in the third.

The Colonels responded right back with a seven-play, 65-yard drive that extended into the fourth quarter. Tabora dropped a perfect ball into the back-right corner of the end zone that Yanik came down with from 16-yards out. David Kutteroff (Stroudsburg, PA/Stroudsburg) hit the extra point to put Wilkes ahead 31-27 with 14:48 left in the fourth.

Misericordia regained the lead after forcing the third Wilkes fumble of the game to go ahead 34-31 with 11:05 left in the game. Misericordia then went up by two scores for the first time after coming away with an interception of a Tabora pass intended for Nelson. Williams rushed the ball in from two-yards out eight plays later to increase the Cougars lead to 40-31 with 6:05 left.

Wilkes was not ready to give up though as the Colonels offense engineered an 85-yard drive to close the score back to 40-38. Yanik caught passes of 26, 10 and 20 yards from Tabora on the drive before the junior quarterback connected with Steeber from five-yards out with 4:26 remaining.

The Colonels looked for a stop on defense and used timeouts after the first and second down plays of Misericordia. The Cougars struck for a huge play on third down as Williams found Gillison deep for a 77-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 47-38.

Wilkes still had 3:56 to work with and were able to dig deep for another touchdown. Tabora extended a play on third-and-14 from the Wilkes 21-yard line to find Yanik for 45 yards. Nelson then streaked down the sideline on the next play and Tabora found the open man for a 34-yard touchdown. Kutteroff connected on his third extra point as Wilkes trailed 47-45 with 2:45 left.

The Colonels were unable to recover an onside kick attempt and Misericordia was able to run the clock out with the conversion of one first down.
Nelson ended the day with a career-high nine receptions and 127 yards. Steeber added nine more catches and 116 yards and Yanik had seven receptions for a career-high 146 yards. On the ground Wiley had his first career 100-yard game as he rushed 15 times for 100 yards.

Bud Moyer (Tamaqua, PA/Tamaqua) led the Wilkes defense as he tied his career-high with 17 tackles. Lukas Wood (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) added 10 tackles while Trolinger had seven tackles including 3.0 tackles-for-loss. Dane Tarantelli (Gordon, PA/North Schuylkill) finished with five tackles and one sack.

Williams finished with 339 passing yards and four touchdowns while adding 78 rushing yards and three more touchdowns for Misericordia. Gillison had eight receptions for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Wilkes travels to Reading, Pa. to face Alvernia University for the first time next Saturday. The MAC game will be played at FirstEnergy Stadium as part of the 2018 Baseballtown Gridiron Classic with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m.