Sheals' Career Day Helps Wilkes Football Move to 6-1
DALLAS, Pa. – JaQuan Sheals (Dallas, TX/Cheshire Academy) finished with a career-high 154 yards to go with a touchdown on the ground to help lead the Wilkes University football team to a 36-35 overtime win at Misericordia University in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) action on Saturday afternoon.
The Colonels are now 4-1 in MAC play and 6-1 overall while Misericordia fell to 4-1 in conference and 4-2 overall.
Nate Whitaker (Upper Darby, PA/Haverford School) started the game with a bang as he returned the opening kick 93 yards to the house with a Justin Pollack (Sloatsburg, NY/Suffern) PAT giving Wilkes a 7-0 lead as fans were still filling into their seats.
The Cougars returned the following kick 50 yards to Wilkes' 33 yard-line. Misericordia got to the Colonels 14 before a fourth down field goal attempt was blocked by Bud Moyer (Tamaqua, PA/Tamaqua).
Quarterback Jose Tabora (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/St. Augustine Prep.) found Derek Nelson (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock) for a 20-yard pickup Wilkes continued to march down the field culminating the drive with a 23-yard pass from Tabora to Richard Ermeus (Hillside, NJ/David Brearley) with the Pollack PAT giving the Colonels a 14-0 lead just under four minutes into the game.
Wilkes' defense forced a three-and-out on the Cougars next possession. After starting at their own 24, the Colonels moved the ball to their own 38 with an 11-yard run from Jeremiah Acker (Moscow, PA/North Pocono). On the next play, Tabora ran for five yards to Misericordia's 46, however, the play was called back for a crackback block penalty. Following the play, Tabora was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which combined moved the ball back 30 yards. On the next play, a first-and-30 from Wilkes' 29, Tabora heaved a pass that was intercepted at the Cougars 29 and returned 25 yards to the Colonels 46. Following the interception Tabora was assessed a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, resulting in his ejection with 3:44 left in the first quarter.
Wilkes' defense didn't miss a beat during the next drive, holding Misericordia to a four-and-out and a turnover on downs. Following a three-and-out from the Colonels offense, Cougars quarterback Brady Williams got Misericordia on the board with a 47-yard touchdown pass to Sam Gillison, cutting the lead to 14-7 with a good PAT, which is where the first quarter ended.
Wilkes' next possession resulted in three plays and negative yardage. The Cougars got the ball back at their own 35, and proceeded to drive 65 yards over seven plays resulting in a three-yard touchdown rush from Williams and a PAT to tie the score at 14 with 9:50 remaining until halftime.
After a four-play drive resulted in a punt for the Colonels, Misericordia got the ball back at its own 35, and on a third-and-12 from its 33 Williams completed a pass to Michael Gawlik that was fumbled and recovered by Cole Jesmer (Dover, PA/Dover) at the Cougars 26-yard line.
On the following possession, Sheals carried four times for 15 yards to start the drive. Doug Weist (Frackville, PA/North Schuylkill), replacing Tabora, then found Nelson for a nine-yard pick up down to Misericordia's two yard-line. After a Cougar timeout, Acker punched it in giving Wilkes a 20-14 lead.
The Colonels headed to halftime holding the six-point lead after forcing a turnover on downs following an eight-play, 25-yard drive.
Misericordia started the second half with the ball, driving 65 yards over eight plays capped off with a 10 yard rushing touchdown from Gawlik. A successful PAT gave the Cougars their first lead at 21-20 with 11:23 on the third quarter clock.
Wilkes drove 43 yards on the following drive but on a third-and-three from the Cougars 33 Weist was intercepted at Misericordia's two yard-line. The defense held the Cougars to a three-and-out surrendering only six yards forcing Misericordia to punt from its own end zone, allowing Nelson to return the punt all the way to the Cougars' 31 yard-line. Weist found Whitaker for a 10-yard pick up on the first play from scrimmage, with Sheals running four times and finding the end zone with a three yard run giving the Colonels a 26-21 lead after an unsuccessful fake-PAT rush attempt.
The third quarter ended with the same score and Misericordia looking at a fourth-and-two from Wilkes' 29, but Williams' pass attempt was intercepted by Nahjir Woods (Piscataway NJ/Piscataway) at the 12 and returned to the 26. The Colonels were unable to generate anything from the turnover as Weist fumbled on a third-and-13 that was recovered by the Cougars at Wilkes' 22, setting them up with excellent field position.
Misericordia went backwards on the drive, however, as Williams was sacked for a loss of 13 yards by Pat Ricci (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) on a fourth-and-18 giving the Colonels the ball at their own 43.
Wilkes drove 38 yards over eight plays on the offense's next turn, getting three points on a Pollack 37-yard field goal to push the advantage to 29-21 with 7:26 left in the game.
After the Colonels defense forced a three-and-out giving up negative-five yards, the offense drove 50 yard over 10 plays with Sheals doing the heavy lifting to a tune of 45 yards over seven rushes. No points came of the drive that ate up over four minutes and thirty seconds, but Misericordia got the ball back at its own 33 with 2:25 left in the game. The Cougars drove 67 yards on seven plays, with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Gillison and two-point try from Williams to Isaiah Williams tying the score at 29 with 1:19 on the clock. Neither team was able to take the lead as regulation ended with a tie sending the game to overtime.
Misericordia started the overtime with the ball, needing four plays to find the end zone on a nine-yard pass from Williams to Gillison. The Cougars missed the extra point, however, which ended up being one of the tide-turning plays. On fourth-and-12 from the 16, Weist found Whitaker as he was being hit for the touchdown, with Pollack connecting on the extra point to send the Wilkes sideline into a frenzy.
Weist finished nine-of-17 for 79 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Williams went 21-for-44 for 250 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions.
Acker added 32 yards on nine rushes with one touchdown in addition to Sheals' 154 yards. Gawlik led Misericordia with 121 yards on 20 attempts with one touchdown.
Nelson led all Colonels receivers with four catches for 53 yards. Gillison finished with 176 yards and three touchdowns for the Cougars.
Wilkes returns to action next Saturday when it will host FDU-Florham for a 1:00 p.m. MAC contest at Schmidt Stadium. The Devils are currently 2-6 overall and 1-5 in MAC play following a 42-21 loss at Lycoming College this week.
