Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – Wabash College scored on four of its five second half possessions to rally for a 35-14 victory over Albion College in a NCAA Division III Football Championship first round game.
Albion led 14-6 after taking the second half kickoff and scoring in three plays as Dominic Bona hooked up with Chris McCall for a 57-yard play.
Wabash responded with a six-play drive, capped by Mason Zurek's 29-yard run, to forge a tie with 12 minutes left in the third.
Albion drove into Wabash territory on its next two possessions, but failed to score. The second drive was especially costly as Bona was sacked for a 13-yard loss on second and goal from the Wabash 5-yard line. Bona was intercepted on the third down play.
Zurek carried the load for Wabash with 312 rushing yards and scores from 6, 1 and 70 yards out.
"We played a pretty good game, but big plays in the red zone and turnovers were costly," Albion Head Coach Craig Rundle, who led the Britons to a 9-2 record said.
With weather conditions grounding Albion's passing game, Bona and running backs Mike Czarnecki and Colin Parks combined for 269 rushing yards. Bona scored Albion's first touchdown of the day on a 29-yard run giving the Britons a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
With 117 passing yards, Bona finished his career as Albion's all-time leader with 8,824 yards. His 84 touchdown passes and .619 completion percentage also are all-time school records.
Czarnecki and Parks were the first pair of Albion backs to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Czarnecki collected 1,304 yards on the season to finish his career with 2,998. Parks rolled up 1,163 yards to finish with 2,182 for his career.
Anthony Waite wrapped up nine solo tackles to lead the Albion defense.