Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Quarterback Derek Stewart threw for 424 yards to lead Saint Vincent to a 47-24 victory at Alma College to open the 2016 football season.
For SVC, it was the first time since the program returned in 2007 that the team opened the season with a victory.
Stewart struck early and often, throwing for 261 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, en route to a 28-44 performance, which included 5 touchdowns on the afternoon.
The Bearcats got off to a strong start, putting together a 7-minute scoring drive, capped by a touchdown pass from Stewart toDamon Black Jr from three yards out. Sam Elliott added the extra point to make the score 7-0.
The Scots drove the ball all the way to the Bearcat 1-yard-line for a fourth down play on the ensuing drive, but the SVC defense held, keeping the hosts off the board.
From there, the rest of the first half belonged to the Bearcats. After an Alma punt later in the first quarter, Stewart hit Shavonta Craft on a screen pass and Craft dodged defenders for a 33-yard gain, helping to set up an 8-yard touchdown run by Jhanard Dorsett.
Up 13-0 in the second, SVC went back to the same play, a screen from Stewart to Craft, this time for 41 yards to the Alma 17. After a Stewart keeper took the ball inside the 10, Ryan Crawford caught a pass in the end zone for the third Bearcat touchdown, making it a 20-0 game.
After another defensive stopped for an Alma punt, the Bearcats took over at their own 35 and later scored on a 33-yard pass from Stewart to Dalton Dietrich, putting the visitors up by a score of 26-0.
Alma managed to get on the board with just 2:39 left in the second quarter, but the Bearcats took a 26-7 advantage into the locker room.
Alma managed to close the gap quickly in the second half, returning the opening kickoff 87 yards for a score, to make it a 26-14 contest, then recovered an SVC fumble and turned that into three more points, making it 26-17 just three minutes into the second half.
Saint Vincent rebounded quickly, with Stewart hitting Black for a short pass that the receiver then turned into an 82-yard scoring play at the 2:52 mark of the third. Just over 30 seconds later, a deflected pass was grabbed by defensive lineman Nick Nitowski, who scampered 29 yards into the end zone for another Bearcat score.
DJ Oceant-Kelly got into the end zone in the fourth quarter, leaping over the defender to grab a pass in the corner of the end zone, Stewart's fifth TD pass of the day.
Black caught 10 passes on the day for 163 yards, while Dietrich had 5 receptions for 100 yards. Craft caught 4 passes for 94 yards while Oceant-Kelly also had 4 catches, for 40 yards. On the ground, Dorsett had 80 yards on 13 carries, while Craft ran the ball 13 times for 41 yards.
Stewart's 424 passing yards became the 8th highest passing total in Presidents' Athletic Conference history and was a Saint Vincent modern record, while Black's 163 yards receiving also set a modern-day school record.
Defensively, seniors led the way, with Matt McCarthy tallying 14 tackles, while Devin Anderson and Matt Jenkins each had 7.