EDWARDSVILLE — Wilkes found out Saturday afternoon what many of Susquehanna’s opponents have discovered this season — it’s difficult to keep pace with the River Hawks.
Wilkes fell behind early and Susquehanna, ranked seventh in the nation, kept pouring it on for a 48-21 victory in a game to decide first place in the Landmark Conference.
Susquehanna (4-0 Landmark, 7-1 overall) led 41-7 into the fourth quarter. Wilkes (3-1, 5-3) tacked on a couple late touchdowns to make the final score look a little closer.
“When you play a team like this, the pressure is to go out and play perfect,” Wilkes coach David Biever said. “You don’t have to play perfect, but you have to play as close to it. We made some overthrows, we dropped some passes, we missed some blocks and missed some holes early. It gave us a deficit we didn’t want and had to try to comeback and dig it out.”
Susquehanna grinded out scoring drives of 75 and 95 yards to take a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. A 72-yard TD catch by Kyle Howes and a 82-yard punt return touchdown by Rahshan La Mons less than two minutes apart increased the lead to 28-0 with 8:58 until halftime.
Wilkes quarterback Xavier Powell threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Janas Simms late in the second quarter.
The halftime statistics reflected the first half for Wilkes. Susquehanna outgained the Colonels 297-143, ran twice as many plays and had a 17-5 advantage in first downs.
Wilkes compounded the problems. Powell was 4-of-12 with two interceptions. He misfired on a couple throw, while at other times receivers had trouble hanging onto the ball.
The Colonels’ first two drives of the third quarter netted a total of 6 yards. Susquehanna followed with two more touchdowns to build its lead to 41-7.
Running back Elijah Jules scored on a 2-yard run and Juju Fears had a 14-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter for Wilkes.
Susquehanna finished with 555 yards of offense.
Susquehanna 48, Wilkes 21
Susquehanna`7`21`13`7 — 48
Wilkes`0`7`0`14 — 21
First Quarter
SUS — Josh Ehrlich 12 pass from Rahshan La Mons (Christian Colasurdo kick), 8:42
Second quarter
SUS — La Mons 7 run (Colasurdo kick), 12:17
SUS — Kyle Howes 72 pass from Ehrlich (Colasurdo kick), 10:34
SUS — La Mons 82 punt return (Colasurdo kick), 8:58
WIL — Janas Simms 9 pass from Xavier Powell (Nick Volpone kick), 1:10
Third quarter
SUS — Chris Bookter 38 pass from Ehrlich (kick failed), 7:59
SUS — Howes 16 pass from Ehrlich (Dominic Bourgeois kick), 2:06
Fourth quarter
WIL — Elijah Jules 2 run (Volpone kick), 9:29
WIL — Juju Fears 14 pass from Powell (Volpone kick), 6:56
SUS — Drew Hutchins 38 run (Bourgeois kick), 3:32
Team statistics`SUS`WIL
First downs`26`17
Rushes-yards`44-216`23-131
Passing yards`339`248
Total yards`555`379
Passing`18-28-1`15-43-3
Sacked-yards lost`3-19`1-11
Punts-avg.`4-36.8`7-39.1
Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`10-104`5-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Susquehanna, La Mons 23-98, Hutchins 4-69, Matt Surtz 5-29, Ehrlich 9-24, Tommy Wright 1-0, DK Wyche 1-(minus-3), team 1-(minus-1). Wilkes, Jules 17-124, Powell 6-7.
PASSING — Susquehanna, Ehrlich 16-23-0-322, La Mons 1-1-0-12, Wright 1-3-5-1, Bobby Croyle 0-1-0-0. Wilkes, Powell 15-43-3-248.
RECEIVING — Susquehanna, Howes 5-122, Hunter Morgenroth 4-67, Rowen Hershey 2-58, Bookter 2-42, Surtz 1-20, Shawn Cain 2-16, Ehrlich 1-12, La Mons 1-2. Wilkes, Justin Moore 4-94, Devin Higgins 3-48, Jimmy Johnson 4-47, Simms 2-29, Jason Dean 1-16, Fears 1-14.
INTERCEPTIONS — Susquehanna, Drew Robinson 1-7, Dominic Winn 1-0, Nick Campbell 1-0. Wilkes, Rob Barbieri 1-12.
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