Washington, DC - Bernie Cevis (Port Deposit, MD/Harford Tech) scored twice and the Explorer defense caused four turnovers in La Salle University's (2-4, 0-1) 27-14 defeat of the Catholic Cardinals (3-3, 1-1) on Saturday afternoon at DuFour Field.

Catholic scored first when running back Nick Olivero ran it in from four yards to end the first quarter but the Explorers answered late in the second half with. Freshman Dave Macknet (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield) tied the game when he scored for the second time this season on a one-yard carry to cap an eight play drive.

The Explorers had the chance to go into halftime with the lead after defensive lineman Joe Hamm (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) intercepted a shovel pass and rambled deep into Catholic territory with less than four minutes to play. Catholic held, however, on four Explorer tries to the end zone and ran the clock out upon regaining possession.

The Explorers then took the lead on Cevis' first touchdown catch of the day in which he went in the air between two defenders and hauled in the 44-yard heave from quarteback Joe Procopio (Calvert, MD/Calvert). The drive, which went 65 yards was extended by a roughing the kicker call on Anthony Perlozzo's punt.

The Cardinals tied the game with 6.32 to play in the third quarter but senior Lou Russo (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) caught his fourth touchdown of the season to give the Explorers the lead for good at 20-14 although Perlozzo's extra point was blocked.

Catholic then had two drives stunted when they fumbled on consecutive possessions in Explorer territory. Freshman Stephant'e Kent (Atlantic City, NJ/Atlantic City) figured in both plays - falling on the first and forcing the second which was recovered by senior linebacker Nick DePinto (Cream Ridge, NJ/New Egypt).

Cevis then sealed the victory when he caught Procopio's pass on third and six, ducked a would-be tackler, and ran into the end zone with 2.14 remaining.

The Explorers dominated time of possession 43.40 to 16.20 and held the Cardinals to just five second half possessions.

The Explorers, whose only wins have come on the road travel to Iona next Saturday in search of their first MAAC Football League game whne they battle the Gaels at 1:00 PM.