Jersey City, NJ - The La Salle University Explorers (3-7, MAAC 1-3) set a season-high with 472 yards of total offense and sacked St. Peter's (2-8, MAAC 1-3) quarterback Scott Bonnono five times enroute to an exciting 37-28 win on Thursday night at Cochrane Field.
Senior receiver Lou Russo (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee), who needed five catches to tie the La Salle single-season receptions record, caught 13 balls for 168 yards including six first downs and four third-down conversions in the win.
The Explorers scored on their first possession of the game when tight end Geoff Nagle (Marlton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Chris Hanson (Southampton, PA/Archbishop Wood) to cap a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 5:28 and answered a St. Peter's score to tie it at 7-7.
The Peacocks then scored 14 unanswered points without running an offensive play at the start of the second quarter. The first score came when Anthony Bey returned a 90-yard punt for a touchdown with 13:47 left in the half.
The Explorers took the ensuing drive into the St. Peter's red zone before they turned the ball over for the first of two times. The play occurred when Hanson appeared to be sacked on second down on the St. Peter's 18 yard line but defensive end Sidney Murray emerged with the ball and ran 72 yards for the score. Jacob Thomas' extra point made the score 21-7.
Bernie Cevis (Port Deposit, MD/Harford Tech) caught his sixth touchdown of the season and Anthony Perlozzo (Ocean City, MD/Decatur) kicked a career-best 44-yard field goal to draw the Explorers within four points at 21-17 going into halftime.
The Explorers claimed their first lead on the opening drive of the second half when Eric Frazier (Philadelphia, PA/Germantown) capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with his first career touchdown reception from three yards out. The drive took 4:45 and was one of four scoring drives that took over four-minutes off the clock to make the score 24-21. The Explorers held the ball for 37:36.
After swapping scores, St. Peter's faced a third and two on the Explorer eight yard line when Mark Moraca (Mantua, NJ/Clearview) intercepted Bonnono's pass intended for John Bond to thwart a would-be go-ahead score.
On the Peacock's next possesion kicker Thomas' career-best 48-yard field goal, which would have tied the game, was negated on an offsides. His effort from 53 fell well-short.
The Explorers sealed the win with a 36-yard scoring run by C.J. Creighton - his second touchdown of the night - with 2:08 to play. Senior Billy Orndorff's (Cumberland, MD/Allegheny) extra-point was blocked.
On the Peacock's final drive Brian Winn (Manahwkin, PA/Southern Regional) recorded his third sack and one play later senior Nick DePinto (Cream Ridge, NJ/New Egypt) dropped Bonnono for his second sack of the year.
Quarterback Hanson set a season-high with his 322 yards passing (28-36, 3TD's) in his fifth career start.
