WASHINGTON – The celebratory drumbeat rang loud at Hotchkiss Field as Gallaudet University celebrated a 39-30 football victory over Averett University here Saturday in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) debut for the buff and blue.
Gallaudet (1-1, 1-0 ODAC) scored two quick touchdowns in the third quarter to erase a 17-13 halftime deficit and take a 27-17 lead into the fourth quarter. The two teams traded two touchdowns each in the final quarter as they combined to score 25 points.
A main cog in the Bison offense was junior
Marcus Brown-Gabriel (Beeville, Texas) as he ran hard for 217 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. Brown-Gabriel becomes the eighth Bison in the modern era to surpass 200 rushing yards in a game.
The win is the first for Gallaudet head coach
Stefan LeFors and the first for the Bison this season.
"I am so proud of how our team competed today. It was definitely a team win," said LeFors. "There were so many big plays made in all three phases of the game. Some key forced turnovers by our defense, nice returns on punt and kickoff and the play of our offensive line and
Marcus Brown-Gabriel was huge! I am really happy for our players and staff to be able to get this win!"
Gallaudet quarterback
JeVaughn Sargent (Laurel, Md.) completed 12 of 29 passes for 146 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and ran in two touchdowns.
There were several spectacular catches made by both teams in the game. Sargent threw a high arcing pass into the corner of the end zone where senior wide receiver
Jaylen Johnson (Redlands, Calif.) climbed the ladder and stretched out to make an amazing one-handed grab as he came down in bounds in the end zone. Johnson's four-yard score was the eventual game-winner as GU led 33-24 with 12:57 left in the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, senior wide receiver
Andrae' Green (Washington, D.C.) caught a slant pass in stride from Sargent and darted towards the nearside pylon for the 21-yard touchdown at the 1:15 mark.
Averett wideout Kayden Jackson (seven receptions, 110 yards) made his own one-handed touchdown grab early in the fourth quarter as he came down with the 25-yard pass from Cougar quarterback Ethan Ross. The score cut Gallaudet's lead to three, 27-24, just seven seconds into the fourth quarter. Ross was 25-for-31 for 331 yards, three scores and two interceptions.
Gallaudet's ground game was solid behind the starting offensive line group of seniors
Kyle Albertson (Pierre, S.D.),
Christian Begani (Chesapeake, Va.),
Fernando Jimenez (Compton, Calif.), junior
Navar Harris (Charleston, W.Va.) and first year
Ibukunoluwa Oluoni (Dallas, Texas). GU ran for 249 yards on 41 carries as the Bison tallied 395 yards of total offense on 70 plays from scrimmage.
On the defensive side of the field, Gallaudet picked off Ross twice and sacked him three times. Junior linebacker
Dawson Ethington (Baltimore, Md.) had a career game with 13 tackles (10 solo), 1.5 tackles for a loss of four yards including one sack for a loss of three yards. Senior defensive backs
Zefan Nathanson (Manor, Texas),
Joshua Saaty (Ada, Okla.) and sophomore
Braxton Heffelfinger (Parma, Idaho) made six tackles each. Saaty had one of the interceptions and
Darico Castillo (Passaic, N.J.) had the other pick.
Averett's defensive unit was paced by Tyler Poff's 12 tackles (eight solo) in the loss.
BISON TRACKS
- This was the fourth meeting between the two schools but the first since 2002
- GU is now 1-3 all-time against Averett
- The two teams played three times from 2000-02 during Averett's first three years for football
- Averett was also making their ODAC debut today
UP NEXT
Gallaudet will hit the road next Saturday, Sept. 27, and travel south to Salem, Va., to take on Roanoke College (2-0, 0-0 ODAC) for a 2 p.m. conference game. Roanoke College is hosting a Deaf Awareness Day and Family Weekend for this game.
