Box Score ASHLAND, VA – Guilford scored 17 unanswered points to close the game and rally past home standing Randolph-Macon, 38-35, in ODAC Football action Saturday afternoon in Ashland.
With the score deadlocked at 21-21 at the half, the Yellow Jackets took the ball to start the second stanza and promptly scored on its third play from scrimmage when Zac Naccarato found Vance Hendren on a screen pass that went for a 46 yard touchdown.
After holding GC (4-3 / 3-1 ODAC) on its next possession, the Jackets took over on its 46 yard line. Will McGhee rushed for 16 and 12 yards on back-to-back carries to start the drive. After he was thrown for a loss on first-down, McGhee caught a Naccarato swing pass and went 31 yards to the Guilford eight yard line. Naccarato then hooked up with Zach Midulla on the very next play to give R-MC a 35-21 lead with 8:15 to play in the third quarter.
Guilford started its comeback when a Pawlowski scoring strike to Trey Billian with 29 seconds to go in the period made it 35-28.
GC would hold R-MC without a first-down on its next possession and get the ball back inside Jackets' territory. Daniel Woodruff went 27 yards on the first play of the drive, down to the R-MC 15. The Quakers would pick up just one more yard and settle for a 31 yard field goal from Tyler Hunt to make it 35-31.
Guilford's final possession started with 3:07 on the clock on its own 32 yard line. Pawlowski completed four consecutive passes, the final of which was a 12 yard toss to Adam Smith for the go ahead score with 2:02 remaining.
R-MC (4-3 / 2-2 ODAC) had a chance to tie or win the game on its final possession. On 3rd and 12 from R-MC 49, Naccarato found Luke Sellers for an 11 yard gain to the GC 40. On fourth down, Naccarato was able to complete a pass to Christian Cook but he was held to no gain by Hunter English, who finished with a game-high 10 stops.
McGhee ran for 158 yards on the day and scored one touchdown. Naccarato finished the game 21-of-36 for 278 yards and three touchdowns. McGhee and Cook each caught five balls for R-MC.
Mike Williams rushed for 120 yards for the Quakers and Pawlowski was 24-of-37 for 354 yards and four scores. Smith finished with nine catches for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Michael Weldon made 10 tackles, including nine solo stops. David Fetter had five stops, while Ian Candelaria had five tackles and a forced fumble. Brandon Harrison recovered that fumble and went 91 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
English had an interception to go along with his 10 tackles, while Robert Smith and Chris Ross each had eight stops in the win.
The teams combined for 1,025 yards of offense and 46 first-downs. R-MC held the ball for 33 minutes of the contest, including 10:20 in the final quarter, but were unable to score.
R-MC returns to action next week at Shenandoah. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m.
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