Mount Union Brings An End To Frostburg State’s Playoff Run, 70-37
ALLIA
NCE, Oh. – Frostburg State’s magical run in the 2017 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs came to an abrupt end Saturday afternoon at Mount Union Stadium.
The #2 nationally-ranked Mount Union Purple Raiders (13-0) crushed the Bobcats (11-2), 70-37 to advance to next week’s semi-finals.
Junior QB Connor Cox actually had a nice game, going 15 for 36 and 236 yards. He threw four touchdowns and had no interceptions before he was replaced in the fourth quarter by Freshman back-up T. J. Peer. Junior WR Sergio Andino caught five passes for 105 yards and one touchdown. Teammate Joe Beckford hulled in eight catches and 96 yards with two touchdowns.
What had been working for Frostburg the first two weeks of the playoffs, Mount Union put a huge stop to and that was the Bobcats rushing attack. The team could only amount 52 yards via the ground.
Mount Union’s QB Luke Poorman had a career day for the Purple Raiders. He only attempted 16 passes but completed 12 of those for 355 yards. Half of his completions resulted in a Mount Union touchdown. WR Justin Hill was Poorman’s favorite target, catching six passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns.
The tone of the game was set in the first quarter. All five of Frostburg’s drives were three and out and they only had 12 yards of total offense for the first 15 minutes of the game.
By comparison, Mount Union scored a touchdown on three of their four possessions and by the end of the quarter, they owned a substantial 21-0 lead.
Though the Bobcats season officially ended on Saturday, 2017 will go down in the history book for Frostburg State.
Frostburg cracked the national polls and had their highest ranking ever, eventually reaching it’s current position of #15.
Their two playoff victories came against two, top 10 teams on their home field. In the first round, they eliminated #9 Wittenberg, 35-7. Last week, they defeated #10 Washington & Jefferson, 46-23.
The Bobcats defeated a total of three ranked teams this year (They opened the season with a 33-7 win over then-ranked #18 Stevenson).
Individually, it was a record setting season for Cox. His 29 touchdown passes set a Frostburg single-season at quarterback. For his first three year, he has a career total of 58 touchdown passes (another Bobcats record) and he still has one year left to play.
The core of the Bobcats offense should return in 2018. Andino and RB Jamaal Morant are like Cox, they are all Juniors. WR Malik Morris and RB Gavin Lavat are only Sophomores. They will lose their reliable PK Hassan Mostafa, as he is a Senior.
2018 looks like Frostburg State could make another deep run, maybe even capture their first-ever Division III football title.
