CALEDONIA, Mich. – The Davenport football team put together all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – on Friday night in a 37-22 win over visiting Gannon University. The Golden Knights and Panthers met on the gridiron for the second time this spring with Davenport also winning 30-22 back on March 20 in Erie, Pa. The Panthers finished with 351 total yards including 300 through the air. They also pitched a shutout in the first half on defense building a 17-0 lead. Finally, they picked off two passes and rolled up 66 punt return and 125 kick return yards.
The offense featured a dynamic duo of quarterback
Deondre Ford and wide receiver
Amonte Phillips. Ford completed 17-of-28 passes for 300 yards and tossed three touchdowns to Phillips. He had a 75-yard score in the first quarter, a 49-yard score in the third quarter and a one-yard score also in the third quarter.
DU led 10-0 after the first quarter after Phillips' first touchdown grab and a 34-yard field goal by
Brian Plegue. The Panthers scored once in the second quarter on a 59-yard punt return by
Kendall Sawyer with 1:10 until the break.
Gannon got on the board at the 7:52 mark of the third as Sam East caught a 17-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive. Phillips had the back-to-back touchdowns in the third to give DU a 30-6 lead.
Johnny Freeman had a 20-yard touchdown catch from Nick Demchuk at the 8:49 mark of the fourth to cut the deficit to 30-14 after a two-point conversion.
Roy Livingstone gave momentum right back for DU with an 87-yard kick return to the 5-yard line.
Jaier Harden just two plays later had a five-yard touchdown run for a 37-14 lead. Gannon scored again as East caught an 8-yard scoring pass with 6:19 to play. The Golden Knights got a stop on defense and drove to the DU 19-yard line but
Kaleb Elam ended the drive with an interception at the 15-yard line with 2:11 left to end the game.
DU finished 9-of-16 on third down conversions and held Gannon to 3-of-13. Harden finished with 19 carries for 82 yards for the Panthers. Phillips caught six passes for 149 yards.
Gourney Sloan caught eight passes for 69 yards.
Liam Cavanaugh led the defense with 10 tackles. Elysse Mbem-Bosse tallied eight tackles and two tackles for loss.
