BISMARCK, N.D. – After what was a lopsided first quarter and a 16-0 lead, the rest of the game proved to be a nail-biter as No. 13 Davenport made just enough plays to improve to 7-0 overall with a non-conference 44-34 win at the University of Mary.
The lead grew to 19-0 early in the second quarter but then the Marauders began to move the ball on offense. Jaxon Young hauled in a 15-yard pass from Sofian Massoud with 7:02 left in the second quarter. Kevin Powell followed that with a 26-yard field goal to make it 19-10.
Caleef Jenkins put the Panthers back up 26-10 on a one-yard carry into the end zone with 1:30 until halftime. The Marauders quickly marched downfield and got a five-yard touchdown from Massoud to Traivon Dyson and the two-point conversion was successful for a 26-18 halftime lead for the Panthers.
The Marauders scored again in the third quarter at the 3:25 mark as Massoud had a six-yard run over the right end, but the two-point conversion failed and it was 26-24. Davenport never trailed in the game and put together a big drive late in the third quarter. The drive lasted four plays and covered 60 yards and was aided by a roughing the passer penalty after
Jason Whittaker had thrown an interception. That penalty was a turning point as Whittaker then completed his first touchdown pass of the game to
Preston Smith from 17 yards out for a 33-24 lead with 1:02 left in the quarter.
Powell booted his second field goal of the game at 11:56 of the fourth quarter to make it 33-27. Davenport again had the answer as Whittaker scored his second rushing touchdown of the game from one yard to cap off a five-play, 65-yard drive. He had two big completions to
Brenden Sherrod on the drive which covered 58 yards on back-to-back plays.
UMary (0-8) would not go away however as they followed with a touchdown drive that covered 77 yards in 13 plays as Massoud found Sean Saise on a 13-yard catch in traffic and the extra point made it 41-34 with 3:47 to play. The Panthers made it a two-possession game as UMary kicked the onside kickoff out of bounds and gave the ball to DU at the UMary 31-yard line. On second-and-16, Whittaker found Smith on the sideline for 31 yards to get the ball to the six-yard line. UMary was forced to use all of their timeouts and then Gielow kicked his third field goal of the game from 20 yards to make it 44-34. The Marauders turned the ball over on downs on their next drive with three straight incompletions after a second-and-3 and DU took the kneel down three times to end the game.
Jenkins became the school's all-time leading rusher in the contest with 12 carries for 42 yards and he surpassed William Gist with a new total of 1,090 rushing yards.
Myren Harris went over 100 yards rushing for the sixth straight game with 14 carries for 139 yards and ripped off a 67-yard run early in the second quarter to set up Gielow's second field goal.
Donavan Franklin returned a fumble 31 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. It was the first fumble return for a score since
Nick Cain did it against Ferris State in 2021.
Geemontae Peck caused the fumble near the line of scrimmage and the scoop and score made it 13-0 at the time. Franklin finished with four tackles as well and tied for the team high with
Travis Reece,
Tierre Turner, and
Julius Wilkerson.
The Panthers (7-0, 3-0 GLIAC) will return to conference action next week as they host Saginaw Valley State (4-4, 1-2 GLIAC) at noon. The Cardinals beat Wayne State 17-10 in overtime at home today. The Panthers won last year's meeting 29-28 in University Center, Michigan.
