CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – The transfer portal proved to be kind to Davenport in their season-opening 24-17 road win at Thomas More.
Kendall Williams, a transfer from Wayne State, scored touchdowns on his first two touches as a Panther in the first quarter.
Mike O'Horo, a transfer from Saginaw Valley State, threw the first touchdown pass to Williams and then in the third quarter carried one in from one yard.
D'Wan Mathis, a transfer from Temple University by way of the University of Georgia, completed 5-of-8 passes for 68 yards and also rushed for 23 yards on seven carries.
The Panther defense picked off two different Thomas More quarterbacks three times in the contest and won the turnover battle by two.
Christian Jones had a pair of picks and Cameren Grodhaud, a transfer from Lake Erie, had the other one. The offense was firing on all cylinders early as they scored on their first two possessions. On the second play of their first drive, O'Horo found Williams for a 56-yard touchdown strike and the PAT from
Brandon Gielow made it 7-0. Jones had an interception on the next drive for Thomas More setting up the offense at the Saints 48-yard line. The next drive lasted seven plays and Williams rushed for 24 yards into the end zone for a 14-0 lead after the PAT with 8:04 left in the first quarter.
The Saints started the second quarter with a drive at 10:19 and had their best possession to date. On the 10th play, Grodhaus picked off a pass at the DU 21-yard line and returned it 29 yards to midfield. The Davenport defense kept the Saints off the board heading into halftime up 14-0.
The first drive of the second half resulted in a one-yard O'Horo plunge into paydirt capping off an eight-play, 60-yard drive for a 21-0 lead with 11:54 left in the third quarter. Thomas More then began to make things interesting with a touchdown drive to answer. Rae'Von Vaden completed a 66-yard score to Evan Brown in just 2:28 coming off the clock.
The Saints got a stop on defense and then scored again. Vaden connected on a 26-yard strike to Mike Kirch with 4:56 left in the third and it was 21-14. The offense got back into a rhythm early in the fourth quarter and extended the lead to 24-14. They drove 64 yards in 11 plays before Gielow booted a 29-yard field goal.
The defense really stepped up later in the quarter as a fumbled punt return put the Saints at the DU 19-yard line with 6:37 remaining in the game. They forced a 31-yard field goal by Luke Iden to make it 24-17. The offense then didn't let Thomas More have the ball back. They converted three first downs and took a knee on the final two snaps for the road victory.
Demetrius Garrett led the wide receivers with six catches for 94 yards.
Myren Harris led the rushing attack with 22 carries for 111 yards. O'Horo completed 7-of-15 passes for 108 yards.
Geemontae Peck had his best game as a Panther with nine tackles including two tackles for loss.
Latrell Scott contributed five tackles and Grodhaus made seven tackles to go with his interception.
The Panthers remain on the road next week as they go to Bowie State (Md.).
