Reiff-to-Swearingen Hail Mary Lifts Scots Past Allegheny 27-21

Shaun Swearingen was in the right place at the right time, catching a deflected 43-yard Hail Mary from quarterback Bobby Reiff on the final play of the game to lift Wooster to a 27-21 victory.

WOOSTER, Ohio – Shaun Swearingen (Hilliard, Ohio / Bishop Watterson) caught a 43-yard touchdown from second-string quarterback Bobby Reiff (Bay Village, Ohio / Bay) on a Hail Mary pass as time expired, giving The College of Wooster a thrilling 27-21 victory on its “Homecoming” over Allegheny College Saturday afternoon.

The win keeps Wooster in the hunt for the 2006 North Coast Athletic Conference championship, as the Fighting Scots improve to 3-1 in the league. With Oberlin College and Wittenberg University losses on Saturday, there are now five one-loss teams in NCAC play – Wabash College (4-1), Kenyon College (3-1), Oberlin College (3-1), Wittenberg University (3-1), and Wooster.

The Allegheny-Wooster game appeared to be headed to overtime. Tied 21-21 early in the fourth quarter, neither team mounted much of a scoring threat, however, the Scots were winning the field position battle. A 24-yard punt set Wooster up on its own 43-yard line with :51 remaining in regulation and Reiff entered for the first time in place of the injured Justin Schafer (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local).

Reiff completed two of his first three passes, as the Scots got a first down at the Allegheny 43 and called timeout with :18 left. The ensuing two plays resulted in incompletions while the clock whittled down to :04. On the final play, Reiff bought some time and then launched the ball towards the left corner of the end zone, where two Gator defenders appeared to be in position to knock the ball down, but instead, it was tipped and Swearingen was there to collect his second touchdown reception of the game.

It was a bit of déjà vu, with Wooster also winning last season’s game between the two teams in the waning moments. The Scots kicked a 32-yard field goal with :02 remaining to slip past Allegheny 37-34 and Reiff played a big role in that one, too. He came in for Schafer midway though the fourth quarter, calmly directing Wooster to two scoring drives.

Saturday’s game went back-and-forth throughout. The Gators got on the board first, scoring on their third drive of the day when Mario Tarquinio ran one in from 1-yard out, which was set up by a 36-yard pass play from Jimmy Savage to Jim Lieb. Allegheny missed the extra point, though, as it stood 6-0 after one quarter.

In the second, Wooster marched 70 yards over 13 plays, capped by a Schafer 2-yard touchdown rush to take a 7-6 advantage. Dustin Sheppard (Johnstown, Ohio / Johnstown-Monroe) toted the ball 33 yards on that drive, while Schafer added another 21 on the ground.

On the ensuing drive, the Gators responded with a 13-play, 73-yard scoring march, ending on a Savage 4-yard touchdown pass to Wooster native Dallas Robinson, and it remained 13-7 into halftime.

The Scots controlled most of the action in the third quarter. First, they took the opening kickoff and strung together a 19-play, 89-yard drive that took up 8:36. Fourteen of the plays were runs, as Schafer added 32 more yards to this total and Sheppard 28, but it was a throw from Schafer to Swearingen for 12 yards that resulted in the touchdown and a 14-13 lead.

On its next offensive possession, Wooster started from its own 35 and it only took the Scots five plays to go the 65 yards, capped by a 7-yard Sheppard rush. The key sequence was a 16-yard scramble by Schafer, followed by an Allegheny personal foul.

Trailing 21-13, the Gators answered by mounting a 16-play, 80-yard drive, which was concluded by another Tarquinio 1-yard touchdown run. Allegheny then tied it up with a 2-point conversion when Tarquinio took a pitch, and instead of running, hit Robinson in the right corner of the end zone.

The two teams went on to exchange three punts each prior to the Reiff-to-Swearingen Hail Mary.

Statistically, the difference in the game was Wooster’s effectiveness running the ball. Sheppard finished with 109 rushing yards on 21 carries, while Schafer had his first career 100-yard game (101) on 18 attempts. Swearingen added 69 receiving yards.

The Gators were led by Savage, who was 21-of-42 passing for 224 yards, while Tarquinio was held to less than 100 yards, netting 87 on 25 rushes.