Box Score

Durham, N.C.----Aided by 187 passing yards from junior quarterback Teddy Bacote, the Saint Augustine’s University Falcons defeated the Wingate University Bulldogs 28-10 in the football season opener and first-ever meeting between the schools at Durham County Memorial Stadium.
 
Wingate will host number 22 Albany State University at Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Saint Augustine’s will host the University of New Haven (Conn.) the same day, also at Durham County Memorial Stadium.

"Our inability to get in the red zone early was a big key in (Saturday’s) game,” Wingate head coach Joe Reich says. “If we punch it in the end zone on our first two possessions in the red zone, we are in control. We were inconsistent in the red zone during pre-season camp.”

Wingate opened the scoring with a 32-yard Paul Grammaticopoulos (Paris, France) field goal with 2:03 to play in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs had a touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Robbie Nallenweg (Asheville, N.C.) to Chris Bowden (Forsyth, Ga.) on a first down, but an ineligible man downfield penalty nullified the score and the Bulldogs were unable to find the end zone.

With Saint Augustine’s leading 6-3 with eight minutes to play in the second quarter, Wingate was forced to punt from its own 25. Saint Augustine’s Carey Stanley fumbled with punt, which was recovered by Wingate long snapper Brandon Carpenter (Lincolnton, N.C.) at the Falcon 45. The Bulldogs had a first down inside the 12 following a Robbie Nallenweg pass to Bryan Caffrey (Bayside, NY.), but following a pair of incomplete passes, Grammaticopoulos missed a 28-yard attempt with 4:10 to play in the half.

On the ensuing Saint Augustine’s possession, Bacote found junior wide receiver Christopher Dalton for a 52-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons a 13-3 lead. They hosts took the 10-point lead into the halftime locker room.
 
After Wingate’s first second half drive resulted in a punt, the Falcons completed a 75-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Bacote to senior fullback Rowdy Batchelor to give the home team a 20-3 lead with 7:35 to play in the third quarter. Saint Augustine’s scored its final touchdown of the afternoon on a 78-yard run by Roderick Davenport with 5:19 to play. The Falcons successfully converted the two point conversion with a pass from wide receiver and point-after holder Brian Richards to tight end Brian Moore.

Wingate battled back in the fourth quarter, as Robbie Nallenweg found Caffrey for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 13:33 to play to cut the Bulldog deficit to 28-10. Nallenweg was intercepted on the next three Bulldog drives, two of which were inside the red zone, to end the Bulldog comeback.

The Bulldogs compiled 318 yards of offense on the afternoon, with 275 coming in the air. In his first collegiate start, Nallenweg completed 33 passes on 48 attempts with three interceptions and a touchdown. Bowden had 10 catches for 74 yards, including three catches for 24 yards on the first Wingate drive of the afternoon. Senior running back Andrew Nallenweg (Asheville, N.C.) ran for 25 yards on 11 carries. Redshirt sophomore defensive end Nick Napolitano (Shallotte, N.C.) led the Bulldog defense with eight tackles

Despite the loss, Reich found many positives for his team. “Getting Robbie some game experience was important,” Reich says. “Our defense played well, we just have to limit the big plays.”

Wingate falls to 10-2 overall in season openers during the Joe Reich era. Both losses have occurred in the past two seasons (34-28 double overtime loss to Valdosta State in 2011). The Bulldogs are 9-1 overall in games against CIAA teams.
 
(Wingate University graduate Steven Grandy contributed this article. The class of 2012 alum and Raleigh, N.C. native majored in Sport Management during his student days.)

Box Score (Final)

Wingate vs Saint Augustine's (Sep 01, 2012 at Durham, N.C.)

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Wingate.............  3  0  0  7  - 10       Record: (0-1)
Saint Augustine's...  0 13 15  0  - 28       Record: (1-0)

Scoring Summary:
1st 02:03 WU – Paul Grammaticopoulos 32 FG
2nd 08:03 SAU – T. Laughinghouse 16 pass from Teddy Bacote
    01:05 SAU – C. Dalton 52 pass from T. Bacote (Lima kick)
3rd 07:35 SAU – R. Batchelor 10 pass from T. Bacote (Lima kick)
    05:19 SAU – R. Davenport 78 run (Moore pass from Richards)  4th 13:33 WU - Bryan Caffrey 22 pass from Robbie Nallenweg      (Paul Grammaticopoulos kick)

                                       WU      SAU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       20       17
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    21-43   34-136
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      275      187
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  48-33-3  26-15-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   69-318   60-323
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     3--7      2-8
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........      0-0      0-0
  Interception Returns-Yards....     1--3     3-32
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   6-34.8   5-38.4
  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-1      2-1
  Penalties-Yards...............     3-23     2-28
  Possession Time...............    29:26    30:34
  Third-Down Conversions........  5 of 13  6 of 13
  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 0   0 of 1
  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      1-3      2-2
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0      0-0