Pictured Above: Running Back
Ryan Fulse
Fairfield, CT - Junior running back
Ryan Fulse (Fort Meade, FL / Fort Meade/Monroe), who entered the game as the nation's fifth-ranked FCS rusher, rumbled for 192 yards on 26 carries, along with three touchdowns, one of which was a 65-yarder, to lead the Wagner football team to a 28-15 victory over Sacred Heart in the season finale for both teams at Campus Field.
With the win, the Seahawks close out the 2017 campaign with a record of 4-7, 2-4 in NEC.
Fulse, who entered the game with 1,114 yards, finishes the 2017 season with 1,306 yards, which ranks ninth on the Wagner all-time single-season rushing list.
On the game's fourth play from scrimmage, the 6-1, 195-pound Fulse shook free on a 65-yard touchdown run, sprinting straight up the field, to give the Green & white a quick 7-0 lead just 2:02 into the game.
Later in the first quarter, the Pioneers intercepted a pass by junior quarterback
Luke Massei (Cary, NC / Green Hope) at their own one-yard line. On first down, sophomore linebacker
Allaah Sessions (Elmire, NY / Elmira) jarred the ball loose from Sacred Heart running back Nate Chavious with junior defensive back
Sterling Lowry (Syracuse, NY / Nottingham / Milford Academy) pouncing on the ball in the SHU end zone for a touchdown and a 14-0 Seahawk lead.
Sacred Heart clawed back into the game by marching on a 15-play, 93-yard drive, bridging the first and second quarters, which consumed 5:32 and was capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Duke to wide receiver RJ Trimble-Edwards. The point after try by SHU failed, leaving it a 14-6 game.
Following an exchange of punts, Wagner was set to get the ball back one more time later in the half before redshirt junior
Jesse Flaherty (Oceanport, NJ / Red Bank Catholic / The Peddie School) mishandled a punt, with the ball being recovered at the Seahawk 21-yard line with 1:28 left in the half. Stout Wagner defense, helped by a Sacred Heart holding penalty, forced the Pioneers to settle for a 43-yard Josh Freiria field goal with 23 seconds to go in the half that drew SHU to within 14-9 at the intermission.
Late in the third quarter, Wagner was able march 62 in seven plays, six rushes and one incomplete pass, with Fulse supplying 47 of those yards, including a seven-yard TD burst with less than three minutes left in the third quarter to put the Seahawks in control at 21-9.
Sacred Heart then threatened, when Duke led them down the field all the way to the 11. The Seahawk defense then rose to the occasion, with fifth-year senior linebacker
Mathieu Loiselle (Quebec, Canada / Vermont Academy) stuffing Chavious on a third-and-four at the Wagner 11. The big play made it a fourth-and-six from the 13, which is when sophomore linebacker
Cameron Gill (Douglasville, GA / Chapel Hill) delivered a huge play, sacking Duke for a five-yard loss with 13:47 remaining.
This was the first of two fourth-down stops for the Seahawks in the fourth quarter. Sacred Heart did manage to make things interesting when Duke led the Pioneers on a quick-strike eight-play, 76-yard drive, that took just 2:19 and culminated with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Ricketts to make it 28-15. SHU elected to go for two but Duke's two-point try was incomplete.
Wagner then recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock, cementing the 28-15 win, ending the season on a highly-positive note.
Wagner ran the ball for a whopping 249 yards. The NEC's leading team in time of possession held true to that measure by outdistancing 31:07-28:53. Massei was asked to throw the ball just 14 times, completing six for 47 yards. Freshman punter Eric Silvester (Lincolndale, NY / Somers) was an effective weapon all afternoon, punting the ball eight times for a 36.9-yard average, with four of his boots downed inside the SHU 20.
Defensively, junior inside linebacker
Santoni Graham (Arlington, VA / Bishop O'Connell / Fork Union ) led the way with seven tackles, all solo, with one fumble recovery. Sessions, Flaherty, and Louiselle added six tackles apiece. Gill, with one sack today, finished the season with six sacks over the final three games, with one vs. Robert Morris (11/4), sandwiched between a career-high four-sack effort last week at No. 12 Stony Brook (11/11).
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