St. Ambrose Football

Fighting Bees Take Care of Hawks

For most of Saturday’s game, the Quincy Hawks gave the Fighting Bees all that they could handle. Scoring 17 points in the third quarter, Quincy tied the score at 17 apiece before entering the final period. As the game got tighter, the Bees got better, scoring sixteen points in the final seven minutes of the game to claim a 33-17 victory..

With 7:19 remaining in the fourth quarter, SAU’s Jim DuPage connected on a 26-yard touchdown pass with DeQuinn Watford to take a 24-17 lead. On the next Quincy possession, Vince Filipp recovered a Matt Wehrle fumble to start the ball inside the Quincy 20-yard line..

With good field positioning, the Fighting Bees pounded the ball with running back Vernon Reed. After a couple of attempts, Reed scattered in from the 10-yard line for his third touchdown of the game. He finished with a season-high 169 yards on 17 carries to put the game out of reach.

SAU struck first on a 30-yard field by Evan Gutierrez with 5:04 remaining in the first quarter. Two possessions later, Reed capped a 61 yard, 8 play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Defensively, the Fighting Bees held Quincy to 209 yards of total offense, but completely stifled the rushing attack for -12 yards. SAU finished with a season high 8 sacks from 5 different players. Dan Eble and Nathan Schultz led the Bees with 8 tackles apiece and three sacks between them.

DuPage finished the game with 178 yards on 15-36 passing and two interceptions. Quincy’s Matt Wehrle threw for 221 yards on 20-32 passing, but was sacked eight times.

The Fighting Bees (4-0, 3-0) return to Brady Street Stadium for Homecoming this week, with conference and playoff implications on the line, as they host the seventh-ranked St. Xavier Cougars at 1:00 p.m.