San Diego Toreros trounce Davidson Wildcats 35-10
The Davidson Wildcats, as they’ve been prone to do in this frustrating season, played well enough for about a half to present a serious threat to their opponent on Saturday afternoon.
But the visiting San Diego Toreros punched in a touchdown in the dying seconds of the first half to pad a four-point lead and ease in the second half to a 35-10 Pioneer Football League victory at Richardson Field.
Trevor Smith’s 28-yard field goal, the only score for Davidson in the first half, had cut San Diego’s lead to 7-3 with 5 minutes and 15 seconds left before halftime, but the Toreros drove 75 yards and scored on quarterback Chris Willson’s 2-yard dive just 16 seconds before the half.
Davidson coach Paul Nichols pointed to that as one of a couple of key plays in the game.
After the intermission, the Wildcats started at their 46 following Ben Rowell’s 45-yard return of the second-half kickoff. But they couldn’t take advantage.
“We had several opportunities to put some significant pressure on them, but weren’t able to do it,” he said. “We were right there in the area for much of the game, but couldn’t step over the line.”
David Smith caught a 17-yard pass from quarterback Taylor Mitchell with 6 minutes 49 seconds left in the third quarter for Davidson’s only touchdown of the game, trimming the San Diego lead to 21-10, but couldn’t get any closer. Smith missed a 38-yard field goal attempt later in the quarter.
Three who mattered
Davidson’s front seven: Group credit goes to the Davidson pass rush, which sacked Toreros quarterback Chris Willson six times for 41 yards in losses.
William Morris, wide receiver, Davidson: The Wildcats’ all-time best receiver turned in his usual steady game in his final appearance at Richardson Stadium. He caught six passes for 68 yards, including a 38-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Taylor Mitchell early in the fourth quarter.
Colton Giorgi, safety, San Diego: The sophomore made 10 tackles, seven of them unassisted.
Observations
▪ Before San Diego’s long touchdown drive to end the first half, the Toreros hadn’t done much better on offense (100 total yards up to that point) than the Wildcats (45 yards), and 37 of those yards had been on the visitors’ first touchdown, a 37-yard pass from Anthony Lawrence to Trevor Barney.
Worth mentioning
▪ The Wildcats haven’t won a Pioneer Football League game at home since a 30-22 victory over Valparaiso on Nov. 19, 2011.
They said it
“We’ve been hurt the last two weeks by some big plays, and that’s part of the game. But what you’ve seen down in and down out from us has been a much better defensive effort. All you can ask of the players is that they try to improve every week and I think over the season we’ve done that.” — Davidson coach Paul Nichols.
Records
Davidson 1-9, 0-7 PFL; San Diego 8-2, 6-1
Next
Davidson travels to DeLand, Fla., on Saturday for a season-ending Pioneer Football League game with Stetson. San Diego is at Butler.
This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 5:06 PM with the headline "San Diego Toreros trounce Davidson Wildcats 35-10."