SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va. – The Urbana University football team fell, 52-20, in its season finale at fifth-ranked Shepherd, which clinched the 2015 MEC regular season title against the Blue Knights Saturday afternoon at Ram Stadium.
The Blue Knights finish the first season under head coach Tyler Haines with an overall record of 2-9 and 1-9 against MEC opponents.
Redshirt sophomore Tajuan Green made his first career start at quarterback for the Blue Knights, and made an impact against a stout Ram defense.
Green accounted for 268 of UU’s 306 total yards on offense, and threw a career-high three touchdown passes after tossing a pair in his the previous week. He tallied 211 yards through the air, and led the Blue Knights with 57 yards on the ground.
The Blue Knights were out-gained, 468-306, by the Rams, whose quarterback Jeff Ziemba threw for 361 yards and five touchdowns.
Green marched the Blue Knights on a 10-play, 68-yard drive that resulted in a 14-yard TD pass to wideout Ron Roberts, making the score 28-13 (PAT blocked) with 1:21 left in first half.
But that was as close as UU would get.
Shepherd’s defense caused problems for the Blue Knights early on by forcing a pair of fumbles that resulted in points, including on UU’s opening possession, when a fumble at the Shepherd 37 was returned to the UU 34.
The Rams wasted no time and went ahead 7-0 on their second play, a 32-yard touchdown pass at the 13:30 mark in the first quarter.
Shepherd scored twice more at the beginning of the second quarter, including a 24-yard return on another Green fumble, to go up 21-0.
Then, UU took advantage of a Shepherd miscue when Cody King recovered a muffed Shepherd punt return at the Ram 13.
Green found wide receiver Trevon Saunders on a two-yard TD pass a few plays later, making the score 21-7 with 12 minutes left in the first half.
The Green-to-Saunders connection came up successful again at the start of the fourth, with an 18-yard strike to make the score 45-20 in Shepherd’s favor.
Nine different Blue Knights caught a pass as Saunders (55 yards) and Roberts (39 yards) each hauled in five passes. Wide receiver Karim Jones Jr. pulled down four catches for 40 yards, while tight end Larry Southall caught three passes for a total of 28 yards.
Saunders also finished with 203 all-purpose yards, which included 141 yards on kick returns.
Senior linebacker D’Gary Wallace totaled 18 tackles and a sack to end his final season with a career-high 182 total tackles. Wallace wraps up his stellar four-year career as UU’s all-time tackles leader with 431.
