Moving the Niagara Cup had become a yearly task.
The trophy awarded annually to the winner of the Gannon University/Mercyhurst University football game has made the 3-mile trek between campuses each fall since 2011. That’s the last time either school won consecutive games against their crosstown rival.
Escorting the Niagara Cup down State Street won’t be necessary this year. Thanks to Fort LeBoeuf High School graduate Eric Scarpino’s last-second field goal, it will stay right where it’s at in the halls of Carneval Athletic Pavilion.
Scarpino’s 32-yard conversion with six seconds to play capped a 31-28 Gannon victory at Mercyhurst’s Saxon Stadium. It was far from last year’s 49-14 pasting of the Lakers, but in a rivalry like this?
Head coach Erik Raeburn and the Golden Knights will take it.
Answering the call
Raeburn made a crucial decision in the second quarter when Jayden Whitaker replaced Nate Mikell at quarterback.
Whitaker, a true freshman, capped his first collegiate drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown and followed it with a 10-yard TD pass to Ke’John Batiste. Whitaker stepped up again in the game’s final three minutes, using his legs to help move Gannon into Scarpino’s range.
“(Whitaker) has been doing great in practice,” Raeburn said. “It really wasn’t anything our starting quarterback did, it was more of the things Jayden showed in practice. We almost did it last week to try to get him in there, but we decided this week we were going to. I thought he played really well, particularly in his first college start.”
Trading touchdowns
Each time one offense scored, the other seemed to answer. The same was true with defensive stops.
Gannon led 21-14 at halftime, but two big plays by Mercyhurst — Adam Urena touchdown passes of 57 and 43 yards — kept the Lakers in it down the stretch….
..
