Even the snow wasn’t enough to keep the Gannon University football team from breaking records Saturday.
The Knights shattered records for single-game and single-season scoring, as well as the single-season all-time high in total yards in a snowy 66-41 season finale win over East Stroudsburg.
Crews cleared Gannon University Field of more than 15 inches of snow that covered the Erie region to allow Brock Jones to run for a school-record 321 yards in just three quarters.
Jones ran for two touchdowns in the first half, including a 60-yard score, to give the Knights a commanding 42-14 lead at the half.
Jones wouldn’t be the only Knight to get in on the scoring action Saturday.
Junior quarterback Liam Nadler would add to Gannon’s rushing touchdown totals with three of his own, while throwing for two more.
Nadler added 189 passing and 92 rushing yards to Gannon’s single-season total of 5,146 yards, good for the best total yardage mark in school history. The previous record was held by last year’s squad, which racked up 4,759 yards.
Along with total yards, Gannon would put up a record 414 points throughout the 2014 campaign.
Gannon topped the previous record, also held by last year’s team, of 361 points despite not playing one game due to California’s (Pa.) forfeit.
Individual records for receiving yards, extra points and all-purpose yards also fell Saturday afternoon.
Jones finished the season with 1,826 all-purpose yards, surpassing Jansen Jones’ mark of 1,817 and finished with 1,628 rushing yards — also a school record – in just 10 games.
Jesstin Hamm would set a new record for single-season receiving yards with 917, as well as a school-best 11 receiving touchdowns.
Freshman Karch Holland would kick his way into the record books with 46 extra points to top Donnie Mann’s mark of 45 last season.
The Knights finished the season with a record of 9-2. It is only the second time in school history that a team would finish with nine wins; the other was the 2003 squad, which played as a Division II independent.
Despite being co-champions of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division, Gannon failed to make the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Knights were left out of the postseason by the NCAA selection committee on Sunday.
The Knights were not ranked in the final Super Region One rankings, where the top six qualify for the tournament.
Bloomsburg, West Chester and Slippery Rock are the only teams that advanced to the playoffs from the PSAC.
DOMINIC SANSONE
