MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The Allegheny football team held a 28-27 halftime lead, but Wabash scored 21 straight points to open up the second half en route to a 48-35 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) decision in the league opener for both sides.
 
Alex Victor (Miami, Fla./G. Holmes Braddock) caught seven passes for 146 yards and two scores -- including a 77-yarder with under a minute left in the first half to give the Gators the halftime advantage -- to go over 100 yards for the 12th time in his career. He moved into sole possession of second place on the Allegheny career receptions list, and now sits at 157 career catches, just 10 shy of matching the all-time record held by Jon Turner (2000-03). Victor's second touchdown grab capped the scoring in the game as he hauled in a six-yard pass from Nazareth Greer (Apache Junction, Ariz./Marcos De Niza) with 2:19 remaining in the game to set the final margin.

Allegheny began the scoring with an eight-play, 73-yard drive after receiving the opening kickoff when Greer connected with Dwaine Barber (Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah Gardens) from 13 yards out to put the home team ahead, 7-0. After the Little Giants tied the score at 7-7, the two teams traded punts, with Allegheny's defense forcing a three-and-out from deep in Wabash territory that led to a 17-yard Victor punt return to give the Gators a short field at the Wabash 29. A 10-yard carry on the first play from Trey Adams (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) and 15-yard completion to Barber set up a three-yard scoring strike to Ben Bachik (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) and gave the home team a brief 14-7 lead. The lead was short lived as Wabash knotted the score at 14-14 on the first play of the ensuing possession, a 75-yard strike.

Just two plays into the second quarter, Greer hit Austin French (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) on an eight-yard toss, 21-14. But once again, the Little Giants answered and tied the game at 21-21 at the 12:15 mark of the second quarter. Eventually, Wabash took its first lead of the game with a 27-yard touchdown pass at 2:01 remaining in the opening half. Quinten Hunt (Buckeye, Ariz./Buckeye) blocked the extra point to keep the score at 27-21, setting up Victor's catch-and-run to give the Gators the lead back. Wabash moved the ball to the Allegheny 36 yard line, but a 53-yard field goal attempt as time ran out missed wide right.

The second half began well for the Gators as Phil Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) picked off a pass, but after a 12-yard rush by Tonye Hamilton (Richmond Heights, Ohio/Richmond Heights) on first down, the drive stalled and Allegheny was forced to punt, which was blocked and turned into a Wabash touchdown five plays later, 34-28.

Greer completed 28-of-51 pass attempts, the second most pass attempts in school history. He also posted his second-straight 300-plus yard game by throwing for 348 yards and put up five touchdown passes, also tied for the second most in a game in program lore. Barber was the second leading receiver for the Gators, catching four passes for 56 yards and a score. Hamilton put up a career-high 88 yards rushing on 17 carries. 

The offense ran up 495 total yards, the most since Oct. 20, 2018 when it accounted for 532 yards in a win at Kenyon. Allegheny also ran 82 plays, the most since running 95 plays at Ohio Wesleyan on Sept. 23, 2017.

Defensively, Kyle McGee (Manilus, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manilus) recorded a career high in tackles for the second consecutive game as he collected 14 stops, his fifth double-digit tackle game in Blue & Gold. The three Gator starting linebackers were once again the top three tacklers as both Chase Balla (New Kensington, Pa./Valley) and Corey Laskey (Cranberry, Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) each added seven stops. Balla had one of Allegheny's two sacks (three total TFL for the Gators) and Cameron Schadl (Covington, Ga./Alcovy) tallied the other. Joining those two with a tackle for loss was Darian Parrish (Princeton, Fla./Miami Palmetto), who had five stops.

Allegheny drops to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the NCAC with the loss, while Wabash moves even at 1-1 and 1-0 in league play. The Gators will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Ohio Wesleyan, with kickoff in Delaware, Ohio slated for 1 p.m.