TIGERSVILLE, S.C. --- The Ave Maria football team's eight game winning streak, which dated back to Sept. 28, came to an end Thursday night as the Gyrenes fell, 45-21, in their season opener at NCAA DII North Greenville University.
Clayton Uecker finished with 314 yards through the air with two touchdowns and an interception. He completed 24 of 47 passes. Travis Makauskas led the Gyrene receiving corps with seven receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown.
Dan Mervos also caught a touchdown pass from Uecker while Caine Foster added a touchdown catch from Matthew Kreichman. Lazaro Herrera had 19 carries for 47 yards on the ground to lead AMU.
The Gyrenes were able to keep pace with North Greenville through the air, with 357 passing yards compared to 368 for the Crusaders, but didn't have an answer for the Crusaders' ground game that totaled 271 yards compared to 59 for AMU.
Frank Kelly tallied a team-high seven tackles with one tackle for a loss. Dan Higginbotham and Nick Dorgan each recorded six tackles. Higginbotham also broke up two passes while Dorgan forced one fumble.
The Blue and Green forced four turnovers but weren't able to convert those turnovers into points.
After the two teams exchanged punts to begin the game, North Greenville was the first to put points on the board. The Crusaders used a 32-yard Trey Walker rush to set up a Nelson Hughes pass to Robbie Brown for a touchdown.
The Gyrenes got on the board a few minutes later after a blocked punt by Ryan O'Rourke gave the Blue and Green the ball at the NGU 14-yard line. Clayton Uecker capitalized on the good field position, completing a pass to Dan Mervos on fourth down for a touchdown to tie the game at seven.
North Greenville responded quickly with Trey Walker scoring on a 49-yard touchdown run on the following drive to make the score 14-7.
After a blocked punt for North Greenville set them up with good field position, the Crusaders made the score 21-7 on an Ashton Heard 26-yard touchdown run.
AMU looked as if they would cut into the North Greenville lead on the next few possessions but a Uecker interception in the end zone and consecutive failed fourth-down conversions in NGU territory halted the Gyrenes' efforts.
Late in the opening half, North Greenville converted another big play with Hughes finding Robbie Brown for a 68-yard touchdown pass and catch. And after forcing a three-and-out, NGU added a field goal with 23 seconds left to make the score 31-7 at the half.
Needing to put points on the board quickly in the second half, the Blue and Green got off on the right foot with Uecker finding Travis Makauskas for an 83-yard touchdown to make the score 31-14.
The Gyrenes, however, were unable to slow down the North Greenville offense as the Crusaders added a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 45-14 lead.
AMU added a late touchdown when
Matthew Kreichman found Caine Foster for a 36-yard touchdown strike with 2:35 remaining in the game to make the final 45-21.
The Gyrenes will have a little over a week to regroup before they make the trip to Melbourne, Fla., to take on Florida Tech. Last season, playing in their first on-campus game, the Blue and Green scored 14 unanswered to rally from a 10-point deficit in the final minute of play to steal a 45-41 victory from the Panthers.
