Defensive end's late heroics win it for ODU Monarchs

NORFOLK

Looking at the 45 points Old Dominion put on the scoreboard, it would be easy for the casual observer to surmise that the offense won it for the Monarchs on Saturday night.

Oh, how wrong that assessment would be.

That offense unit might as well have carried defensive end Eddie McClam off the field on its shoulders following the Monarchs' 45-42 victory over visiting Hampton at soggy Foreman Field.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound McClam forced two fumbles in the game's last seven minutes to keep the feisty Pirates from mounding a comeback.

DU was holding a precarious 38-34 lead with 6:33 remaining when McClam's heroics began.

Hampton quarterback David Legree found Isaiah Thomas on an underneath route and McClam chased him down from behind, stripping him of the ball as ODU teammate Paul Morant fell on it at midfield.

ODU burned some clock and gained some yards before punting away and giving the ball back to Hampton at the Pirates' 17. And McClam came through again, this time hitting Legree from behind to force yet another fumble.

Ronnie Cameron fell on it at Hampton's 10, and two plays later ODU quarterback Thomas DeMarco rambled in from 7 yards out for a 45-34 lead.

Hampton wasn't done, scoring with 1:36 left on a Legree-to-Reginald Hicks 11-yard pass, followed by a Legree-to-Hicks 2-point conversion.

The Monarchs, however, recovered the onside kick, killed the rest of the game clock, and left the field with the nation's longest winning streak in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Penn had owned the longest streak at eight games, but the Quakers fell 37-12 to Lafayette on Saturday night. Now it's the Monarchs' eight-game streak, dating to last season, that is the country's best.

In six days, the Monarchs will put it on the line when they dive into the toughest conference in the FCS, traveling to Delaware for a noon kickoff in their first-ever Colonial Athletic Association matchup.

The CAA didn't do the Monarchs any favors.

In facing Delaware, ODU takes on last year's FCS national runner-up at a 22,000-seat stadium that will most assuredly be full.

"Our first three games we had some success throwing the ball, some success running the ball and tonight we were in a dogfight," said DeMarco, who threw for 172 yards and ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns. "I couldn't think of a better way to prepare us for what's ahead of us."

ODU looked as if it had this game in hand early in the second half. When Angus Harper rambled in from 5 yards - he had also scored on a 39-yard romp in the first half - the Monarchs led 24-14 and had scored 21 unanswered points.

ODU (3-0) played some giveaway, however, with DeMarco throwing an interception and Harper fumbling an exchange as the Pirates (2-1) came roaring back. Harper's fumble bounced into defensive end Jeremy Jermin's hands and he rambled 42 yards for a 27-24 lead.

The craziness continued minutes later when ODU's James Faircloth broke through to block Jordan Stovall's punt and Larry Pinkard picked it up and returned it the last 5 yards for a 31-27 advantage with 13:29 left.

Less than three minutes later, the Pirates were in the end zone again when Jorrian Washington's 9-yard run capped a 73-yard drive for a 34-31 Hampton lead.

ODU responded with its own extended drive of 67 yards that ended when DeMarco scrambled in from 16 yards out on a third-and-12 as ODU took a 38-34 lead with 6:50 left.

That's when McClam stepped up. On the Pirates' next play from scrimmage, Legree hit Thomas on a crossing route and McClam stripped him from behind.

"He caught the ball and started dancing instead of getting up field and I was able to get my hand on the ball and strip him from behind," McClam said.

ODU had to punt four plays later, but McClam again came up with a big play, hitting Legree from behind in the pocket and again forcing a fumble.

"Our defensive front four was frustrated all night and felt like it left about a dozen sacks out there on the field," ODU coach Bobby Wilder said. "Legree is just so elusive in the pocket and so much better than he was a year ago.

"But Eddie won the award tonight for stick-to-itiveness. He wasn't going to be denied."

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com