Vicenza, SHAPE finish in a tie
VICENZA, Italy – Sisters were kissed all over Northern Italy Saturday when the SHAPE Spartans and the Vicenza Cougars played to a 6-6 non-conference tie.
“Because it was a non-conference,” Vicenza coach Adam Ridgely reported in a Saturday email, the schools did not exercise the Kansas tiebreaker they usually use to settle ties.
The game was even all the way – 0-0 at the half and 6-6 when the Spartans lined up at game’s end to attempt a winning 40-yrad field goal. The kick, however, bounced off the cross bar.
The miss left Vicenza with the only offensive score of the day. Terrell Gandy hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass for the Cougars’ lone TD; SHAPE reached the end zone on P.J. Nieves’ 62-yard interception return. Nieves made two picks on the day, Ridgley reported.
Connor Manning led SHAPE’s ground game, which achieved 137 yards on Saturday, with 84 yards on 24 tries. Spartan tight end Thomas Muldoon caught three passes with covered 86 yards.
Vicenza’s Jerome Farmer led the Cougars with 60 rushing yards on nine attempts against the SHAPE defense, which got eight tackles and a fumble recovery from defensive tackle Taylor Ator and five stops from linebacker Argios Kollcaku.
Mario Molina and John Young each intercepted a pass for Vicenza, which was playing its first game of the season. The Cougars are to open their Division II-South conference scheduled Saturday at Aviano.
Marshall Perfetti led Vicenza’s tackling with six stops; his teammates Carl Wilkerson and Josh Bulgin each made five solo tackles.
Next up for SHAPE is another non-conference test, Saturday against visiting Hohenfels.
