PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. — The ESU offense moved efficiently down the field as the defense tightened up in the second half, leading to the Warriors defeating the Pace Setters on the road on Friday night, 37-26.
Senior QB
Harrison Susi had an improved performance as a passer this week, throwing for 154 yards while going 11-13. He connected with fifth-year WR
Elijah Ford on a 72-yard TD early in the game, as the veteran receiver would finish with three receptions for 87 yards. The passing offense was able to click due to how effectively the Warriors ran the ball, going for 277 yards on 26 rushing attempts, good for 10.6 YPC.
Junior RB
Cade Sawyer led the way with 99 yards on carries, getting into the end zone twice. Senior RB
Ajani Walker broke tackles and weaved his way through the defense all night, totaling 78 yards on seven carries, rattling off a 43-yard run. The third member of the RB room, fifth-year
Deante Crawford, scored his second touchdown in as many weeks, adding 37 yards on six carries while also going for 19 yards on three receptions.
Defensively, the Warriors adjusted coming out of the break, holding the Setters to six points in the final 30 minutes. Junior LB
Camerin Gross stepped up over the middle for ESU, recording a career-high 12 tackles. The Warriors forced the only turnover of the night, as senior DB
Taquan Brittingham came up with his second career interception. ESU got to Pace QB Tray Mauney twice on Friday night, as fifth-year DL
Trenton Dunnick, senior LB
Sean McFadden, and senior DL
Ashton Blose combined for those.
Pace jumped out to an early lead after the Warriors went three-and-out off of winning the coin toss and electing to receive. Mauney was accurate out of the gate and extended plays with his legs, moving the Setters down the field and into the red zone. RB Anthony Robinson got Pace closer to the goal line, as Mauney capped off the scoring drive with a lob pass over the middle to TE Jack Coleman, who came made a one-handed catch for the five-yard score.
ESU wasted no time with a response, scoring on the first play of the ensuing drive. A false start penalty backed the Warriors up five yards, but that didn't matter for Susi and Ford. The wideout beat his cornerback on a go route down the left sideline, hauling in the deep pass and breaking a last-second tackle attempt to put the Warriors ahead. After Pace orchestrated an 11-play, 65-yard scoring drive that took up 6:04 of game time, the ESU defense went right back on the field. The Setters started with an eight-yard rush by Robinson, who then caught another pass for 26 more yards. From the ESU 41-yard line, Mauney kept a play alive by running to the right, finding WR Ian Adrien after he got lost in the coverage. Adrien caught the ball near the numbers on the right, cutting all the way across to the left pylon, following blockers and breaking tackles as he scored to put Pace up 13-7.
The Warriors couldn't answer as they did on their last drive, as the Setters got to Susi behind the line of scrimmage on third down for the second time in the opening quarter. Mauney and the Setters started to plod down the field again, but their drive stalled after three-straight plays for no gain and a false start. Pace got the ball back after the Warriors couldn't move the chains, but the defense strung together another stop with a turnover. Just into ESU territory, Mauney faced immediate pressure through the left side of his offensive line. Junior DL
Ryan Epps got a hand on a quick pass, causing the ball to hang in the air for Brittingham to flip momentum and start ESU's next drive near midfield.
Sawyer and Susi ran their way down the field for the entirety of a 5-play, 56-yard scoring drive that was also aided by 17 penalty yards. Sawyer punched it in from two yards out, but ESU's 14-13 lead would be short-lived. With the drive starting just before the two-minute timeout, Pace strung together positive plays to get in the redzone with a little over half a minute to go. The Warriors' defensive line couldn't get home to Mauney, as he drifted left and found WR Gary Wilkins open in the end zone in a scramble drill that put Pace back in front, 20-14.
With timeouts in their back pocket and facing a six-point deficit while set to defend coming out of halftime, ESU needed points before going into the locker room. Susi got the drive started with a pair of completions to Crawford, then found senior WR
Cam Burti over the middle to cross the 50-yard line. Completions to Crawford and Ford got senior K
Ty Quintois 11 yards closer, as last week's PSAC Special Teams Athlete of the Week was good from 47 yards out on his first attempt of the night.
The Warriors got more production out of their defensive line immediately in the second half, as Blose and junior DB
Armonie Torres combined for a two-yard tackle for loss on the first play of the third quarter. With Mauney on the sideline after his helmet came off on the play, ESU forced a three-and-out to quickly get off the field. Their time off the field was short-lived, but for good reason. On the second play of ESU's drive, Sawyer ran left through the line of scrimmage, then cut right once he got to the second level and left the Setters in the dust for a 70-yard touchdown.
After the fifth lead change of the game, Pace took the field down four points. Mauney marched the Setters towards another score, getting into a goal-to-go situation after a 26-yard completion to Wilkins. While the Warriors bent, they didn't break, as they'd drop Mauney for a three-yard loss on the next play, then force two incompletions to hold Pace to a field goal.
It took the Warriors three players to extend their lead on the next drive, as Walker got things started with a 43-yard run up the middle. After nothing on the next play, Crawford subbed in. On his first touch of the drive, he ran off the right tackle as ESU won every block it needed to on the play for him to make it to the right pylon for a 24-yard touchdown. Despite being on the field for another 14 plays, the Warriors were able to hold the Setters to another field goal, which made it 31-25 with 11:57 remaining. Quintois got those points right back for ESU with a 42-yard make of his own, and the Setters were forced to punt after sixth-year DL
Jamori Stepheny came up with a batted pass at the line of scrimmage.
Like last week, the Warriors took the field with the chance to put the game away by going up multiple possessions in the fourth quarter. Similar to their Week Zero win, the offense got the job done late. Starting from the ESU eight-yard line, Walker gave the Warriors plenty of breathing room with a 22-yard rush through the right side. Susi hit junior TE
Mason Semmel on a rollout to the left for another first down, getting ESU to midfield in two plays. The quarterback took a designed run 22 yards up the middle to get the Warriors in field goal range, and after the Setters held up on third down, Quintois took care of the rest with a 37-yard field goal. On Pace's final drive, they faced a fourth-and-one after Mauney slid short of the sticks on third down. Blose met on another scramble attempt, causing the turnover on downs that ended the game.
GAME NOTES
- ESU finished with 252 yards on the ground, setting a new program record. Going back to the last two games of 2025, the Warriors have now rushed for at least 250 yards in four straight games for the first time in ESU history. The closest the Warriors got to accomplishing that before was in 2024, when they had games of 279 yards, 273 yards, and an even 250 yards against Bloomsburg, West Chester, and Lock Haven.
- The Warriors had both a 70-plus yard rushing and receiving touchdown for the first time in over three decades, their third time overall. The last time ESU did so was in 1994 at Springfield, when Jason Killian ran for a 76-yard score, and James Franklin connected with Dennis McWhite for a 71-yard touchdown. The other time it occurred was in 1974, when Don Ford scored 72-yard rushing and 77-yard receiving touchdowns.
- ESU's offense was extremely efficient, averaging 9.4 yards per play with six plays of over 20 yards. They did so while possessing the ball for only 19:14, while the Setters had it for 40:46. The 21:32 difference in time of possession was the largest gap in which the Warriors trailed in that category but still won, since they defeated Cheyney, 49-21, in 2014 while only having the ball for 18:44.
- Going 0-for-5 on third-down conversions, it was another first since a win against Cheyney, though this one dates back to 2004. The victory was ESU's first in which it did not convert a third-down attempt when the Warriors defeated Cheyney, 55-0, and went 0-3 on chances.
UP NEXT
ESU hosts its first home game of 2026 next week, welcoming in No. 18 Slippery Rock. Kickoff is slated for 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
