Late momentum shift sinks Harper

It looked like things were starting to turn around for the Harper College football team Saturday afternoon.

And turn around they did — but not in a way that favored Harper.

North Dakota College of Science earned a come-from-behind 24-21 win over host Harper, the first in the program’s history.

Early on, it looked promising for the Hawks (1-4), who drew first blood on the opening kickoff with a 76-yard return from Warren product Greg Kennedy for a touchdown.

Sophomore running back Ronald Zollicoffer consistently found running room and put the Hawks ahead 14-0 with a 1-yard plunge in the first quarter, and freshman quarterback Cody Miller (15-for-29, 144 yards and 1 TD) was able to mix in an effective passing game.

Meanwhile, the Harper defense was able to disrupt the Wildcats’ short passing attack.

With the Hawks leading 14-0 in the second quarter, North Dakota cut into the the lead when sophomore quarterback Cody Davies was able to connect with Dante Price for a 33-yard touchdown to cut the Harper lead to 14-6. Davies finished with 191 yards passing and 1 interception.

The Hawks added a 4-yard David Delacy TD reception before heading to halftime with a 21-7 lead.

In the third quarter, everything started to change in favor of the vistors from Wahpeton, N.D.

The Wildcats switched to a vertical passing game and quickly picked up large chunks of yardage.

Davies found Cedric Chappell (60 yards receiving) for a 10-yard touchdown, but the Harper special teams were able to make another contibution, this time blocking Mike Wielke’s PAT kick.

“They picked up some momentum late in the third quarter (and) we couldn’t seem to get the momentum back,” Waldstein said.

The Harper offense struggled in the second half, picking up just 1 first down and 24 yards rushing.

That helped the Wildcats’ offensive line wear down Harper’s defenders.

“When you keep a defense out there as long as our defense was out there, they’re bound to get (beat) because they’re dog tired,” Waldstein said.

Harper’s defense gave up 100 yards rushing in the second half. And the Wildcat defense sacked Miller six times.

To make matters worse, after playing nearly penalty-free in the first half, the Hawks finished with 5 penalties for 65 yards. Three of the flags came on the final Wildcats possession — including two pass interference calls that could have gone either way.

Davies connected again with Chappell for a 15-yard scoring strike, and Wielke connected on a 39-yard field goal with no time left as North Dakota produced 10 fourth-quarter points and was able to leave Palatine with a victory.

“The defense kept us in the game,” Miller said. “We just crumbled.”