Tuck breaks rushing record in victory over Edinboro

On a historic day, the Crimson Hawks survived first half problems to improve to 6-1 on the season with a 26-10 victory against Edinboro. 

The historic part came in the second half, when Harvie Tuck surpassed Michael Mann for most rushing yards in the regular season with 3,854 yards. 

Mann still owns the career rushing record for his yards that he gained while playing for playoff teams. Tuck would need 959 yards the rest of this season to surpass Mann for the career record. Tuck broke the record in the second half when he found pay dirt from 31 yards out to give the Hawks the lead. 

“Wow, didn’t know that,” Tuck said. “It feels good to hear that after a win.” 

The touchdown in the second half helped weather first half struggles that the Hawks had.  

The Hawks started the game well on defense, when Jerrell McFadden returned it to the Fighting Scots two-yard line after intercepting Scot’s quarterback Cody Harris. Tuck scored a few plays later to put the Hawks in the lead 7-0. 

“We were playing a zone coverage,” McFadden said. “I disguised it as man-to-man and checked trap at the line at the last second and it put me right into the perfect position to make the interception.” 

Edinboro responded a few drives later when they went on a 19-play drive that went for 80 yards taking more than eight minutes off the clock. It was capped off when Harris found Seth Hembree for a six-yard touchdown pass. 

Other than the touchdown run that was set up by the interception, the Hawks offense was stagnant for much of the first quarter and early second quarter. The Scots took advantage of that in second quarter when they went on a drive that set up kicker Sean Seefeldt for a 39-yard field goal, putting the Scots in the lead 10-7. 

The Hawks offense was able to respond on the next drive when Mike Box ran it from one yard out to give the Hawks a 13-10 lead. Brett Ullman’s extra point attempt was blocked. 

However, Ullman would redeem himself later in the quarter when he hit from 39 yards out to give the Hawks a 16-10 lead going into the half. 

With the defense doing their job  in the second half, the Hawks offense was able to set up Ullman again, and he connected from 27 yards out to give the Hawks a 19-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter belonged to Tuck and the rest of the offense. After only having eight yards in the first half, Tuck finished the game with 185 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns. 

“That’s huge for us as an offensive line,” Byron Dovales said. “We’re doing our job and we have two other backs that are having a great season. Him getting that is like us getting that. 

“When Harvie scores, it’s like us scoring a touchdown.” 

It was Tuck’s touchdown in the fourth quarter that not only gave him the record, but also put the Hawks in a comfortable lead at 26-10. The defense for the Hawks took over from there and the victory was secured after Alex Berdahl intercepted Harris late in the fourth quarter. Berdahl led the team with 15 tackles.