Salisbury's dreams of a third undefeated season vanished under a downpour of miscues yesterday.
In the rain at Towson's Minnegan Stadium, nearly everything went wrong for the Sea Gulls, who watched their hopes for an NCAA Division III football playoff berth diminish greatly during a 37-7 pasting by rival Frostburg State in the Regents Cup game.
"Hopefully, we still get a chance to redeem ourselves," Salisbury coach Sherm Wood said of the potential for postseason play. "It's one thing to lose, but the margin of this one bothers me. There had to be some other folks lose today in order for us to get in."
Frostburg, which finished the season 6-4, capitalized on a slew of errors by Salisbury (9-1) that included five lost fumbles, two interceptions, three errant snaps on punt attempts and a blocked punt.
The development of the game was so unusual that the Sea Gulls - third in the nation with 351.9 yards a game rushing - wound up throwing 24 times and the Bobcats - who were averaging almost 300 yards in the air - tried just 14 passes, completing half for 74 yards.
"That was really weird," said Bobcats coach Rubin Stevenson. "But getting ahead so quickly helped us take them out of what they do best. In our losses, we were making the mistakes and that killed us. Today, we played pretty much a complete game."
While the Sea Gulls bobbled and bumbled, Frostburg gratefully accepted the charity. A snap over the head of punter Rick Nister led to a 9-yard touchdown run by the Bobcats' Tim Pearson (Lake Clifton), who rushed for 162 yards and two scores.
Salisbury fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and after three plays Frostburg pushed the lead to 14-0 on a 17-yard pass from Grant Burrough (C. Milton Wright) to Roy Olson.
The pattern persisted, with the Sea Gulls losing the next kickoff (Frostburg missed a field-goal attempt), fumbling on three of their next four series and snapping the ball over the head of the punter again, resulting in a Bobcats safety.
By halftime, Frostburg was coasting 23-0, and a blocked punt by Andy Wilson that he returned for a touchdown built the lead to 30 midway through the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the Bobcats' defense was doing its job, breaking down Salisbury's option attack and stripping the ball frequently, preventing all legitimate scoring threats until late in the third quarter.
"We deserved what we got," Wood said. "You can play a Little League team and not win turning the ball over as much as we did. We were out of it from the beginning and there are no excuses about the weather."
The cold rain was more to the liking of the Bobcats, who played an extremely tough schedule and lost once in triple overtime, once in overtime and never by more than six points.
"We're used to the cold and play some games in the mud," said Stevenson, whose team clinched the four-team Atlantic Central Football Conference championship. "But this is bittersweet [he and Wood were roommates on an unbeaten Salisbury team in 1983]."
Frostburg defensive end Kevin Culbert, a sophomore, accounted for 19 tackles, seven of them solo and eight for losses.
"He's been doing that all year and I've got him for two more," Stevenson said.
Said Wood: "If I had to lose a game, I'd rather it be to him [Stevenson]. They had a quality game plan and if you give a good team that many chances, something bad is going to happen."
Salisbury 0 0 7 0 - 7
Frostburg State 14 9 7 7 - 37
First quarter FS-Pearson 9 run (Quisgard kick), 7:42 FS-Olson 17 pass from Burrough (Quisgard kick), 6:32 Second quarter FS-Pearson 20 run (Quisgard kick), 13:57 FS-safety Third quarter FS-Wilson 19 blocked punt return (Quisgard kick), 7:34 S-Boyce 21 run (Knight kick), 0:48 Fourth quarter FS-Clash 31 INT return (Quisgard kick), 6:28 A-2,500.
S FS
First downs 17 15
Rushes-yards 54-78 47-154
Passing 127 74
Comp-Att-Int 9-24-2 7-14-0
Return yards 69 81
Punts-avg. 5-23.6 7-32.7
Fumbles-lost 5-5 3-3
Penalties-yards 5-34 6-49
Time of possession 34:45 25:15
Rushing-Salisbury, Boyce 21-111, D.Johnson 22-52, Ellis 4-19, Pashkevich 2-7, Belt 1-(minus 14), J.Johnson 2-(minus 17), team 2-(minus 80). Frostburg State, Pearson 19-162, Kearney 12-34, Godsey 3-5, Higgins 4-(minus 1), Burrough 8-(minus 12), team 1-(minus 34). Passing-Salisbury, D.Johnson 9-20-1-127, J.Johnson 0-4-1-0. Frostburg State, Burrough 7-14-0-74. Receiving-Salisbury, Hinz 3-52, Belt 2-20, Wills 1-29, Ellis 1-11, Williams 1-9, Boyce 1-6. Frostburg State, Olson 3-47, Snyder 2-17, Deeb 1-6, Pearson 1-4.