The Davidson Wildcats were just a little bit out of synch a little too often Saturday night in a 20-10 loss to Georgetown in their football season opener at Richardson Stadium.

“It’s a tough loss, because we expected to win this game,” said Wildcats’ senior running back Kenny Mantuo, who rushed 21 times for 53 yards and scored Davidson’s only touchdown. “Early in the game, it was like we had one guy missing on about every play, and in football that will kill you.”

The visiting Hoyas (1-0), who broke a 12-game losing streak, took advantage and never trailed, getting out to a 14-0 lead by the start of the second quarter. Georgetown turned a Davidson turnover into one touchdown and put together a short drive for another.

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Senior linebacker Patrick O’Donnell intercepted a pass from Wildcats quarterback Matt Heavner with five minutes left in the first quarter and on the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Scott Darby connected with running back Philip Oladeji for a 35-yard completion to the Davidson 6. Two plays later, Darby scored on a three-yard keeper.

Georgetown’s other score came in the first minute of the second quarter, capping a 54-yard drive. Brandon Durham scored on a 5-yard run.

“Field position hurt us most of the first half,” Davidson coach Tripp Merritt said. “I thought we played well on defense, but we had some mistakes and penalties.”

Mantuo scored on a 3-yard run with 49 seconds left before halftime, finishing a 62-yard, 14-play drive.

“We started to run the ball pretty well at the end of the first half, and we had a little momentum at the start of the second half,” Merritt said.

The Wildcats drove from the Georgetown 47 on their second possession, but stalled at the Georgetown 5 and settled for a 22-yard field goal by Ben Behrendt and a 14-10 score.

But the Hoyas padded their advantage early in the fourth quarter, finishing an 81-yard drive with a 12-yard pass from Darby to Jeff Burke with 9:15 left in the game. They consumed much of the rest of the clock on their final possession.

Davidson stumbles against Georgetown in opener
By Keith Cannon, The Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/05/1669452/davidson-stumbles-against-georgetown.html#ixzz0z4GRsN7L