The collegiate athletics landscape is ever-evolving, but then, now and forever, Saturday's Valparaiso University football game is one that encapsulates what collegiate athletics is all about. The Beacons weren't playing for a trophy on Saturday, but they were playing for something larger than that. They were playing for each other.
 
For that reason, with eight seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the final game of the season with the outlook incredibly bleak, Valpo Football reminded us all about one of the important life lessons that the sports can teach – Never give up.
 
Davidson had fourth-and-5 on its own 22 leading 17-10 with eight seconds left. After a blocked punt, Valpo took over with four seconds to go at the Davidson 17. Freshman Gary Givens III (Tampa, Fla. / Jesuit) made an impressive touchdown catch from redshirt freshman quarterback Caron Tyler (Temecula, Calif. / Chaparral), and then Jake Vickers (Canton, Mich. / Canton) – one of 28 seniors recognized before the game as part of the senior day ceremony at Brown Field – capped his career in dream fashion by receiving a shovel pass from Tyler and barreling his way across the goal line with a push from his teammates for a game-winning 2-point conversion to lift Valpo over Davidson 18-17.
 
How It Happened

• Davidson capitalized on several Valpo penalties on a drive that saw Luke Durkin haul in a six-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Frazier for the game's first score with 3:49 left in the first quarter.
• Redshirt junior kicker Ryan Hawk (Columbus, Ohio / Bishop Hartley) drilled a 50 yarder on the first play of the second quarter, getting Valpo on the board at 7-3.
• Valpo played stout defensively as the next two Davidson possessions resulted in punts, highlighted by a key sack from Kevin Spelman (New Lenox, Ill. / Providence Catholic).
• The Beacons put together a seven-play, 72-yard drive that included a 26-yard grab by Brandon Jimenez (Suffern, N.Y. / Don Bosco Prep [Albany]). Running back Michael Mansaray (Columbus, Ohio / Westerville South [South Dakota]) found paydirt from seven yards out to give Valpo a 10-7 lead with 3:07 left in the second quarter.
• The Wildcats responded with a long drive of their own, going 75 yards on 11 plays to gain a 14-10 lead going into halftime.
• Both teams missed field goals early in the second half. Neither squad scored in the third quarter, something that has been unusually common in Valpo games this season as this was the seventh time in eight games that Valpo held the opponent scoreless in the third and there were no third-quarter touchdowns by either team in any of Valpo's seven PFL games.
• Davidson hit a 39-yard field goal while gobbling up 7 minutes, 14 seconds on a lengthy drive to begin the fourth quarter, extending the lead to 17-10. When Valpo punted on its next possession, the Wildcats took over with a seven-point lead and 5:23 to play with Valpo down to two timeouts.
• The Valpo defense got a needed three-and-out, and Davidson was forced to punt. However, that drive resulted in a turnover-on-downs for the Beacons after a sack on fourth-and-four with under two minutes remaining.
• The defense came through yet again, recording a needed three-and-out to allow eight precious seconds to remain on the clock with Davidson facing fourth down. That set the stage for the unbelievable finish to the game, to the season and to the careers of the Valpo seniors.

Inside the Game

• The 28 seniors who were recognized before the game were as follows – Camari Harris, Hunter Nabers, Barret Labus, Max Franco, Caleb Rao, Colin Graves, Brandon Jimenez, Jack Coulson, Rylan Woods, DeAndre Wilborn, Michael Appel Jr., Max Kobs, Jimmy Pouba, Austin Chilton, Ryan Mann, Ryan Hawk, Hayden Bedell, Jake Birmingham, Sam Johnson, Tyler Eberhart, Carter Woody, Daniel Ojaide, Gavin Hooper, Evan Jernegan, Jake Vickers, Sam Hafner, Kevin Spelman and George Trojanek.
• Johnson finished the season with a punting average of 47.13, breaking both the program record and the Pioneer Football League single-season record. Both of those marks were previously owned by Greg Wood at 43.68 in 2010. Johnson averaged 51.2 yards per punt on four attempts with a long of 55 and three of 50+ on Saturday.
• Hawk's made field goal helped him crack the program's single-season top five as his 11 field goals this season ranked tied for fifth in program history along with Andrew McCawley (2003) and Dimitrios Latsonas (2017). Hawk had his second career make from 50+, joining the 51-yarder vs. Roosevelt from earlier this season.
• The Valpo defense held a Davidson team that totaled 408 yards of offense the previous week against Morehead State to 284 yards of total offense. That marked just the second time this season that Davidson was held under 300 yards. The Wildcats entered the game averaging 451.8 yards per game, the most in the PFL and seventh most nationally in FCS.
• This was the 30^th one-score game of Landon Fox's head coaching tenure. Over the last six seasons, 47.6 percent of Valpo's games have been of the one-score variety. Valpo's last one-point win prior to Saturday was 16-15 over Southwest Minnesota State on Sept. 30, 2023.
• Tyler was the team's leading rusher with 66 yards on the ground, while Mansaray rushed for his ninth TD of the season. He finished one TD away from becoming the eighth Valpo player all-time with double-figure rushing touchdowns in a season.
• Tyler went 11-of-20 through the air for 157 yards and one touchdown. Jimenez had 51 receiving yards, edging Chris Gundy's (Smithfield, Va. / Smithfield) 50 for team-high honors. Gundy led the team with four receptions, while Givens had three for 41 yards including his fourth touchdown of the season.
• Redshirt junior Jake Birmingham (River Forest, Ill. / Oak Park and River Forest) paced the team with 10 tackles, finishing the season with a team-high 82 despite missing two games. He had 37 tackles over the final three weeks of the season, finished the year with eight straight games with at least seven stops and had double-figure tackle totals in four of his last five. He also notched a sack on Saturday.
• Redshirt freshman Nic Lendino (Naperville, Ill. / Neuqua Valley) contributed eight tackles, his second-highest output of the season.
• The blocked punt was Valpo's 28^th in Landon Fox's six seasons as head coach including five this season.
• Saturday's finish was quite similar to Valpo's 8-7 victory over Dayton on Senior Day 2017.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.