SAN DIEGO — Dom Nankil threw four touchdown passes and ran for the go-ahead score with 2:48 left, and San Diego held on to beat Marist 41-40 in a Pioneer Football League shootout on Halloween at Torero Stadium.
A week after a last-minute loss at Dayton, the Toreros (4-5, 3-3 PFL) were the ones making the late plays. Marist (4-5, 3-2 PFL), which came in tied for first in the league, drove to the San Diego 11 before missing a 30-yard field goal with 43 seconds left. The Red Foxes got one more chance after a San Diego punt, and Dillon Kellner broke up a deep pass at the goal line on the final play.
Nankil completed 34 of 41 passes for 364 yards and matched his season high with four touchdown passes. The Toreros converted 8 of 11 third downs and scored touchdowns on all five trips inside the Marist 20. Elijah Taylor had his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season, catching nine passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, and Cole Monach added 11 catches for 70 yards and a score.
San Diego opened the game with a 14-play, 90-yard drive that ended on Nankil's 9-yard touchdown pass to Taylor. Marist answered with a touchdown, then turned two San Diego turnovers into two more and led 19-7 with 8:47 left in the second quarter.
Christopher Hall's 10-yard touchdown catch with 5:27 left in the half started a 21-0 San Diego run. After a Marist three-and-out, Adam Criter broke a 23-yard run on third-and-1 to the Marist 2, and Nankil found Monach for a 4-yard touchdown on third-and-goal for a 21-19 lead the Toreros carried into halftime.
The defense forced a turnover on downs at the Marist 47 on the first drive of the second half, and Criter capped the ensuing eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run for a 28-19 lead. The score was his ninth rushing touchdown of the season, and he finished with 117 yards on 25 carries.
After the Red Foxes pulled within 28-26, Nankil answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive and hit freshman Luke Morgan down the middle for a 38-yard touchdown with 5 seconds left in the third quarter.
Marist then scored on back-to-back fourth-quarter possessions, capping a 13-play, 80-yard drive and adding a 51-yard touchdown run, to take a 40-35 lead with 6:17 to play.
Starting at its own 35 after the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, San Diego needed nine plays to go back in front. Hall caught two passes on the drive, the second a 13-yarder to the Marist 6, and Nankil ran it in from 4 yards out on second-and-goal with 2:48 left. A two-point try failed, leaving the Toreros up by one.
The Red Foxes converted a fourth-and-4 on their next drive and reached the San Diego 11, where the defense held. Ruben Lopez was in on the drive's last three tackles, including a 3-yard loss he shared with Nick Felago on second-and-2, and the field goal try that followed was no good.
Lopez led the defense with eight tackles, freshman linebackers Thomas Bailey and Joe Bolder had six and five tackles, and Shaun Aletor had three quarterback hurries. Jaden Williams blocked an extra point in the first quarter, a kick that loomed large in a one-point game, and Emiliano Salazar made all five of his extra points.
The win improved San Diego to 17-2 all-time against Marist and 12-0 against the Red Foxes at home, and it avenged a 19-14 loss at Marist last season. The Toreros are 3-0 at Torero Stadium in PFL play this season and have won time of possession in all nine games, holding the ball for 31:15 on Saturday.
UP NEXT
San Diego makes its final road trip of the regular season to face Drake in a PFL game at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 10 a.m. PT.
