MEADVILLE, Pa. – For the third straight week, a close contest slipped through the hands of the Kenyon College football team. Saturday at Frank B. Fuhrer Field, the host Allegheny College Gators outscored the Lords 18-7 in the fourth quarter to secure a 44-35 North Coast Athletic Conference win.

Over the last three weeks, the Lords lost three times by an average of less than six points per game. The most recent defeat to Allegheny dropped the team's mark to 0-7 overall and 0-6 within conference competition. Meanwhile, the Gators improved to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the NCAC.

Kenyon held a lead for most of the first three quarters. At the eight-minute mark of the third, an eight-yard touchdown run from freshman Seamus McCurren pushed the Lords to a 28-19 advantage. On the ensuing kickoff, Allegheny's Jake Wilson put together a 36-yard return to the Kenyon 45-yard line. Three plays later, quarterback Logan Lee hit Alex Victor for a 30-yard score and the Gators closed their gap to two points.

Another long pass, this one a 40-yarder from Lee to Austin French late in the third quarter, set up the Gators' next touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. That score was registered just five seconds into the final frame, as Lee connected with Tristan Rhoades from five yards out.

Reeling, but not down for the count, the Lords got the spark they needed from junior defensive back D.J. Manley. He picked off a Lee pass at the Kenyon 44-yard line and ran it back 56 yards for a touchdown and a 35-34 Kenyon lead with 11:23 left in the game.

Lee then went right back to work for the Gators, constructing a six-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a 35-yard scoring strike to Angel Alvarez. A two-point conversion followed and the Gators reclaimed the lead, 42-35 with a little more than eight minutes remaining.

Kenyon moved the ball down to the Allegheny 39-yard line on its next possession, but things fizzled out with an incompletion on a 4th-and-1 play. With a chance to put the game away, Allegheny marched the ball all the way back down to the Kenyon 16-yard line, but missed a 33-yard field goal with just under two minutes to play.

That gave the Lords new life and chance to at least tie up the game starting with a drive from their own 20-yard line. The pressure-filled situation took its toll on the Lords, who ending up taking a penalty and three sacks, the last of which resulted in a safety to seal the Allegheny victory.

Lee wound up passing for 324 yards and five touchdowns. Rhoades led the receiving corps with four catches for 102 yards and a TD. Victor tacked on 82 rushing yards and a touchdown, as well as 72 receiving yards and two more scores.

McCurren put together a solid ground game for the Lords, rushing for 136 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carriers. His individual, single-game rushing total was the team's best since Rob Meagher ran for 143 yards against Ohio Wesleyan University in October of the 2015 season. McCurren also had three catches for 17 yards against the Gators.

In the air, sophomore quarterback Thomas Merkle threw the ball for 260 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 33-of-51 pass attempts. A dozen of those attempts were caught by junior receiver Ian Robertson, who turned them into 100 yards and one touchdown. Robertson now has four-straight 100-yard receiving games and leads the Lords with 51 catches and 570 receiving yards on the season.