Towson continued their undefeated season opening run, with a 42-17 win over the Colgate Raiders. The Tigers (3-0, 1-0 CAA) celebrated homecoming in front of the largest student crowd in Johnny Unitas Stadium history.
Head Coach Rob Ambrose’s offense continued its domination this season, with an efficient passing game and a committee of backs on the ground. Sophomore quarterback Grant Enders completed 10 of 15 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.
Colgate opened the game with a 17–play drive and came away with a field goal and the game’s first lead. The Tigers defense could not contain the Raiders’ committee of backs including quarterback Gavin McCarney. The sophomore signal caller along with junior tailback Zauhn Lewis combined for 11 carries on the 17-play opening drive which included two fourth down conversions.
Towson’s offense came out flat, going three-and-out on their first offensive possession after a bye week.
“If you ask anybody, coming off a bye – period- is not an easy thing to do,” Ambrose said. “Football players are creatures of habit and we try to keep it that way. Getting back into the rhythm of what we do, and how we do, it usually starts off slower.”
“I knew that was going to happen, it didn’t stop me from being ridiculously frustrated by it, but I knew it was going to happen.”
Towson, who had opened each of their previous opening drives this season with scores, instead ended their opening drive against the Raiders with a 4-yard sack on an all-out blitz by the Raiders.
After dishing out a three-and-out right back at Colgate, Towson’s offense looked to redeem themselves on the next drive. They fell short after junior receiver Tom Ryan fumbled what would have been a first down pass.
Colgate, with the ball at the Towson 22-yard-line, turned the ball over on downs after failing to convert on fourth and eight.
The Tigers offense carried their next drive into the second quarter, recording their initial first-down and first points on the night to take a 7-3 lead. Enders was able to manage a 78-yard touchdown drive with long gains in the air to Ryan for 20 yards and sophomore tight end James Oboh for 22 yards.
Freshman tailback Terrence West, who had his first two collegiate touchdowns against Villanova, capped of the drive with his third.
“We came out a little slow, things weren’t clicking like we wanted,” Enders said. “We stuck with the game plan, and eventually we started executing.”
McCarney and the Raiders offense again moved into Towson territory looking for a score, but gave up a 7-yard sack on a long fourth down to set the Tigers offense up for a 8-play, 56-yard touchdown drive. Enders ran in his – touchdown of the year on a two-yard keeper.
The Tigers continued to pile it on in the third quarter, scoring on the first drive of the second half on a 49-yard touchdown reception by senior fullback Tyler Wharton. The next drive, Lewis coughed up the football at mid-field to set the Tigers up for a 3-play drive with junior tailback Dominique Booker breaking for a 15-yard touchdown run.
Junior linebacker Anthony DiSanzo picked off McCarney on the next drive, and again the Tigers’ offense was able to punch in a goal line touchdown rush by West.
The rush by West put the Tigers over the 30-point mark for the third time this season. Prior to this season, Towson had only put up 30 points against an opponent once in the last 3 years. The Tigers offense has outscored opponents in the third quarter 49-7 this season.
Colgate found the end zone for the first time with 14:31 left in the game. The Raiders put together a 74-yard drive on nine plays with Lewis getting the call for the score.
Towson, with backup quarterback Peter Athens under center, set up another touchdown drive with West punching in his third touchdown of the night. West finished the game with 85 yards on 13 carries, to lead all Tigers. The CAA rookie of the week after the Tigers’ last game scored three of his five collegiate touchdowns against Colgate. The other two came against Villanova.
“The advantage to Terrence as a freshman is that he’s a second semester freshman. He’s more mature,” Ambrose said of the military-school transfer. “Terrence’s scope is broad, when he’s good, he’s phenomenal.”
The undefeated Tigers travel to College Park next week to take on the Maryland Terrapins for their last non-conference game of the season. The Tigers are 0-3 against NCAA FBS opponents, with losses to Navy, Northwestern and Indiana. Ambrose will face off against Head Coach Randy Edsall, the former University of Connecticut head coach under whom Ambrose served as offensive coordinator.
Edsall and the Terps lost a devastating home game to the Temple Owls earlier in the day.
“It’s another game, it’s another opponent," Ambrose said. “The good news is we get to play in the state of Maryland. Let’s see if we can’t win over somebody else who kind of share our colors”
“Do I care about Uniforms? Whatever.”
No comments:
Post a Comment