Moon Township, Pa. – Robert Morris University freshman kicker
Nick Bisceglia drilled a 26-yard field with four seconds left in the game to give the Colonials a 13-10 victory over the Dayton Flyers in the season-opening game for both teams at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township Saturday afternoon. It's the first time since 2008 that Robert Morris opened the season with a win and the first win over the Flyers since 2000.
"I think this is going to be a big lift for this football team," said fourth-year RMU head coach
John Banaszak. "They now know that they can go out against a good football team, play hard, do the right things and come away with a victory."
The Colonials defense came up with its second takeaway of the game late in the fourth quarter as
Devon DeFrances knocked the ball out of the grasp of Kyle Butz, allowing Ryan Richards, Jr. to recover with 2:19 to play at the Dayton 28-yard line. The offense moved 20 yards before calling timeout with eight seconds left. Bisceglia split the uprights from 26 yards out for his second field goal of the day and lift RMU to a 13-10 win.
"Nick is a tremendous young man and we knew he was a good kicker in high school at Kiski. He was the only kid we recruited at that position, for him to come into his first game his freshmen year, to have his teammates lift him up onto their shoulders, it's pretty special," said Banaszak.
The Robert Morris offense put up numbers that they hadn't seen since 2015 while the defense continued to perform to its usual lofty standards. Junior transfer quarterback
Jimmy Walker went 14-29 for 198 yards, connecting with
Tavin Allison for a 72-yard touchdown and getting picked off once.
Cole Blake, who missed all of 2016 due to injury, rushed for 69 yards on 16 carries in his first action in nearly two years to help RMU roll up 320 yards on a Dayton team that was picked second in the Pioneer Football League.
The Colonials defense held Dayton to just 257 yards of offense, 135 on the ground and 122 in the air.
Gerald Ferguson and Richards, Jr. both recovered fumbles. Ferguson finished with eight tackles, including a sack, and was also credited with a quarterback hurry.
Dayton opened the scoring with a nine-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a spectacular 16-yard touchdown catch by Matt Tunnacliffe from Kyle Kaparos. Kaparos finished the day 13-18 for 122 yards including the first-quarter touchdown pass. The Flyers only other score came with 4:12 left in the second quarter as they took a 10-0 lead when Patrick Sandler hit a 25-yard field goal.
The Colonials put together a 12-play, 67-yard drive on the ensuing possession as Walker dropped back to pass on 10 straight snaps. The big play of the drive was a 17-yard completion to
Tim Vecchio, one of nine different targets Walker hit on the day. Bisceglia capped the drive by hitting a 28-yard field goal and put the score at 10-3 at the half.
On the team's second possession of the third quarter, Walker hit Allison for 72 yards on a streak down the left sideline to knot the game with 8:53 left in the third quarter. Alison finished with a pair of catches for 76 yards.
The Colonials non-conference schedule continues next week as they travel to Youngstown State for a 2:00 p.m. contest at Stambaugh Stadium.
Notes: Robert Morris wins its season-opening game for the first time since 2008, a 27-13 victory over Morehead State … The victory ends a 14-game losing streak against Dayton that dates back to a 17-13 win at Welcome Stadium in 2000 … The gamewinning fourth-quarter drive by Walker is the team's first since Tyler Brown led RMU to a 9-6 win over Wagner (Oct. 3, 2015).
