Moon Township, Pa. – The Central Connecticut Blue Devils outlasted the Robert Morris University football team in a 56-35 shootout at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township Saturday afternoon. In fact, the only thing that stopped either team was a lightning delay which stalled the game for an hour late in the second quarter.
The Colonials racked up 487 yards of offense, their highest total since rolling up 491 yards at Saint Francis on Sept. 30, 2006. Freshman running back
Alijah Jackson led the offense with 124 yards on 16 rushes, his second consecutive 100-yard effort. He accounted for a pair of rushing scores.
Terence Stephens added 94 yards on just seven carries, including a 74 yard run in the first quarter that was the team's longest since 2003.
Quarterback
Jimmy Walker was 24-of-36 for 268 yards, tossing a pair of touchdowns and one interception. He found
Anthony DelleFemine,
Tim Vecchio and
DeLano Madison five times each. DelleFemine led the group with 64 yards.
Matthew Gonzalez hauled in four passes, two of them resulting in touchdowns.
Central Connecticut opened the scoring just 2:39 into the game when Drew Jean-Guillaume scored the first of his three first quarter touchdowns on a 23-yard run. The Colonials needed just two plays from scrimmage to get even. Stephens rushed 74 yards off the right side to the Central Connecticut seven-yard line, the longest running play by a Colonial since Sam Dorsett went 77 yards against Saint Francis in 2003. Vecchio found paydirt one play later on an end-around.
The scoring pace continued throughout the first half. Guillame put the Blue Devils back in front with a 15-yard scamper before Jackson tied the score from 13 yards out with 4:37 left in the first quarter. Guillaume's third scoring run of the quarter, this one from 25 yards, gave CCSU a 21-14 lead at the quarter break.
On the first play of the second quarter, Walker found Gonzalez with a 16-yard dart, tying the game 21-21. Enyce Walker responded with a one-yard scoring run before the Blue Devils defense made the first stop of the game. That stop allowed the visiting squad to push the margin to 35-21 when Rush hauled in a 23-yard pass from Dolegala.
The game entered an hour-long lightning delay with the Colonials driving and 0:40 left in the second quarter. When play resumed, RMU failed to convert on third down ending the first half.
Robert Morris took the second half kickoff and went 83 yards in eight plays to pull within touchdown, 35-28. Jackson finished the drive with a 35-yard rush through the heart of the CCSU defense. Once again, the teams exchanged scores as Rush's eight-yard run was answered by Gonzalez's seven-yard reception from the arm of Walker.
The Central Connecticut defense buckled down in the fourth quarter, keeping RMU off the scoreboard. In the meantime, their offense continued its torrid pace. The Blue Devils got a nine-yard scoring run from Dolegala and Rush's third TD of the game came on a 20-yard reception that capped the scoring at 56-35.
Dolegala finished the game with 341 yards passing going 19-of-22 with a pair of scoring strikes. Guillame rushed for 157 yards and three scores and Aaron Dawson added 102 yards. Courtney Rush hauled in six passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. CCSU finished the game with 699 yards of offense, 358 on the ground and 341 through the air.
The Colonials continue NEC play next weekend traveling to Duquesne for a 7:00 p.m. game at Rooney Field.
