Central Football Scores 38 Unanswered Points in 45-14 Home Victory on Saturday Over Bentley

The Central Connecticut State University football team scored 38 unanswered points to improve to 1-1 on the season with a 45-14 home victory over Bentley University on Saturday. The Blue Devils won for the 10th straight time at home as head coach Jeff McInerney improved to 18-2 at home in his five seasons. The Blue Devils return to action next week at Youngstown State on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Bentley scored its second and final touchdown of the game with 13:32 left in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead on the Blue Devils. Kyle Tuthill caught a five-yard pass from Bryant Johnson to give the Falcons the early lead.

Central Connecticut answered in a big way, and scored three times in the final 8:42 of the first half to lead 24-14 at the half. Junior quarterback Gunnar Jespersen threw his first touchdown of the season to Raul Debenedittis to tie the game at 14-14. The throw came from 13-yards out and marked the first score of the season for both players.

Nate Pagan scored his first career touchdown for the Blue Devils to give them the lead for good with 1:17 left before the break. Pagan rushed from two-yards out to cap an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive for the Blue Devils and make it 21-14.

On the next possession for the Falcons, Blue Devil freshman Chris Linares posted his first career interception to give the Blue Devils the ball with just over a minute remaining. Senior place kicker Joe Izzo kicked his second field goal of the season to make it 24-14 at halftime.

Senior transfer running back Everette Benjamin scored twice in the second half, one on a rush from two yards out and one on a reception from 23 yards out, to help cap the scoring for Central Connecticut in the game. Senior wide receiver P.J. Borawski caught his first career touchdown pass, from freshman Denzell Jones, in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Devils the 45-14 victory.

Benjamin finished the game with 24 carries for 132 yards and one touchdown on the ground and one in the air. He also had three catches for 28 yards.

Jespersen was impressive in his home debut finishing 18-for-24 for 181 yards and two scores. Jones finished 5-for-5 for 69 yards and the one touchdown.

Senior Richie Martin led the receiving core with six catches for 80 yards. Borawski had five catches for 58 yards and a touchdown, all career-highs.

Defensively the Blue Devils intercepted Johnson three times in the victory. Linares, senior Jeff Marino and sophomore Albert Fonteno all had picks in the game. Marino added seven tackles. Lorenzo Baker was the leading tackler for the Blue Devils with nine, and Dominic Giampietro and Charles Williams each had a sack.

GAME NOTES:
- The win is the 10th straight home win for Central.
- McInerney improves to 18-2 at home in his five seasons.
- Borawski, Benjamin, Pagan and Debenedittis all scored for the first time in a CCSU uniform.
- The 45 points is the most for the Blue Devils since the last game of the 2008 season.
- Central ran 82 offensive plays and had 525 yards of total offense.
- The 250 yards passing is the most in a game for CCSU since last season vs. Duquesne (264).
- Central rushed for over 250 yards (275) for the 25th time in 47 games under McInerney.
- Central improves to 33-3 since 2004 when scoring more than 25 points.
- Central is 27-3 at home since 2004.