Football Falls to Duquesne on Homecoming

The Central Connecticut football team had a scoring chance late in the fourth but came up short in a 28-20 home loss to Duquesne on Homecoming on Saturday.  Senior Rob Hollomon rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown in the game.  The Blue Devils are now 2-4 overall on the season and 0-1 in Northeast Conference play.

Trailing 28-13 with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils were able to connect for a long passing play as junior Nick SanGiacomo found sophomore tight end Matt Braddock for a 51-yard catch and run.  Braddock's reception moved the Blue Devil offense deep into Duquesne territory and two plays later Hollomon ran into the end zone from 13 yards out to cut the Duquense lead to a single possession.

The Blue Devil defense followed the score by forcing a three-and-out, which was highlighted by senior Josh Alaeze's sack on second down.

The CCSU offense drove to the Duquesne seven yard line, but the Dukes kept the Blue Devils out of the end zone and forced a turnover on downs.

Hollomon finished the day with 131 rushing yards and 198 all-purpose yards.  With his performance, Hollomon surpassed James Mallory for second on CCSU's career rushing list.  Hollomon finished the day with 3,266 career rushing yards.  He is now just 81 yards shy of tying Stan House's program record of 3,347 rushing yards.

Hollomon also crossed the 5,000 all-purpose yard mark for his career in the contest.

The Duquense offense scored four times through the air with quarterback Dillon Buechel connecting with Chris King for three touchdowns.  Buechel's fourth touchdown went to Deven Rahming early in the third quarter.

The Dukes scored on their opening drive with Buechel capping a six-play, 74-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to King.

The Blue Devils responded with sophomore Brenden Lytton breaking a 39-yard run for a touchdown to tie the game.

Duquesne's biggest lead of the game was 28-13 after an early fourth quarter touchdown.

Sophomore Ed Groth kicked a pair of field goals in the game.  His first came in the second quarter (25 yards) and his second in the third quarter (24 yards).

Lytton finished with a touchdown on four carries and 43 yards.  The score was his first as a Blue Devil.

Braddock's 66 receiving yards are a career-high and his 51-yard reception was also a career-long.

The Blue Devil defense forced three turnovers as they picked off Buechel twice and also forced a fumble.  Sophomore Jevon Elmore and senior Chris Abner were responsible for the interceptions.  Senior David Rose was credited with the forced fumble and freshman Justin Douglas recovered the loose ball.

Senior Andrew Murdock led the Blue Devils with 11 total tackles.

SanGiacomo finished the game 9-of-22 for 125 yards.

Buechel was 25-of-36 for 333 yards and four touchdowns.  King finished with nine receptions for 147 yards and three touchdowns.

The Blue Devils will return to action next Saturday at Robert Morris.