Football Drops Senior Day Game to St. Francis U
Blue Devils finish the regular season next week at Wagner
The Central Connecticut football team dropped a 22-13 home decision Senior Day on Saturday in New Britain, falling to 4-6 overall and 3-2 in Northeast Conference play. The Red Flash is 5-3 overall and 3-1 in league action with the victory.
The Blue Devils managed just 214 yards of offense in the game, led by sophomore running back Cameron Nash who had 115 yards on the ground. Nash had a 63-yard run in the fourth quarter than eventually led to a CCSU field goal. Freshman quarterbacks Tavion Pauldo and Jacob Dolegala combined to complete 10 of 23 passes for 83 yards. Each was sacked three times.
The Blue Devil defense allowed just the one touchdown in the game, their third straight with allowing one or fewer touchdowns. Central has allowed just two touchdowns in its last 12 quarters. St. Francis U's Lance Geesey kicked five field goals for the visitors in the victory.
The Red Flash provided the only scoring of the first half and led 12-0, after four field goals from Geesey.
He started the scoring with a 46-yard strike with 10:51 left in the first quarter. He matched the yardage, from the exact same spot on the field, on his second field goal and made it 6-0 with six minutes left in the period.
His third field goal came in the second quarter and capped a 12-play, 46-yard drive to make it 9-0. His final field goal of the half came on the final play and completed an eight play, 75-yard drive to make it 12-0 before the break.
The Blue Devils got on the board on their opening drive of the third quarter on a 32-yard field goal from junior Ed Groth. The Blue Devils drove 11 plays and went 64 yards on the drive to cut the SFU lead to 12-3.
Geecy kicked his fifth field goal of the game on the next drive for the Red Flash to push the lead to 15-3 with 8:53 to play in the third quarter.
Central responded on the ensuing kickoff, as sophomore Najae Brown ran back the kickoff 95-yards for the touchdown to cut the Red Flash lead to 15-10. His touchdown was the first kickoff return for a touchdown since Oct. 20, 2012, when Rob Hollomon returned a kick 96 yards for a score at Robert Morris.
Groth kicked a 19-yard field goal with 13:27 left in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 15-13.
A special teams miscue by the Blue Devils led to the first and only touchdown of the game for the Red Flash, as they took a 22-13 lead with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter. On fourth down the Red Flash punted the ball inside the five yardline, but the ball took a bounce to the side and struck Brown at the two yardline. The Red Flash recovered the fumble, and one play later Khairi Dickson ran it in for the score and the nine point lead.
Junior Jevon Elmore led the defense for the Blue Devils with 10 tackles and three pass break-ups. He had one tackle for a loss. Junior Asia Bolling had six tackles to go along with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Keir Minor had a pair of sacks to go along with nine tackles in the loss.
The Blue Devils will finish the regular season next week on the road at Wagner at 12 noon.
