Football Runs By Merrimack Convincingly on Saturday

October 30, 2021

Central Connecticut dominated on the ground in a 49-21 win over Merrimack in Northeast Conference football action on Saturday at Duane Field. The Blue Devils scored the first 42 points of the game and would score five touchdowns on the ground in an important conference win.

CCSU piled up 232 yards on the ground and plowed into the endzone five times on the ground. Junior Aaron Dawson collected 165 yards on 36 carries and scored a touchdown, while sophomore Romelo Williams added a pair of rushing touchdowns. The Blue Devils had four different players score a touchdown on the ground. Williams attempted just 14 passes on the day, and had 133 passing yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, the Blue Devils allowed just 213 total yards, including -38 on the ground. Freshman Jonathan Cabral-Martin returned a fumble 30 yards for CCSU's first defensive score of the season. Freshman Kaiyon Gunn led Central with five tackles on the afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Central Connecticut 13, Merrimack
Records: CCSU (2-6, 2-2 NEC), MC (4-4, 1-3 NEC)
Location: Duane Field | North Andover, MA

KEY MOMENTS

The Blue Devils scored on their first six possessions of the afternoon, including five rushing touchdowns, to help build a 42-0 lead before halftime. Williams capped off the first two CCSU drives with a pair of short rushing touchdowns. Senior Tyshaun James would tack on an 8-yard run at the beginning of the second quarter to make it 21-0 before Cabral-Martin returned a fumble recovery 30 yards to make it a four-touchdown lead.
Sophomore Kyren Petteway capped an 8-play, 44-yard drive with four-yard scoring grab midway through the second quarter that made it 35-0. Freshman Alex Hawkom had a 8-yard scoring run that was set up by a 52-yard pass from Williams to James just before halftime that made it 42-0.
Merrimack would get on the board with a 28-yard touchdown grab by Tyler Roberts with 2:37 to go in the half. Jacari Carter's touchdown reception on the Warriors' first drive of the second half made it 42-14, but that was as close as it would get.
CCSU ate up 8:13 with a 12-play drive covering 65 yards on its next possession. Dawson would plow into the endzone from one-yard out for his first score of the day.
Merrimack's Elliott Westin would pass for his third score of the day and second to Roberts with 3:15 remaining to settle the scoring.

NUMBER TO KNOW

5 - The Blue Devils ran for five touchdowns for the first time since a 49-28 win over Robert Morris on Nov. 16, 2019.

GAME NOTES

CCSU leads the all-time series, 3-0, including meetings in 2019 and 2021 when Merrimack moved to Division I.
Central allowed negative rushing yards for the first time since Nov. 2, 2019, when it limited Wagner to -26 yards on the ground.
Dawson ran for his most yards since a 24-carry, 361 yard outburst against Wagner on Oct. 27, 2018. He became the first Blue Devil to record more than 30 carries in a game since Brenden Lytton had 30 against Sacred Heart on Nov. 8, 2014.
Petteway finished the day with three catches for 26 yards, while Dawson added three catches and 40 yards. James led the Blue Devils with 54 receiving yards on two catches.

UP NEXT
Central hosts Bryant on Saturday in a Noon kickoff to be carried on ESPN3 next weekend.