Football Wins Season-Opener, 44-0, on Saturday Night

Central Connecticut opened its 2023 football campaign with a 44-0 win over AIC on Saturday night on Arute Field in New Britain, CT. Head coach Adam Lechtenberg earned his first career win at CCSU as the Blue Devils earned a shutout for the first time since a 28-0 win over LIU on October 26, 2019.

C.J. Duell went 17-of-25 for 235 yard and two touchdowns. Malik Thomas ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, while Davion Johnson had 103 yards on six catches.

The Blue Devils defense allowed just 158 total yards in the game. Malachi Wright led CCSU with eight tackles, while Ahmad Craig recorded two sacks. 

The Blue Devils open Northeast Conference play next Saturday, September 9, against Stonehill in a 12:00 p.m. kickoff.

GAME INFORMATION

Score:  CCSU 44, AIC 0
Records: CCSU (1-0), AIC (0-1)
Location: Arute Field | New Britain, CT

KEY MOMENTS

• CCSU would force an AIC three-and-out on the first possession of the game and took over on its own 41. On the Blue Devils' first play from scrimmage Elijah Howard broke off a 27-yard run. The drive would stall, but Jack Barnum came on and kicked a 48-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
• AIC would drive into CCSU territory, but Tavian Montgomery would break up a fourth down pass and give the Blue Devils the ball on their own 35. Central would go no huddle on the next drive and a 65-yard drive was capped off with a 19-yard pass from C.J. Duell to Isiah Williams for the game's first touchdown.
• The Blue Devils would double the lead midway through the second quarter. Elijah Howard would punctuate an 85-yard drive with a three-yard run to paydirt to make it 17-0. After forcing another AIC three-and-out, the Blue Devils would drive 40 yards and cap it off with a 31-yard field goal by Barnum to make it 20-0.
• A 49-yard punt return by Tavion Montgomery to the AIC 17-yard line would set up CCSU's next possession. On third down, Duell fired a 20-yard pass to find Paul Marsh between two defenders in the endzone and extend the Blue Devils lead to 27-0.
• The Blue Devils would force a punt and get the ball back just before halftime. Central would cover 40 yards before being stopped and setting up a 45-yard attempt for Barnum. He would split the uprights for his third kick of the half to make it 30-0.
• A two-yard scoring run from Malik Thomas and a six yard scoring run by Cortaz Williams in the fourth quarter rounded out CCSU's scoring. The Blue Devils defense would stop the Yellow Jackets on downs on their first possession of the half and then forced three punts and had a fumble recovery in the second half for the shutout.

NUMBER TO KNOW

8  – Barnum was 8-for-8 on kicks in the game, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 5-for-5 on extra point tries.

NOTES

• The teams were meeting for the 48^th time in the series, but the last meeting came in 1992. CCSU improved to 14-31-3 all-time in the series.
• Thomas ran for a career-high 80 yards on 13 carries. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry.
• Duell made his first career start. He also ran for 41 yards on seven carries.
• Barnum's 48-yard field goal was the longest by a Blue Devil since Francis Cole kicked a 45-yard field goal on October 12, 2019. Barnum also became the first Blue Devil kicker with at least three field goals in a game since Joe Zoppi kicked three against St. Francis on Nov. 20, 2021.
• With a pair of 40+ yard field goals in the game, Barnum became the first CCSU placekicker to accomplish the feat since Francis Cole had kicks from 42 and 44 yards against Merrimack on September 7, 2019.
• Reggie Darkah collected a fumble recovery for the Blue Devils.
• CCSU won its season-opener for the first time since 2019 against Fordham.

 UP NEXT

The Blue Devils open Northeast Conference play next Saturday, September 9, against Stonehill in a 12:00 p.m. kickoff.

Follow @CCSUBlueDevils on Twitter and CCSUBlueDevils.com for updates.