Football Drops Non-Conference Road Game at Penn on Saturday

The Central Connecticut football team fell to 1-4 overall this season with a 28-16 road loss at Penn on Saturday.  The Blue Devils, playing for the first time ever at historic Franklin Field, will return home next week to host Wagner at 1 p.m.  The game will be televised on ESPN3 and is Homecoming in New Britain.

Penn is now 2-2 overall on the season.

Sophomore quarterback Jacob Dolegala completed 25-of-39 passes for a career-high 341 yards and a touchdown in the loss.  Classmate K.J. Smith caught four passes for 120 yards, a career-high, including a touchdown.  His touchdown went for 62 yards.

Central rushed for just 22 yards in the loss, and had 341 yards in the air.  They turned the ball over twice and finished the day 0-for-4 on fourth down conversions.  Penn had 389 yards of total offense and also turned the ball over twice.  Each team had a pair of sacks.

The Quakers took a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter with scoring drives on each of their first two possessions.  The first drive took eight plays and went for 76 yards as quarterback Alek Torgersen rushed it in from seven yards out for the early lead.

Following a Central Connecticut fumble, the next Penn drive went for just 30 yards and took only three plays as Torgersen hit tight end Nicholas Bokun for the 19-yard score and the 14-0 lead.

The Blue Devils cut the lead in half with 13:28 to play in the second quarter.  Dolegala hit Smith for a 62-yard touchdown, the longest play from scrimmage for the Blue Devils this season.  The Penn lead was 14-7 after Smith's third touchdown of the season.

Senior Ed Groth kicked a 39-yard field goal following a second Penn turnover and cut the Quaker lead to 14-10 with under 10 minutes to play in the first half.

The Quakers pushed the lead to 21-10 with 6:26 left before halftime on a 29-yard scoring strike from Torgersen to Jimmy Gimmell.  The drive went 10 plays and 75 yards, and the scoring play came on a fourth down play from the 29.

Penn opened the second half with an 80-yard drive capped by a Tre Solomon touchdown to push the lead to 28-10.  Those would be their last points of the game.

Groth's second field goal, this time from 27-yards out, cut the lead to 28-13 with under three minutes to play in the third quarter.  With 11:22 left in the fourth quarter Groth hit again, this time from 26-yards out, to cut the Penn lead to 28-16.

Central was driving in the middle of the fourth quarter but a holding penalty on a big screen pass brought the Blue Devils back to midfield and they failed to convert on a fourth down conversion attempt.

The Blue Devils return home next week and host Wagner at 1 p.m. on Homecoming in New Britain.  The game will air live on ESPN3.