Record-Breaking Offensive Day Leads to Road Victory at Robert Morris
Blue Devils play on the road at Bryant next week
The Central Connecticut football team won its seventh straight Northeast Conference game and put on an offensive clinic in a 56-35 road victory over Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon. The win evens Central's record at 3-3 overall and moves them to 1-0 in league play on the season. They travel to Bryant on Saturday at 1 p.m. for their fourth straight road game.
Central's offense produced a school-record 699 yards of total offense, beating the previous record of 622 set vs. Glassboro State set in 1972. It also set a new NEC record for total yards in a game, topping the 628 yards by St. Francis U in 2015. The win was the first for the Blue Devils at Robert Morris since the 2004 season, and the first for the Blue Devils in Joe Walton Stadium.
Central rushed for 358 yards in the game and passed for 341, scoring eight touchdowns in the victory. The 56 points were the most in an NEC game for the Blue Devils since they score 62 in a victory over St. Francis U in 2006. The Blue Devils punted just once in the victory.
Junior Drew Jean-Guillaume rushed for a career-high 157 yards and three touchdowns in the game. He also had 82 yards receiving in the victory. Senior Courtney Rush had six catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown. Senior quarterback Jacob Dolegala finished the game 19-of-22 for 341 yards and two touchdowns. He matched his career-high with the 341 yards. He also rushed seven times for 67 yards and a score. His 408 yards of total offense is also a school-record. The Blue Devils rushed for six touchdowns in the game.
The Blue Devils scored first on a 23-yard scoring run from Jean-Guillaume. The run capped a 6-play, 74-yard drive and gave the Blue Devils the 7-0 lead. RMU answered quickly, and needed only two plays to go 81-yards and tie the game 7-7 with 11:35 left in the first quarter. Central scored again on its second drive as Jean-Guillaume rushed it in for his second score, this time from 15-yards out, to cap a 75-yard drive. The touchdown gave the Blue Devils a 14-7 lead.
The Blue Devils forced the Colonials to punt on their next drive, but the punt was fumbled by CCSU and the RMU drive continued. They scored with 4:37 left in the first quarter to tie the game 14-14.
Jean-Guillaume rushed for his third touchdown of the first quarter to push the Blue Devil lead to 21-14. This time he rushed from 25-yards out for the score, the third for the Blue Devils on three offensive drives. The Colonials answered again, however, and used a 6-play, 65-yard drive to tie the game at 21-21 on the first play of the second quarter.
The Blue Devils scored again, this time on a 6-play, 54-yard drive that was capped with 1-yard run from junior Enyce Walker. The lead was 28-21. Following a RMU punt the Blue Devils went 92-yards in 11 plays to push the lead to 35-21 with under three minutes to play in the half. Dolegala hit Rush from 23-yards out for the first touchdown pass of the game.
With 40 seconds left in the second quarter, the game was hit with a weather delay as lightning was detected in the area. The game resumed after an hour delay, the teams finished the first half and then began the second half of play.
The Colonials opened the second half with an 8-play, 83-yard drive to cut the lead to 35-28 with 11:37 left in the third quarter. Rush scored his second touchdown of the game, this time on a 8-yard rush, to push the lead to 42-28 with 7:46 left in the third quarter. The scoring drive took 8-plays and covered 75 yards.
Robert Morris put together a 10-play, 79-yard drive on their ensuing possession to cut the lead to 42-35. Quarterback Jimmy Walker threw his second scoring pass of the game to cut the lead to seven.
Dolegala posted the sixth rushing touchdown of the game for the Blue Devils capping a 9-play, 75-yard drive that pushed the Blue Devil lead to 49-35. It was his second rushing touchdown of the season for the senior quarterback. Dolegala hit Rush for the second time in the game with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter to push the final score to 56-35.
The Blue Devils return to action next Saturday on the road at Bryant at 1 p.m. The game will air love on NEC Front Row.
