November 17, 2007
SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT DEFEATS BRYANT
45-20
NCAA Division II Football Playoffs
BOX SCORE
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Southern Connecticut quarterback Steve
Armstrong threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns as the Owls used
a strong second half defensive effort to earn a 45-28 win over
Bryant University in a first round NCAA Division II playoff game
here Saturday. Southern Connecticut (9-3), the No. 4 seed of
the regional, will move on to face top-seed California (PA) next
Saturday.
Bryant (8-3) ends another remarkable season that included the
school's second-straight NE-10 Conference Championship and second
NCAA appearance in a row as Charlie Granatell completed 17 of 29
passes for 168 yards in the game.
"I am proud of how hard our kids played today," said Bryant
coach Marty Fine. "Southern Connecticut is a good football
team and they showed it today. They are well-coached and made
the big plays. A job well done goes to Southern Connecticut."
The Owls, making their third consecutive NCAA appearance and
hosting the event for the first time, raced out in front 14-0 early
as Armstrong opened the game with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Craig
Toulouse and added another short pass to Jarom Freeman who turned
the corner for a 65-yard touchdown.
Freeman, who rushed for an NCAA record 418 yards against the
Bulldogs two weeks ago, finished the game 146 yards rushing on 25
carries in the game.
The Bulldogs would answer Freeman's score, getting on the board
with 5:27 left in the first on a Jerell Smith 5 yard touchdown
run. A Granatell 44-yard pass to Jarett Solimando down the
middle helped set up the Bryant score.
Southern would answer as fans were treated to plenty of offense
throughout the first half as the senior tailback scored on a
4th down run up the middle for 21 yards to make it
21-7.
But Smith scored his second touchdown of the half and Lindsey
Gamble added a 40-yard touchdown run up the middle and the Bulldogs
were within a point, 21-20.
Armstrong's 10 yard touchdown pass to Chris Bergeski and a
Charles Gallagher 22-yard field goal just before the half sent the
Owls into the locker room at the break up 31-20.
In the second half, the Southern defense kept the Bulldogs in
check as a Chris Peaks 1 yard run with 39 seconds left round out
the scoring. Gamble finished with 83 yards in the game while
Smith added 52 yards on 10 carries. Senior Sean Bergin had
seven catches for 61 yards. The Bulldogs had 362 yards of
total offense in the game while SCSU racked up 542 yards of
offense.
The loss will not diminish another outstanding season for
Bryant. In only its ninth year of varsity play, the Bulldogs
equaled last year's record win total of eight games and repeated at
Northeast-10 Conference Champions, winning the title outright with
a 29-3 win over Bentley at home last week.
Fourth-year coach Marty Fine was named Coach of the Year in the
Northeast-10 in leading the Bulldogs to their first-ever No. 1
regional ranking earlier this year.
Despite the loss of last year's conference MVP Lorenzo Perry who
graduated along with eight other offensive starters, the 2007
season will go down as the best in school history. Something
this group can be very proud of.
"When we came in here in 2004, we wanted to build a program that
could stand the test of time," added Fine. "Though it is
still too early to judge, we are going in the right direction and
doing the right thing."
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