October 18, 2008 

BRYANT DEFEATS ROBERT MORRIS 20-7 SATURDAY
Bulldog Defense Registers Eight Sacks on the Day

box score

Jerell Smith rushed for 104 yards in leading Bryant to a 20-7 win over Robert Morris Saturday.  www.dspics.com

SMITHFIELD, R.I. ( 10/18/08)  -- Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) rushed for 104 yards on 16 carries while Anthony DiNaso (Staten Island, NY) caught a pair of touchdown passes to lead Bryant University to a 20-7 win over visiting Robert Morris University before a standing-room only crowd of 5,630 at Bulldog Stadium Saturday afternoon .Scored on its first possession of the game and let the defense handle the rest as Bryant held the Colonials to minus-20 yards rushing on the ground and sacked quarterback Erik Cwalinski eight times, tying a school record.

Bryant (4-3) used a good balance attack in starting quickly as the Bulldogs opened with a 66-yard drive on its first possession to take a quick 7-0 lead.  Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury, MA) helped keep the drive moving with a nice 19-yard pickup to move the ball down inside the Colonial 20 yard line.

Three players later, quarterback Jay Graber hit DiNaso for the first of his two touchdowns on the day as the senior quarterback connected with the sophomore receiver across the middle for with a third-down pass across the middle for a 13-yard touchdown with 12:16 left in the first quarter.

It would be the only scoring of the first half, but the Bulldogs would take advantage of a crucial turnover by Robert Morris, the first of only two in the game.  After forcing the Bulldogs to punt on their first possession, Robert Morris (2-5) took over with good field position near midfield.  But on the ensuing possession, RMU running back Myles Russ fumbled the hand-off and Don Smith (Attleboro, MA) was there to recover. 

Bryant would take full advantage of the momentum swing as Smith found a seam in the defensive line on the very next play and raced down the right sideline for a 37-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.

Graber and DiNaso would hook up again in the fourth, this time on a 19-yard pass play in the corner of the end zone to make it 20-0.  Cwalinski would help RMU avoid the shutout as the senior scored from 11 yards out to round out the scoring on the day.

DiNaso finished with three catches for 54 yards while teammate Ross Giffune (Foxboro, MA) also had three receptions for 58 yards.  Russ, who came into the game averaging 145 yards rushing per game, was held to just 37 on the day.  Cwalinski completed 11 of 25 passes for 161 yards for Robert Morris.

But the story of the day was the Bryant defense that held a Colonial team averaging 340 yards of offense to only 141 Saturday.  Pat Gauthier (Woonsocket, RI) had 7 tackles plus accounted for three of Bryant's eight sacks.  Andre Whyte (Bennington, VT) and Andrew Regan (West Newbury, MA) each had five tackles.  Freshman Mike McGowan (Attleboro, MA / Bishop Feehan) had a big day in his first start at cornerback. McGowan had a pair of tackles and led the team with three pass breakups. 

Bryant will travel to UMass next Saturday for a 1 p.m. game while Robert Morris heads to Staten Island, NY for a Northeast Conference matchup with Wagner College.