September 26, 2009
BRYANT FOOTBALL DEFEATS ROBERT MORRIS 20-13 SATURDAY TO IMPROVE
TO 2-1 ON THE SEASON
BOXSCORE
|
| Junior Mike Canfora caught a career-high six passes for 75
yards including an 11-yard touchdown in Saturday's win over Robert
Morris. www.dspics.com
|
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Trailing 10-0 after one quarter, the Bryant
University football team scored 20 unanswered points to regain the
lead and would hold on for a 20-13 win over Robert Morris Saturday
afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium.
The win, Bryant's first in Northeast Conference play, improves
the Bulldogs to 2-1 overall on the season heading into next
Saturday's homecoming game against Wagner College at Bulldog
Stadium (1 pm).
Senior running back Jerell Smith had a huge day
for the Bulldogs, rushing for 111 yards on 24 carries. It was
the eighth time in Smith's career the Brooklyn, NY native has gone
over 100 yards rushing in the game.
Quarterback Mike Croce of Waterbury, CT was
equally impressive in just his third start. The sophomore
completed 14 of 25 passes for 182 yards and a pair of touchdown
passes of 9 and 11 yards to pace the Bryant offense.
Croce hooked up with senior wide receiver Khalel
Pritchard with a nine-yard touchdown strike midway through
the second quarter to pull the Bulldogs to within 10-7. A 28
yard field goal by Chris Bird early in the third
tied the game at 10-10 but a 21-yard field goal by Bird at the
start of the fourth finally put the visitors in front, 13-10.
The Colonials' ensuing drive was brief as Bryant defensive back
Anthony Castelli (Cranston, RI) intercepted a
Camdin Crouse pass at the Colonial's 34 yard line and returned down
the 16. Two plays later, the Bulldogs turned the mistake into
points as Croce hit Mike Canfora with an 11-yard
touchdown pass to make it 20-10.
Robert Morris (0-4, 0-1) would add a late field goal to round
out the scoring as the Bulldogs improve to 2-1 on the season and
1-0 in league play.
Canfora, a junior running back out of Verona, NJ, caught a
career-high six passes for 75 yards while tight end Matt
Tracey had three catches for 67 yards. Bryant
finished the day with 344 yards of total offense while the defense
held RMU to just 167 yards of offense, holding the Colonials
talented tailback Myles Russ to just 80 yards on 20
carries. Crouse completed just 5 of 16 passes and was
intercepted twice and sacked three times.
Jason Riffe led the defensive effort for
Bryant, finishing with nine tackles including a pair for a loss and
one sack . Andre Whyte had six tackles while
Franck Tebou (5 tackles) and Don
Smith (4 tackles) each had a sack in the game while
teammates Aaron Bryant and Pat
Gauthier combined on sack as well.
