2008 Woodie Awards
Football: Huskies upend Towson
Chris Estrada
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Sports
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While the Huskies got off to a sluggish start against Towson Saturday, the NU offense would eventually get on track and score 28 unanswered points to defeat the Tigers in their CAA opener, 35-17, at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md.
Whether or not the Huskies can stay at the top of the division is yet to be determined. They'll get a tougher challenge at Parsons Field Saturday, when the No. 18 Massachusetts Minutemen pay a visit. But right now, Northeastern is tied with New Hampshire at the top of the North.
"I think a little bit of it was that we stopped doing things to stop ourselves - in particular, the first two drives of the second half," head coach Rocky Hager said in a postgame interview with CN8. "Alex Broomfield did a nice job of running the football for us and Coach [Eddie] Davis called in a few formations that gave us a bit of an advantage. We just basically executed a little bit better on the offensive side and, really, we were more able to be a bend-but-don't-break defense."
After the two teams traded touchdowns on their opening drives, Towson used a field goal and a touchdown on its next two possessions to get a 17-7 lead. But with 1:55 to play in the first half, senior quarterback Anthony Orio fired a pass to senior wide receiver Chris Plum, who got through one hit and went over another defender to get in the end zone for the 24-yard touchdown.
The big play swung some momentum toward NU at halftime, and when the second half began, the Huskies quickly took control of the contest.
Turning up the heat on Towson signal-caller Sean Schaefer, the Huskies forced a turnover on downs to start the third quarter. Taking over at their own 25, the Huskies drove to the Tigers 30, where Orio would hook up with Plum again for a second touchdown strike to take a 21-17 lead with 8:09 in the quarter.
After the game, Hager said he believed the re-focused effort on forcing Schaefer to make mistakes was a big part of his team's victory.
"We finally were able to get some pressure on Schaefer," Hager said. "You can't let him throw it around, because you're not going to win in this league if you don't get pressure on the quarterback, and we were able to do that."
Less than a minute later, Schaefer was picked off by sophomore Nate Thellen at the Tigers' 43. After a pair of Broomfield runs and an offensive penalty, Northeastern pulled a trick out of its hat on first and 20 from the 37.
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