Pioneers Fall To Southern Connecticut, 49-35; Blount Sets 2005 Single-Game High In Total Offense
Box Score
KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Oct. 15) - Steve Armstrong completed 21-of-32 passes for 396 yards and three touchdown passes – all to Jim Lukowiak, while Rory Palmer rushed for three scores Saturday afternoon, leading Southern Connecticut to a 49-35 victory over C.W. Post, 49-35, in a Northeast-10 Conference contest.
The game was played at Capt. Tomb Field in Brooks Stadium on the campus of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, as C.W. Post's Hickox Field was deemed unplayable after this past week's torrential rains.
After C.W. Post (5-2, 5-1 Northeast-10) went up 7-0 on a one-yard touchdown run by freshman Anthony Lazarus (has scored a touchdown in each of his first seven college games) just 1:54 into the game, the Owls (5-2, 4-2 NE-10) countered two plays later when Armstrong found Lukowiak (7 rec., 164 yds.) on an 83-yard scoring play to knot the game at 7-7.
Pioneers senior Rob Blount, who gained 559 yards of total offense (20-of-35 passing, career-high 470 yards, 3 TD, INT; 22 passes, 89 yds., TD) on the afternoon and accounted for four touchdowns, ran in from three yards away, before Southern Connecticut ran off 14 unanswered points (Lukowiak – 41-yd. reception; Palmer – three-yard run) to hold a 21-14 edge after one quarter.
CWP knotted the game at 21-21 with 3:26 left in the first half when Chris Bone (eight receptions, career-high 196 yds., 2 TD) caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Blount. However, Palmer plunged in from seven yards out with 50 seconds to go, giving the Owls a 28-21 lead at the break.
Palmer's final score of the game came on a one-yard plunge with 8:59 left in the third quarter, before Shawn Harris (31 carries, 175 yards) outkicked the defense from 40 yards away to give SCSU its largest lead of the game (42-21) with 13:48 left in the game.
Blount threw identical 57-yard touchdown passes to Bone (13:19 left) and Ryan Heller (four catches, career-high 130 yards) to pull the Pioneers within 42-35 with 9:58 left in the game. However, CWP could do no more scoring damage, as the Owls rounded out the scoring when Lukowiak caught a 21-yard score from Armstrong on third-and-nine with 2:01 remaining.
The teams combined for 1,262 yards of total offense (647 by CWP) on the afternoon, while Southern Connecticut held C.W. Post to 4-for-13 on third-down conversions. Additionally, the Pioneers were just 3-for-7 in red-zone conversions on the day.
Defensively, the Owls were able to sack Blount a season-high five times, led by Dexter Alexander's 3.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. Rashard Howard (seven tkl.) added 1.5 sacks, while Jim Norman and Ron Turner notched 10 hits apiece. C.W. Post's Javien Eason posted a game- and career-high 14 tackles, to go along with one forced fumble and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Head coach Bryan Collins's Pioneers, who are tied in the loss column with Bentley in NE-10 play, will look to get back on the winning track next Saturday (Oct. 22), when they travel to Springfield , Mass. , for a 1 p.m. kick-off at American International College.