CCSU Football Tops Lehigh 28-21 to Open 2009 Season

Senior running back James Mallory rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown and senior quarterback Hunter Wanket completed 15-of-19 passes for 169 yards and two scores as the Central Connecticut State University football team opened the 2009 season with a 28-21 victory at Lehigh on Saturday. The win is the second straight over a Patriot League opponent for CCSU who opened the 2005 season with a win at Colgate. CCSU is next in action next week at #14 William and Mary at 7 p.m.

Wanket's day didn't start off well, as CCSU turned the ball over three times in the red zone on its first three drives. The turnovers included two fumbles and an interception in the end zone, on three straight possessions. However, the senior signal caller rebounded to post one of his most impressive days in a Blue Devil uniform. Wanket and classmate Aubrey Norris connected on 17-of-21 total passes for 177 yards and a pair of scores. Wanket played the majority of the snaps at quarterback and made his presence known. He also rushed for 25 yards in the victory.

CCSU dominated the time of possession in the game holding the ball fo 43:44 and running 87 offensive plays. The Blue Devils rushed for 228 yards on the ground, led by 117 by Mallory and 44 from Eric Richardson and 40 morre from junior Brian Fowler. They had over 400 total yards on offense.

After five turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game (three by CCSU and two by Lehigh), the Blue Devils got on the board first as Wanket hit senior Richie Martin on a 24-yard pass, following a blocked punt. Nick Delgado, who had a key inteception late in the game for CCSU, blocked the Lehigh punt and gave CCSU excellent field position. They took advantage and needed only four plays to go up 7-0 with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

Lehigh wasted little time answering as defensive back John Kennedy ran the kickoff back for a 92-yard score to tie the game at 7-7, with 49 seconds left in the first quarter.

Mallory's one-yard score with 10:23 to go before halftime gave CCSU the 14-7 lead. The ran capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive that took 5:18 off the clock. Lehigh would tie the game before halftime on a seven-yard pass from JB Clark to Alex Wojdowski before the break.

The Blue Devil defense posted a pair of interceptions on two of the first three possessions by the Mountain Hawks, including the first play of the game. Clark tried a deep ball down the sideline on the first play by CCSU's Marcus Dorsey grabbed the ball and gave CCSU good field position to start their drive. On the third possession of the half, defensive lineman Roberto Rodriguez posted another interception to stop a Lehigh drive and again give CCSU great field position.

CCSU took a 21-14 lead in the third quarter as Eric Richardson scored from two-yards out, completing a 57-yard drive with 8:49 on the clock. Again the Mountain Hawks scored quickly as Clark hit Jake Drwal with a 58-yard touchdown strike to tie the game at 21-21.

With the game tied at 21-21, the Mountain Hawks forced a Blue Devil fumble and got the ball in great field position at the CCSU 39-yardline. On second and goal from the four yardline, CCSU forced its third interception, this one by Delgado in the end zone, and ended the Lehigh threat. CCSU scored the game-winner on its next possession following an 80-yard drive.

Josue Paul caught his first touchdown pass of the season, which proved to be the game-winner, on a 40-yard strike from Wanket with 1:26 left in the third quarter. The play finished an 80-yard drive for the Blue Devils, and was the second scoring strike of the game for Wanket.

The defense forced three Lehigh interceptions and blocked a punt en route to the Blue Devil win. It marked the third season-opening win for CCSU in the four seasons under head coach Jeff McInerney.

"Our motto is to not look up until the fourth quarter," McInerney said when asked about the tough start in the first quarter. "Every play is important, and I am very proud of this team. This team has seniors and very good leaders. They get it. They know what we are trying to do here and they realized that this game was not over just because we made some mistakes."

"We have a lot of trust in each other," Wanket said in the post-game press conference. "I made some mistakes and I knew I had to pick it up. They were correctable mistakes, and with an experienced offensive line I knew we could rebound. I trust these guys and everyone in this locker room trusts each other, that's how we were able to come away with a win."

CCSU outgained Lehigh 405 to 184 on the game, and Clark finished the game just 7-of-29 with three interceptions. The Blue Devils never trailed.

"All the credit goes to these players," McInerney said. "They are tough guys and when you get kids who can lead like that good things happen. Defensively we had a great scheme and we executed it perfectly. We have great coaches who had these guys prepared for everything they threw at us today. I'm so proud of this team."

Mallory's day put him over 2,000 yards for his career with the Blue Devils, becoming just the fourth player in school history to reach that milestone. He now has 2,010 career rushing yards.

CCSU returns to action next Saturday at William and Mary at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on ESPN Radio 1410 and online at CCSUBlueDevils.com.