Big Defensive Stand Helps Brown Hold off CCSU, 27-20

Saturday, October 8

New Britain, Conn.

1:00 p.m.

Brown University

2-2 , 0-1

Central Connecticut State

0-6 , 0-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Brown

Central Connecticut

Photo by: Mike Orazzi

Big Defensive Stand Helps Brown Hold off CCSU, 27-20

10/8/2022 5:24:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – A big fourth down stop at the goal line in the final minute helped the Brown football team hold off Central Connecticut State for a big 27-20 road win on Saturday afternoon. The win moves the Bears to 2-2 on the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Sophomore Isaiah Reed had a career-high eight tackles, seven of which were solo.
Senior Ethan Royer had a career-high seven tackles.
Freshman Sam Smith forced a fumble, and Sean Kelly added a recovery.
Senior wideout Hayes Sutton went over the century mark for the first time in his career with four catches for 107 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown catch.
Sophomore Samuel Baddoo scored his first career touchdown as part of a two catch, 31-yard performance.
Senior Nate Lussier had a 46-yard catch, the first of his career.
Christopher Maron was 2-for-2 on field goals, hitting from 37 yards and tying his career-high with a 48-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Junior Jake Willcox was 17-for-28 passing for 274 yards and two touchdowns.
Brown held a 284-241 edge through the air, while CCSU totaled 395 yards of offense to Brown's 301.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Brown struck first on its second possession. After a two-yard run by Allen Smith on fourth-and-one moved the ball to the 40-yard line, Willcox connected with Sutton, who spun out of a tackle and turned it into a 60-yard touchdown, the longest catch of his career to put Brown up 7-0.
The Blue Devils answered right back with a 75-yard scoring drive of their own, capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass on third down from Shon Mitchell to Erik Surratt at the 3:57 mark. The extra point was no good, keeping it a 7-6 Brown lead.
Willcox hit Lussier deep down the middle for a 46-yard completion to set up 1st-and-goal at the three. One play later, Smith took the direct snap and rushed it in for the score to push the lead to 14-6 with 12:22 remaining in the half.
On Central's ensuing drive, freshman Sam Smith stripped the receiver of the ball, which was recovered by Sean Kelly to give the ball back to Brown at the Bears 42 yard-line. The offense converted the turnover into points when Willcox connected with Baddoo for a 29-yard touchdown catch to increase the lead to 21-6 at the 10:43 mark.
CCSU came back on its ensuing possession, scoring on an 85-yard run up the middle by Nasir Smith to make it 21-13 with 5:52 remaining until halftime.
After a Brown fumble in the final minute, CCSU took the ball into the red zone and attempted a 29-yard field goal as time expired, but Brown came away with a block to keep it an eight-point game at the break.
The only points of the third quarter came courtesy of Maron, who drilled a 37-yard field goal from the left hash with 50 seconds remaining to make it 24-13.
Maron later tied his career-high with a 48-yard field goal with 7:12 on the clock to get the lead back to 14, 27-13.
CCSU turned a Brown fumble into points with 7:12 remaining on a 21-yard catch and run to make it 27-20.
After forcing a Brown three-and-out, CCSU took over at their own 26 and embarked on an 11-play drive, and moved the ball down to the six-yard line with just over one minute to go. After an incomplete pass into the end zone on third down, CCSU completed a swing pass to the right on fourth down, but Griffin McGovern made the game-saving tackle one yard shy of first down yardage to force the turnover on downs with 57 seconds left.

QUOTES FROM THE COACH: JAMES PERRY

"In a really hard-fought game, that was the best defense we've played in three years. I'm really proud of the kids with how they executed and how hard they played until the very end. It was a really remarkable defensive effort."
"We handled their speed well. They are a well-coached team and that is as physical as I've seen us play, which is something that we take a lot of pride in."
"We kicked the ball really well and in addition, we actually kicked and covered really well all day long. It was great to see that from a special teams perspective."
"CCSU is really strong and fast, and they forced us to do some things that we need to improve upon, namely turning the ball over. To their credit, they put us in a position where it was really hard to run the ball and unfortunately, we handled that poorly."

UP NEXT
The Bears will return to action on Friday evening when they travel to Princeton for an Ivy League matchup that will be nationally televised live on ESPNU. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Gallery: (10-8-2022) Football at Central Conn. St., 10/8/2022

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