Strong Second Half Helps Football Pull Away from Central Connecticut, 42-20

Saturday, September 30

Providence, R.I.

12 p.m.

Brown University

2-1 , 0-1

Central Connecticut State

1-3 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Central Conn. St.

Brown

Photo by: Emma C. Marion

Strong Second Half Helps Football Pull Away from Central Connecticut, 42-20

9/30/2023 5:14:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A strong second half helped the Brown football team pull away from Central Connecticut State in a 42-20 victory in the Bears' home opener at Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The victory moves Brown to 2-1 on the season for the first time since 2017.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Senior quarterback Jake Willcox had another monster game for the Bears, setting a new career-high for the third week in a row with 386 passing yards, and set a career-high with four touchdown passes. The nation's leader in passing yards per game finished 26-for-39 though the air.
Senior Wes Rockett, the nation's leader in receiving yards per game, finished the game with eight catches for 148 yards (one yard shy of his career-high) and one touchdown.
Senior Graham Walker had five catches for 62 yards a pair of touchdowns.
Sophomore Solomon Miller had four catches for a career-high 96 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown catch and run.
Junior Jordan DeLucia added a touchdown run, senior Mark Mahoney caught his first career touchdown, and senior Nate Lussier threw his first career touchdown pass.
Junior Isaiah Reed led the Bears with seven tackles. Senior Aubrey Parker added six stops and grabbed his second interception of the season.
Brown put up 460 yards of total offense, including 390 through the air.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Bears struck first on their second possession when Lussier found a wide-open Mahoney for a four-yard touchdown pass at 7:08.
CCSU tied it up in the opening minutes of the second quarter on a 41-yard pass over the middle.
Willcox connected with Walker on an 11-yard scoring strike to put Brown back on top 14-7 at 12:04 of the second quarter, capping a nine-play, 70-yard drive.
CCSU pulled within 14-10 following a 24-yard field goal with 6:48 remining until halftime.
Willcox and Walker connected once more, answering with a 31-yard scoring pass to push the lead to 21-10 at 5:06.
Central used a 43-yard field goal with 48 seconds remaining to make it a 21-13 game going into halftime.
Willcox and Rockett connected for a 17-yard score to open the second half and push the edge to 28-13 at the 11:22 mark.
CCSU countered with an 82-yard touchdown run by Elijah Howard to pull within eight once again, 28-20 at 8:40.
Brown answered right back in three quick plays, going 67 yards that ended with a one-yard run by DeLucia to push it back to 35-20. The drive was spurred by consecutive completions for 66 yards to Rockett that moved the ball to the one-yard line.
Miller helped the Bears strike quick on their next drive, making a catch over the middle on their second play before outrunning the defense for a 68-yard touchdown that pushed the lead to 42-20 with 4:59 to go in the third quarter.

QUOTES FROM THE COACH: JAMES PERRY

"What a great home opener. I thought the kids did incredibly well. At halftime, I thought our seniors knew how they needed to respond. They needed to respond physically and attack the game in the second half, and they did that."
"We were really good with the football and it was fun to watch us attacking things on defense, and the offense responding. We needed to do that and that was a hard-fought game against a good team. Then we pulled away a little bit in the end."
"We do throw it a lot, but I think we ran the ball effectively in some critical moments today, which is also characteristic of what we're trying to do. The guys up front are working hard and are blocking well. We have to keep getting better, but there's a lot to build on. It's a good sign for this offense to be taking some steps in year four."

UP NEXT
Brown will continue its three-game home stand next Saturday when they welcome in-state rival URI to Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium for the Governor's Cup matchup. Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN+.

Visit BrownBears.com/tickets to get your tickets today.

Gallery: (9-30-2023) Football vs. CCSU, 9/30/2023

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