Box Score Pittsburgh, Pa. – Tyler Dube (Southington, Conn.) caught an RJ Noel (Lowell, Mass.) on fourth-and-12 with 23 seconds left to give the Sacred Heart University football team a 23-20 victory over Northeast Conference host Duquesne University. The win improves the Pioneers to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Dukes fall to 4-3 on the season and 1-1 in league play.
"It [the comeback] shows the resiliency of our kids," said Pioneers head coach Mark Nofri. "Things were looking pretty bleak there for a time [down 20-7] and then RJ [Noel] makes a big play for us. The defense tightened up and the offense did what it had to do. I can't say enough about these kids and the leadership. They just keep coming and keep playing no matter what."
The Pioneers converted twice on fourth down in the game-winning drive. Noel rushed for 15 yards on the first play of the drive and then connected on a seven-yard pass to Dube, setting up second-and three from the 23 yards line. After back-to-back incompletions Jackson King (Merrimack, N.H.) leapt to catch a fourth down pass and took it to the Duquesne three-yard line for first and goal.
Incompletions on the sideline to Dube on first and third down were sandwiched around a sack of Noel, setting up the game-winning fourth down conversion. Noel rolled left and hit Dube in the numbers, with 23 seconds left, just inside the goal line for the lead. Chris Rogers (Cazenovia, N.Y.) converted the PAT for the three-point lead and Connor Candito (Shrewsbury, Mass.) intercepted Ryan Egolf's first down pass to seal the victory.
"We basically ran the same play three straight times," said Dube, "and the corned made two good plays and I couldn't get my feed down inbounds. We did a great job [on the drive] and Jackson made a great fourth down catch to put us inside the three and then we finished off the drive."
The Pioneers finished with 339 yards of offense in the game, behind Noel's 101 yards rushing and 14-28 for 204 yards passing. Dube finished with five catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns, while Noel rushed for the Pioneer's other score. Gordon Hill (Sicklerville, N.J.) finished with a game-high 12 tackles, including three TFL's in the game. Connor Caveney (Fitchburg, Mas.) also had three TFl's in the game, while the Pioneer finished with three sacks.
Sacred Heart got on the board first on its second drive of the game. Noel completed his first five passes of the game, starting the scoring drive with a 44 yard completion to Moses Webb (Manassas, Va.). The six-play, 86-yard drive was capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Dube to Noel, the ninth time this season the two have connected for a score. The ensuing kickoff was recovered at the Duquesne 30-yard line by Alec Finelli (Eastampton, N.J.). Sacred Heart was unable to move the chains however on the drive, turning the ball over on downs.
Duquesne got on the board in the final minutes of the second quarter. Ryan Egolf, who went 13-22 for 164 yards passing, found Chris King from 15 yards out, sending the score to the intermission, tied 7-7. Devin Rahming put the Dukes ahead early in the third quarter, with Egolf's second scoring pass of the game, this time from 12 yards, for the 14-7 leads 3:33 into the half. Egolf found King for a second scoring pass with 3:49 to play in the third quarter, from 58 yards.
Troy Moore (Worcester, Mass.) blocked the ensuing PAT to keep the score 20-7.
On the Pioneers next drive Noel scampered a career-long 67-yards on third down for the score to make the score 20-14 with 2:39 to play in the third quarter. The Pioneer defense did not allow the Dukes to put anymore points on the board, forcing two punts and a turnover on downs, before the final drives.
Duquesne got the ball on its own seven after the Pioneers went for it on fourth and goal and had an incomplete pass. After a pair of rushes were held for no-gain, Stephan Thomas (Egg Harbor Township, Pa.) stopped Marcus Hughes for five yards to force fourth down. After taking an intentional delay of game penalty, Austin Crimmins took an intentional safety to make the score 20-16. The ensuing kickoff was returned by Dube 37 yards to the Duquesne 45, setting up the final drive.
"We knew what we had to do," said Thomas, about the defensive stand that preceded the Pioneers touchdown. We have been in that situation many times and we did what we had to do. On that third down play the back was coming at me full speed and I had a choice to take him low and let him get the first down or take him high.
The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, October 25th when they host Saint Francis University. The 1 p.m. game, on Campus Field, will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
