Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
FROSTBURG, MD—The Alfred University football team piled up 259 rushing yards and scored two defensive touchdowns in a 32-7 victory at Empire 8 Conference foe Frostburg State Saturday afternoon.
The Saxons scored the game's first 22 points, holding Frostburg scoreless until 5:24 remained in the third. AU had 398 yards of offense and held Frostburg to 240, including a mere 85 passing, well below its 251-yard per game passing average coming in. With the win, Alfred's second straight, the Saxons improved to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Empire 8 play.
AU opened the scoring on a 33-yard field goal by freshman Thomas Gioia, then added a pair of touchdowns on a 40-yard interception return by junior free safety Mike Perkins with 4:25 left in the opening frame and a seven-yard TD toss from freshman quarterback Tyler Johnson to senior tailback Austin Dwyer. Both extra points failed and Alfred led 15-0 midway through the second quarter.
Johnson threw his second TD pass of the game, a 29-yarder to senior wideout Josh Phillips five minutes into the third to give Alfred a 22-0 advantage. After Frostburg scored with 5:24 left in the third to make it 22-7, the Saxons closed out the scoring on a 31-yard Gioia field goal with 11:08 left in the fourth and a 25-yard fumble return by freshman nose guard Zack Bacon with 10:25 remaining. Bacon's recovery and return came after AU senior end Justin Collen sacked the Frostburg quarterback and forced the fumble.
Dwyer finished with 101 yards rushing on just 14 carries. Senior fullback Chuck Beckwith had 56 yards rushing and senior tailback Tyler DeRosa added 47. Johnson completed 17 of 31 passes for 139 yards and a pair of scores, and Phillips had six catches for 64 yards.
Frostburg tailback Mike Fourth ran for a game-high 117 yards and a touchdown and also caught three passes for 39 yards.
Sophomore linebacker Peter Diak paced the Saxon defense with a game-high 13 tackles. Collen had seven tackles, including a pair of sacks, and a forced fumble; sophomore strong safety Mike Berardi had six tackles and forced a fumble; and Perkins and senior safety Seiji Hinton each had interceptions.
Marcus Moody had a team-best 13 tackles (one for loss) for Frostburg, while Keith Smith added 11.
AU is in action next on Saturday, Nov. 2, at noon, when the Saxons host Salisbury in a key Empire 8 matchup.