Early lead disappears, Bulldogs fall, 42-21

Bulldogs drop season finale, 42-21

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University football team raced out to a 21-7 first-half lead but Central Connecticut State University closed the game with 35 unanswered points, defeating the Bulldogs, 42-21, Saturday afternoon at Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs (7-4, 5-3) honored their 28 seniors prior to the game and appeared on their way to the third eight-win season in program history. Trailing by 14 with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter, the Blue Devils (4-7, 3-5) began playing like the team that was picked to win the Northeast Conference in the preseason poll. CCSU limited Bryant to just 60 yards the remainder of the game, moving to 4-0 in the all-time series with the Bulldogs.

Central Connecticut's spread option was the difference in the game as the Blue Devils racked 492 yards of total offense and controlled the ball for nearly 35 minutes. CCSU answered Bryant's third score of the afternoon with a 10-play drive that was finished by a Gunnar Jespersen touchdown pass to Chris Tolbert. The Blue Devils stopped the Bulldogs on three plays and got the ball back with 2:26 remaining in the half. They proceeded to drive 75 yards in 12 plays, tying the game with just 12 seconds on the clock. An reverse pass resulted in a 33-yard gain and Jespersen scrambled turned a fourth-and-seven into a first down with an eight-yard scramble to keep the drive alive. Tolbert's six-yard run capped the drive.

It was all CCSU for the rest of the afternoon. The Blue Devils took the momentum into the locker room and then came out in the second half and put the game away. Dominating the Bulldogs in a half they usually hold the advantage, the Blue Devils outscored Bryant, 21-0, after the break.

On the first drive of the second half, the Bulldogs drove to the Central Connecticut 25 but senior quarterback Mike Croce's (Waterbury, Conn.) pass on fourth down was intercepted at the CCSU three. What followed was the longest drive of the season for a Bryant opponent. The Blue Devils used 18 plays to drive 97 yards, breaking a 21-21 tie for good on a Brian Fowler one-yard scoring run. A Deven Baker 25-yard TD reception and a 19-yard run from Fowler closed out the scoring for CCSU.

For the first 24 minutes of the game, however, it was all Bulldogs. Bryant stopped the Blue Devils on fourth down on two of their first three possessions and scored on three of its first four opportunities. The defense stuffed Jespersen on a fourth-and-two to give the Bulldogs their first possession and they needed just five plays to take the lead. A personal foul against Bryant set up a second-and-21, but a 10-yard completion to junior running back Jordan Brown (Glastonbury, Conn.) made it a long third down, and Croce followed that with a 42-yard touchdown strike to sophomore Jordan Harris (Lincoln University, Pa.). It marked the sixth-straight game the Bulldogs had scored first and the eighth-straight game that Harris had caught a touchdown pass.

Central Connecticut responded with an 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by the first of Fowler's three scores. Fowler set up the score with a 41-yard scamper down the far sideline.

The tie was short-lived. A short kickoff started the Bulldogs at their own 48 and they went to work. Croce found his classmate Matt Tracey (Littleton, Colo.) for a 13-yard gain and a facemask penalty at the end of an eight-yard Brown run put the ball at the Blue Devils 11. CCSU stuffed Brown at the goal line twice before Croce called his own number and plunged into the end zone from a yard out.

Bryant's defense did its job again on the next Blue Devil drive. Coming out after the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs stopped Central Connecticut on a fourth-and-one attempt at their own 35. The Bulldogs built off the stop, driving all the way to the CCSU two-yard line thanks to a 16-yard reverse by Harris and 25-yard reception by freshman Jose DePadua (Hagerstown, Md.). With a second-and-goal at the two, and nearly automatic in these situations on the year, the Bulldogs could not cash in as Brown was hit at the line of scrimmage and fumbled the ball.

Although Central Connecticut would not score on its next possession, the turnover cost the Bulldogs valuable points and momentum. Bryant would stop CCSU after the turnover and took its biggest lead of the afternoon on its next possession. Starting at the CCSU 41, a 17-yard catch by Harris and a 16-yard run by Brown moved the Bulldogs inside the Blue Devils 10-yard line. Croce then found Tracey in the corner of the end zone to put the Bulldogs on top, 21-7.

Playing in their final games, Bryant's linebacker trio of Paul Hanley (Leicester, Mass.), Franck Tebou (Mattapoisett, Mass.) and Mike Abany (Mansfield, Mass.) led the defense in tackles. Hanley and Tebou both recorded 13 stops and Abany added 12 on the afternoon. With their performances on the afternoon, Hanley and Tebou will leave the program as two of the top three tacklers in a single season in program history. Tebou finished just two tackles shy of becoming only the second Bulldog player to record 100 tackles in a season, and Hanley leaves the program tied for third all time with 86 tackles in a single season.

On offense, Croce completed his fantastic college career with 157 yards and two touchdowns  on 13-of-28 passing. He finished the season with 20 touchdown passes, falling one shy of Charlie Granatell's program record of 21 set in 2006. Tracey finished with three catches for 24 yards and a touchdown and leaves the program as the all-time leader in touchdown receptions with 19. Brown registered his 11^th 100-yard rushing game of the season, finishing with 109 yards on 25 carries. He was held scoreless for the first time all season.

The 2011 season was Bryant's best since joining the Northeast Conference in 2008. The Black and Gold finished the season with the most conference wins (5) in program history and will be eligible to compete for the NEC's automatic qualifier into the FCS Playoffs next fall.