BRYANT FOOTBALL DEFEATS ROBERT MORRIS 20-13 SATURDAY

September 26, 2009

BRYANT FOOTBALL DEFEATS ROBERT MORRIS 20-13 SATURDAY TO IMPROVE TO 2-1 ON THE SEASON
BOXSCORE

Junior Mike Canfora caught a career-high six passes for 75 yards including an 11-yard touchdown in Saturday's win over Robert Morris.  www.dspics.com

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Trailing 10-0 after one quarter, the Bryant University football team scored 20 unanswered points to regain the lead and would hold on for a 20-13 win over Robert Morris Saturday afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium. 

The win, Bryant's first in Northeast Conference play, improves the Bulldogs to 2-1 overall on the season heading into next Saturday's homecoming game against Wagner College at Bulldog Stadium (1 pm).

Senior running back Jerell Smith had a huge day for the Bulldogs, rushing for 111 yards on 24 carries.  It was the eighth time in Smith's career the Brooklyn, NY native has gone over 100 yards rushing in the game.

Quarterback Mike Croce of Waterbury, CT was equally impressive in just his third start.  The sophomore completed 14 of 25 passes for 182 yards and a pair of touchdown passes of 9 and 11 yards to pace the Bryant offense. 

Croce hooked up with senior wide receiver Khalel Pritchard with a nine-yard touchdown strike midway through the second quarter to pull the Bulldogs to within 10-7.  A 28 yard field goal by Chris Bird early in the third tied the game at 10-10 but a 21-yard field goal by Bird at the start of the fourth finally put the visitors in front, 13-10. 

The Colonials' ensuing drive was brief as Bryant defensive back Anthony Castelli (Cranston, RI) intercepted a Camdin Crouse pass at the Colonial's 34 yard line and returned down the 16.  Two plays later, the Bulldogs turned the mistake into points as Croce hit Mike Canfora with an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-10.

Robert Morris (0-4, 0-1) would add a late field goal to round out the scoring as the Bulldogs improve to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in league play.

Canfora, a junior running back out of Verona, NJ, caught a career-high six passes for 75 yards while tight end Matt Tracey had three catches for 67 yards.  Bryant finished the day with 344 yards of total offense while the defense held RMU to just 167 yards of offense, holding the Colonials talented tailback Myles Russ to just 80 yards on 20 carries.   Crouse completed just 5 of 16 passes and was intercepted twice and sacked three times.

Jason Riffe led the defensive effort for Bryant, finishing with nine tackles including a pair for a loss and one sack . Andre Whyte had six tackles while Franck Tebou (5 tackles) and Don Smith (4 tackles) each had a sack in the game while teammates Aaron Bryant and Pat Gauthier combined on sack as well.