BROOKLINE, Massachusetts (Sept. 28) - Northeastern senior tailback William Griffin rushed 24 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns and the Huskies' defense recorded seven sacks and stopped the Pride running game as the 14th-ranked Huskies of Northeastern (4-0, 2-0) posted a 28-17 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over the 24th ranked Hofstra Pride (2-3, 2-2) at Parsons Field Saturday afternoon. The Huskies posted their fourth straight victory while Hofstra dropped its second straight contest.
In a defensive first quarter for both teams, Hofstra got on the board first late in the period. After a Northeastern punt gave Hofstra the ball on its own 46, quarterback Ryan Cosentino engineered a nine-play, 41-yard drive that stalled out at the Huskies 14 yardline. Chris Onorato booted a 31-yard field goal to give Hofstra a 3-0 lead. The big play in the drive was a 27 yard pass from Cosentino to Ricky Bryant that brought the ball down to the Northeastern 29 yardline.
Hofstra boosted its lead to 10-0 with 12:15 to play in the half as, once again, the Hofstra defense stepped up. After a Pride punt and penalty placed the ball on the Huskies 31, on the second play from scrimmage, Northeastern quarterback Shawn Brady threw to the left sideline but Pride cornerback Robert Thomas stepped in and picked off the pass and returned it 43 yards for the touchdown. It was Thomas' second interception of the year, 11th of his career and the fourth that he has returned for a touchdown.
Northeastern got on the board on its next possession. Brady engineered an 8-play, 66-yard drive in 2:38 with William Griffin scoring on a five yard run. Griffin had 21 yards in the drive while Brady had two big first down passes of 24 yards to Quintin Mitchell that brought the ball to the Hofstra 29, and 24 yards to Curtis Guilliam that moved the Huskies to the Pride 5 yardline.
The Huskies took the lead near the end of the first half following an Art Smith interception of Cosentino at the Northeastern 43. Anthony Riley rushed for 27 yards on three consecutive runs and Brady then hit Tim Gale for a gain of four before going back to Gale for a 26-yard touchdown pass. Miro Keic's PAT was good and the Huskies took a 14-10 lead with 46 seconds to play in the half.
Hofstra had the first scoring opportunity in the third quarter on its second possession following an interception by LeVar Starr, who ran the pick back to the Huskies22. After Trevor Dimmie gained three to the 19, Cosentino hit Jamaal Perry, who brought the ball down to the Huskies 1 yardline. An offside call pushed the ball back to the 6 yardline where on the next play Vemba Bukula ran wide left, was hit by Charles Cameron and fumbled. Huskies end Scott Quimby recovered the fumble at the Huskies 5 yardline.
Northeastern boosted their lead to 21-10 as time expired in the third quarter with some razzle dazzle. Brady engineered a 12-play, 76-yard drive with Brady handing off to Anthony Riley, who ran to his right and then passed to Brady wide open down the left side for a 26-yard touchdown. The big play in the drive was a key third down and six play at the Hofstra 39 with Griffin running for 15 yards and the first down.
The Pride did threaten in the fourth quarter, moving to the Huskies 37 yardline but the Huskies, who recorded 7 sacks for minus 80 yards in the contest, had two sacks and an intentional grounding call that put Hofstra back in their own territory before Art Smith picked off Cosentino with 6:16 to play in the game at the Huskies 49 and returned it to the Pride 35. A personal foul penalty on Hofstra moved the ball to the 20 and five plays later Griffin scored his second touchdown of the game on a 16 yard run.
Hofstra closed out the scoring in the final minutes as Cosentino hit Ricky Bryant running down the right sideline with a 38-yard scoring strike.
The Huskies ran up 341 yards on offense including 224 on the ground. In addition to Griffin, Anthony Riley rushed 20 times for 93 yards while quarterback Brady completed 8 of 22 passes for 93 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Hofstra posted 273 yards on offense but was held to minus 26 yards rushing, due mainly to the minus 80 in sack yardage. The minus 26 yards is Hofstra's fewest since recording minus 40 against Buffalo in 1992. Cosentino completed 25 of 43 passes for 299 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions while junior receiver Ricky Bryant posted nine receptions for 102 yards and one touchdown. Issac Irby haulded in seven passes for 62 yards for the Pride. Trevor Dimmie led the Hofstra ground game with 39 yards on nine carries.
Hofstra will travel to Philadelphia next Saturday, October 5th where they will face the Villanova Wildcats at Noon.
