Hempstead, NY (Sept. 6) - Quarterback Ron Whitcomb threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns, and running back Marcus Williams rushed 22 times for 197 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Maine Football team to a 44-21 victory over Hofstra on Saturday evening at James M. Shuart Stadium.

The loss drops the Pride's record to 0-2, including 0-1 in the Atlantic 10 Football Conference, its first 0-2 start to a season since 1974. Maine, meanwhile, sees its record improve to 1-1, including 1-0 in the league.

The Black Bears opened the scoring with 9:20 left in the first quarter when Williams scampered in from 19 yards out to cap off a 6-play, 70-yard drive. Williams carried the ball five times for 53 yards on the drive.

The Pride knotted the score at 7-7 with 4:10 left in the opening period when freshman quarterback Anton Clarkson scrambled to his right and threw an 87-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Ricky Bryant. Bryant caught the ball 20 yards downfield along the right sideline, cut back to his left to avoid a Maine defender, and ran diagonally all the way across the field into the left corner of the end zone.

However, Maine would answer right back on its ensuing drive to take the lead for good and start a run of 35 unanswered points. Whitcomb was the catalyst on the drive, completing 4-of-5 passes for 58 yards, including a 35-yard scoring strike to Ryan Waller.   

The Black Bears then tacked on 14 more points in both the second and third quarters to take control of the game. Hofstra originally dodged a second quarter bullet when junior safety James Glee forced a fumble on the Pride goal line that was recovered by junior safety Michael Momo to keep the score 14-7. Hofstra moved the ball out to its own 20-yard line before being forced to punt, and Maine quickly drove the length of the field with a 5-play, 64-yard drive. The drive culminated in a Whitcomb 31-yard scoring pass to Waller with 3:26 left in the second quarter, their second touchdown connection of the half.

After a Pride turnover gave the ball back to the Black Bears with 2:20 left in the quarter, Whitcomb completed four straight passes, the last a scoring strike to Christian Pereira from four yards out, to stretch the lead to 28-7 at intermission.

Hofstra started with the ball to begin the second half, but a Clarkson pass was intercepted, giving the ball to the Black Bears at the Hofstra 36-yard line. On its first offensive play of the half, Williams scampered in from 36 yards to stretch the lead to 35-7.

Maine tacked on two more touchdown on a 16-yard run from Onyi Momah with 4:49 left in the third quarter. Senior running back Trevor Dimmie put an end to the Black Bears scoring run with a pair of fourth quarter rushing touchdowns. Dimmie went over the 3,000-yard mark for his career, the first Pride player to accomplish that feat. He had 13 carries for 69 yards on the day, improving his career total to 3,051 yards. 

Maine finished up the scoring when it was credited with a safety after the Pride recovered a fumble in its own end zone late in the fourth quarter.

Williams fell one rushing yard short of his career high of 198 yards, set last season. He actually had his career high secured when he went up to 199 yards in the fourth quarter, but his final carry was for a two-yard loss. Momah (22 carries, 106 yards) also had a 100-yard rushing day for the Black Bears, which had 301 total rushing yards and 484 yards of total offense. Whitcomb had all 183 of his passing yards in the first half, while Waller finished with 80 yards receiving to go with his two touchdowns.

On the Hofstra side, Clarkson left the game in the third quarter with an injury, after completing 6-of-14 passes for 136 yards and three interceptions in his first career start. It marked the second straight week that the Pride's starting quarterback has been knocked out of the game. Starter Bobby Seck played only the first half of the Pride's opening game against Marshall last weekend, before being lost for 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. Sophomore Andrew English finished the game at quarterback for the Pride for the second week in a row and completed 5-of-6 passes for 72 yards. Bryant had three catches for 107 yards in a losing effort, while Terry Crenshaw led the ground game with 82 yards on 11 carries.  

Hofstra will next be in action when it entertains Elon at James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 13 for a 7 p.m. contest.