Tailback Tony Nelson rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Massachusetts Minutemen to a 28-14 CAA victory over the Hofstra Pride at McGuirk Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Minutemen of UMass closed out the season with a 7-5 overall mark and a 4-4 record in the CAA while the Pride closed out Dave Cohen's third season at Hofstra with a 4-8 mark and a 2-6 record in conference play.
Hofstra was led by freshman quarterback Steve Probst, who completed 16 of 24 passes for 152 yards but was intercepted twice. He also rushed 11 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Everette Benjamin rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries and scored once but fumbled three times, part of the Pride's five turnover day. Freshman receiver Christian Dennis led the receiving corps with five catches for 55 yards while sophomore Aaron Weaver hauled in four passes for 23 yards to finish the year with 70, tying him with Kahmal Roy and Marques Colston for the eighth-most receptions in a single season at Hofstra. The Pride finished the game with 355 yards of offense. Freshman Chris Edmond led the Pride's defensive charge with 13 tackles while red-shirt freshman Greg Melendez added 10 stops.
Nelson rushed 28 times for a career-high 204 yards and scored twice in the first quarter. Senior quarterback Liam Coen completed 13 of 18 passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. The Minutemen tallied 315 yards on offense with 236 coming on the ground.
The Minutemen jumped out to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter on two 1-yard scoring runs from Nelson. On the opening possession of the contest the Minutemen went 74 yards in 9 plays with Nelson scoring off left end. Armando Cuko's extra point gave UMass a 7-0 lead just 4:52 into the contest. Nelson, a junior, carried the ball six times for 46 yards in the drive.
On Hofstra's ensuing possession tailback Everette Benjamin fumbled at the Hofstra 42-yard line with Darnel DeLaire recovering for the Minutemen, who returned it to the Pride 24 before fumbling. Shane Viveiros recovered the second fumble on the play and returned it another six yards to the Hofstra 15. Nelson then rumbled to the one yard line before taking it into the end zone with 8:37 to play in the first quarter. Cuko added the extra-point for a 14-0 lead.
But the Pride came right back on their possession, going 66 yards on eight plays with Benjamin rushing 11 yards for the score to cut the deficit. Roger Williams hit the extra-point to move the score to 14-7 with 3:43 to play in the quarter. Massachusetts would add to its lead on the following possession as Nelson and Coen directed a 65-yard, seven-play drive with Coen hitting Ian Jorgenson for an eight-yard touchdown with seven seconds remaining in the first period. Cuko boosted the lead to 21-7 with the extra-point.
Hofstra refused to surrender and mounted a 15-play, 78 yard drive with Probst calling his own number for a two-yard touchdown run. Williams' point-after brought the Pride back within a touchdown at 21-14 at the intermission. Probst rushed five times for 30 yards in the drive.
After a scoreless third quarter in which the Pride had the ball for 12:41 of the 15 minutes, Hofstra had a chance to tie the game on a carry-over 18-play, 87-yard drive from the third quarter that moved the ball to the UMass 13 yard line. But on the next play, Benjamin fumbled on the UMass 11 ending the Pride's longest drive of the season. The Minutemen then went 86 yards on seven plays, including a 61-yard run by Nelson to the Hofstra 1-yard line, before Coen hit Chris Zardas with a 1-yard scoring pass. Cuko's point-after made it 28-14 with 9:49 to play in the contest.
