FINAL STATS

Staten Island, NY – Wagner overcame an early 14-0 deficit to tie the game at 21-21 but an interception by Central Connecticut St. (CCSU) defensive back Chris Linares with 2:19 left in the fourth quarter halted a promising Seahawk drive as the Blue Devils held on for a 28-24 win.

CCSU, the preseason Northeast Conference (NEC) favorite, improves to 2-1 on the season, 1-0 in the NEC while the Seahawks fall to 1-2 overall, 1-1 in league play.

Sophomore running back Dominique Williams (Bridgeton, NJ/ Milford Academy) cracked the century mark for the sixth time in his 11-game Seahawk career with 141 yards on 27 carries, to go with two touchdowns.

Wagner put itself in an early hole when junior Wandy Saintilien (Miami, FL/ ASA Institute) was stripped of the football on the opening kickoff with the Blue Devils recovering at the Seahawk 35-yard line. Seven plays later, running back Brian Fowler punched it in from five yards out to give CCSU an early 7-0 lead.

After the teams combined to punt the ball on four consecutive possessions, the Seahawks put together a sharp 64-yard, 10-play drive that stalled at the CCSU eight-yard line. Junior kicker David Lopez (Plantation, FL/ American Heritage), who was a perfect 3-of-3 on the season coming into the game, hit the left upright on a 25-yard field goal attempt, leaving the Blue Devils in front 7-0 with 13:28 remaining in the opening half.

Midway through the second quarter, the Blue Devils executed another scoring march, this one covering 83 yards in seven plays and culminating with a two-yard touchdown run by quarterback Gunnar Jespersen. The big play in the drive was a 24-yard hookup between Jespersen and wide receiver Denzell Jones.

In desperate need of a spark late in the first half, the Seahawks got one when senior linebacker Julian Stanford (Bloomfield, CT/ Bloomfield) made an athletic, acrobatic, one-handed interception which he returned 12 yards to give Wagner great field position at its own 49-yard line. For Stanford, it was his first career interception.

Junior quarterback Nick Doscher (Staten Island, NY/ Moore Catholic) then engineered a crisp drive, highlighted by a 15-yard connection with Saintillien on a crossing route over the middle on third down, to give Wagner a first down at the Blue Devil 10-yard line. Williams carried for eight yards on first down and then scored from two yards out to cap the nine-play 51-yard drive that took 3:20. The touchdown, which came with 2:40 left in the first half, sliced the Wagner deficit to 14-7 and gave the Seahawks momentum entering halftime.

CCSU began the second half from its own 12-yard line following an illegal block and on first down Jespersen lost control of the ball while trying to handoff. Senior defensive end Derrick Forrest (Fort Lauderdale, FL/ Calvery Christian) was there to pounce on it at the Blue Devil 10-yard line. On first down, Williams carried it in for a touchdown over the right side and suddenly the game was tied at 14-14 just nine seconds into the second half.

The Blue Devils responded with a quick four-play, 88-yard drive as Jespersen dumped off a short pass on third-and-five from his own 27 to running back Deven Baker who did the rest, racing up the left sideline for a 73-yard touchdown that made it 21-14 with 12:51 left in the third quarter.

Following an exchange of punts, Wagner took over on its own 13-yard line with 5:31 left in the third quarter and methodically moved the ball down the field on a game-tying touchdown drive, overcoming an unsportsmanlike conduct early in the march. Doscher found senior wide receiver David Crawford (Carrollton, TX/ Hebron) on completions of 23 and 14 yards while Williams gained another 29 on the ground. The fourth quarter started with the Blue Devils' on their heels as Wagner had a first and goal at the CCSU 10-yard line. After Williams gained seven yards on first down, Doscher swept around left end and barreled his way into the end zone to knot the score at 21-21with 14:10 left to play.

CCSU countered quickly with Jespersen hitting wide receiver Raul DeBenedittis on a 19-yard strike to move the ball to the Seahawk 41-yard line. After Jespersen found Baker out of the backfield for a five-yard gain, he lofted a high-arching pass to Jones in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown, putting the Blue Devils back out in front 28-21 with 11:20 left.

Junior cornerback Torian Phillips (Staten Island, NY/ Port Richmond) returned the ensuing kickoff 28 yards, giving Wagner excellent field position at its own 41-yard line. The Seahawks marched down to the Blue Devils' 24-yard line but incomplete passes on second and third down brought on Lopez who nailed a 41-yard field goal with 8:29 left to make it 28-24.

The Seahawk defense then stiffened, forcing a three and out. Following the punt, which sailed out of bounds at the Wagner 28-yard line, Doscher led the Seahawks down the field. With Williams handling the bulk of the load, Wagner drove from its 28 with 7:31 left to the CCSU 39 but gained only two yards in the next three plays before Linares picked off a Doscher pass with 2:19 left in the game. The Blue Devils ran out the clock from there, holding on for the win.

The Blue Devils did a good job keeping the Wagner passing game in check, as Doscher completed 11-of-28 passes for 125 yards with the one interception while adding another 71 yards on the ground. Crawford, sophomore tight end Joe Sidaras (Mastic Beach,, NY/ William Floyd) and senior wide receiver Justin Matthews (Hillside, Nj/ Hillside) each had three receptions for the Seahawks. Defensively, the Seahawks were led by junior linebacker Carl-Olivier Prime (Quebec, Canada/ The Kent School) and Forrest who had eight tackles each. Junior safety Theodore Clohessy (Staten Island, NY/ St Joseph's By The Sea) and Stanford finished with seven stops each.

Sophomore punter #A.J. Firestone# (Mercersburg, PA/ Mercersburg Academy) had the finest day of his three-game Seahawk career with a 39.4 yard average on five punts, including a career-long 48-yarder and two punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

For CCSU, Jespersen finished 12-of-19 passing for 238 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Fowler was the Blue Devils' leading ground-gainer with 63 yards on 12 carries.

Wagner is next in action on Saturday, September 24 when the Seahawks travel to Smithfield, RI to meet the Bulldogs of Bryant in a 1:00 pm kickoff.

NOTES – With 196 yards of total offense vs. CCSU (125 passing, 71 rushing), Doscher moved past running back Rick Sarille (1995-99) into second place on the Seahawk all-time list with 5,316 yards. He is now within striking distance of Wagner's all-time leader in total offense, quarterback John Sciarra (2004-05) who sits in first place with 5,845 yards. Doscher's 11 completions vs. CCSU give him 292 for his career and move him past Jason Cue (282 completions from 1993-94) and Aaron Smith (283 completions from 1999-2001) into fourth-place on the all-time list. Terry O'Hare (313 from 1991-92) is in third place. Doscher remains in sixth place on the school's all-time passing list with 3,816 yards. In fifth place is Greg Kovar (3,895 yards from 1985-88). Williams' 141 yards on the ground vs. CCSU was the second-highest rushing game of his career (180 yards vs. Saint Francis (PA), 9/3/11). In three games this season, Williams is averaging 122 yards per game on 69 carries, a 5.3 yards per carry average. He also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for his career vs. the Blue Devils and now has 1,008 career rushing yards. Sidaras, a transfer from Hofstra who has started all three games this season at tight end, caught the first three passes of his career vs. CCSU which went for a total of 32 yards. Junior running back Kenny Howard (Plainfield, NJ/ Nassau CC) saw the first action of his career at running back and gained nine yards on two carries. The Seahawks have four interceptions on the season, by four different players. The four Seahawks with one INT apiece are Phillips, Prime, Stanford and junior linebacker Mike Lombardo (Jupiter, FL/ Jupiter Christian). Lopez has made 80 percent of his kicks on the young season, going 4-of-5. Senior strong safety Jeremiah Brown (Brooklyn, NY/ Grand Street Campus) is the team-leader in tackles with 24, followed closely behind by Prime (23), Lombardo (21) and sophomore cornerback Jarrett Dieudonne (Fort Lauderdale, FL/ Dillard). With the win, CCSU has tied the all-time series with Wagner 12-12.