Brooks Roorback regained his footing to turn this catch into a 47-yard first quarter touchdown.

Oct. 17, 2009

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PITTSBURGH - Hunter Wanket threw for a career high 233 yards and three second-half touchdowns as Central Connecticut State rallied from a 21-10 third quarter deficit to defeat Duquesne 31-24 at Rooney Field.

The win was the fourth in a row for CCSU which upped its record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Northeast Conference. The loss was the first at home for the Dukes, who dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the NEC.

James Mallory, who finished with 121 yards on 15 carries, raced 63 yards for a score on CCSU's third play from scrimmage to give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead. CCSU took over after Duquesne's Eric Duale was wide left on a 40-yard field goal attempt.

Redshirt freshman Sean Patterson, who threw for 187 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start, found tight end Matthew Glose for a four-yard touchdown to tie it with 6:25 to go in the first quarter. The 61-yard DU drive was aided by fourth down holding and third down roughing the quarterback calls on CCSU. Patterson ran for 33 yards on the drive.

Duquesne struck again when Patterson found Brooks Roorback for a 47-yard touchdown. Roorback appeared to be tackled at the 15, but rolled over a CCSU defender, never touched the ground, regained his footing and sprinted to the end zone.

CCSU added a 21-yard Joe Izzo field goal to make it 14-10 at the half.

Duquesne increased its lead to 21-10 on its first possession of the second half, when Cleo Williams raced untouched up the middle from 27 yards out.

Two play's later, Wanket hit Josue Paul with a 64-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-17.

The Blue Devils regained the lead when Wanket hit Aubrey Norris with a 14-yard pass with just under three minutes left in the third quarter.

Wanket was 7-of-8 for 160 yards and two TDs in the third quarter and 10-of-12 for 200 yards and three TDs in the second half.

Duquesne's Nathan Totino dropped Wanket for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-two from the DU five early in the fourth quarter.

London Lomax blocked a punt at the Duquesne 26, setting up a fourth-and-four 20-yard touchdown pass from Wanket to Nick Colagiovanni that upped the CCSU lead to 31-21 with 8:26 remaining.

The Dukes drove to the CCSU three before Duale kicked a 20-yard field goal to make it 31-24 with 3:49 left.

Duquesne took over at its own 43 with 1:58 to go and moved to the CCSU 35 before a fourth down pass from Patterson to Michael Rasky was broken up by Lomax.

Paul finished with eight catches for 142 yards for CCSU. Brooks Roorback set new career highs for catches (4) and yards (76) for Duquesne.

True freshman Horvin Latimer led Duquesne with 13 tackles. Totino added 11 stops for the Dukes.

Duquesne hits the road to face Saint Francis, Pa. (1-6, 0-4) in the Red Flash's first-ever night game at 7:00 p.m on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Scoring by Quarters

LEADERS
Rushing (Att./Yds./TD): DU - C.Williams (14-79-1); CCSU - Mallory (15-121-1)
Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD): DU - Patterson (26-13-0-187-2); CCSU - Wanket (20-15-0-233-3)
Receiving (Att./Yds./TD): DU - Roorback (4-76-1); CCSU - Paul (8-142-1)
Tackles (Tot./Solo): DU - Latimer (13/2), Totino (11/7); CCSU - Briody (9/4)

GAME NOTES
CCSU now leads the all-time series 3-0 ... Duquesne starting quarterback Connor Dixon, starting linebacker Anthony Rhoades, starting defensive tackle Tyler Scruggs and starting cornerback Aaron Fitzpatrick were all in street clothes with injuries ... redshirt freshman Sean Patterson (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) made his first career start at quarterback ... he completed 13-of-26 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns ... Cleo Williams (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle), who ran for 139 yards in DU's 35-23 loss at CCSU last year, led Duquesne with 79 yards including a 27-yard touchdown run ... true freshman linebacker Horvin Latimer (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) had a team-high 13 tackles and forced a fumble in his first career start ... freshman Matthew Glose (Lakeview, N.Y./St. Francis) who moved from defensive tackle to tight end during the week, caught a four-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter ... sophomore Brooks Roorback (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) set new career highs for catches (4) and yards (76) ... his 47-yard yard TD reception was his the longest catch of his career ...senior wideout Michael Rasky (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch to 27 with three receptions for 33 yards ... junior Nathan Totino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton-La Salle) had 11 tackles (7 solo) including a tackle for loss ... it was the 15th time in 26 career games that the has posted double-digit tackles.