Duquesne Wins Share of MAAC Title with 51-8 Victory Over La Salle
Nov. 10, 2007 PITTSBURGH - Duquesne ended its 14-year run in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League in impressive fashion by holding La Salle to 75 yards and seven first downs in a 51-8 win over the Explorers at Rooney Field. The Dukes' win combined with Marist's 17-14 victory at Iona gives Duquesne a share of the final MAAC crown as all three teams finished with 2-1 records. Duquesne, which went undefeated in league play eight times, finished 75-9-0 all-time in the MAAC with 11 league championships from 1994-2007. The Dukes, who won or shared the last nine MAAC crowns, will compete as an associate member in the Northeast Conference Football League beginning in 2008. Duquesne scored on seven of its first 10 possessions and added a fumble recovery for a score to take a 51-0 lead before having an extra point blocked and returned 100 yards for La Salle's first two points of the game. Greg Hough scored a pair of touchdowns and Kevin Rombach completed 10 of 17 passes for 215 yards and two scores. Alex Roberson caught three passes for 101 yards including a 58-yard touchdown for the Dukes. Duquesne took the opening kickoff and drove 60 yards for a score on a 13-yard Rombach to Conrad Carter pass. Mark Troyan kicked a 23-yard field goal to put the Dukes up 10-0 and Hough scored on a two-yard run to give he Dukes a 17-0 lead after one quarter. Hough scored again - this time from one-yard out - to make it 24-0 with just over six minutes left in the half. Scott Knapp came in relief of Rombach and guided the Dukes on a 55-yard drive capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass to Michael Rasky to make it 31-0 with 1:27 left in the half.
Rombach hit Roberson for the 58-yard touchdown on the Dukes' first possession of the second half. Back-up running back Brian Smoot scored on a one-yard run to make it 45-0 halfway through the third quarter before Mykol Gardiner returned a fumble three yards to put the Dukes over the 50-point mark. La Salle, which entered the fourth quarter with -16 yards of total offense, got its first offensive first down with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. The Explorers scored their lone touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Steve Panosuk to Kevin Crockett with 3:57 left. Duquesne converted 11 of 15 third downs and outgained La Salle 433 to 75. Lou Levine and Gardiner combined for 3.5 sacks in leading the Duquesne defense with nine tackles each. Travis Decker added eight stops. The Dukes will look to make a clean sweep of the NEC opponents on this year's schedule when they travel to West Long Branch, N.J. to face Monmouth in the season finale next Saturday. The Dukes have posted wins over three NEC teams - at Sacred Heart, at Saint Francis, Pa. and Robert Morris - this season. BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 FINAL LA SALLE 0 0 2 6 8 DUQUESNE 17 14 20 0 51 LEADERS GAME NOTES Duquesne won or shared the last nine MAAC Championships ... DU won crowns in 11 of its 14 seasons in the MAAC: 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 ... La Salle, which entered the game ranked last in the Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (168.9 ypg.), was held to 75 yards by the Dukes ... La Salle entered the fourth quarter with two first downs and -16 yards of total offense ... junior Alex Roberson (Waynesboro, Ga./Curtis Baptist Upper School) caught three passes for 101 yards ... it was his fourth 100-yard receiving outing in DU's past six games ... with his three catches for 42 yards, senior All-American receiver Bruce Hocker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) moved into second on Duquesne's career receptions list with 157 and career yardage list with 2,552 ...he enters the season finale needing three catches, 145 yards and three touchdowns to become DU's career leader in all three categories. |
Football
