By Brittany Burke
When Gunnar Jespersen rushed into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown with 5:03 to play in the third quarter to put the Blue Devils behind just one score, it seemed as if the CCSU comeback team from previous seasons was making an appearance against the University of Massachusetts. Despite the close quarter, CCSU let the Minutemen get out ahead and eventually win, 42-26.
The loss at UMass was the third in a row for CCSU, who was predicted to win it all at the beginning of the season. The Blue Devils have gotten into a funk after the back-to-back home conference losses, which continued in Massachusetts Saturday night.
Despite the loss the Blue Devils did start to look like a team again on both sides of the ball. Defensively CCSU held UMass to an initial field goal on its first drive of the game and got to the quarterback four times for a 27-yard net loss.
“We looked like a football team tonight. I was very, very proud of what we did and offensively and defensively,” said Head Coach Jeff McInerney. “We competed extremely, extremely hard. The two points on the safety, the missed extra point, the return for a kickoff, that’s what happens when you play, but you’ve got to give UMass credit.”
Chris Linares led the defense with 10 tackles while Charles Williams, Dominic Giampietro, Patrick Atkinson, Gene Johnson and Andrew Clements all had hands in getting to Brandon Hill.
The run defense, which is something that has given CCSU issues in the past, managed to contain UMass’ major runningback, Jonathan Hernandez. Hernandez led the team going into Saturday’s game with 519-rushing yards, while also being ranked eighth in the nation for rushing yards per game, averaging 130-yards per game.
“He’s a great player,” said McInerney. “I thought our run defense was great, but here’s what you can’t do, you can’t play nine great ones and get the 70-yard in the first, unfortunately there are no moral victories you’ve got to give UMass credit … we competed and our run defense, we did some good stuff but again it wasn’t good enough.”
The Blue Devils had his number and held Hernandez to 75-yards for 20 attempts, while still allowing him to score twice.
The major trouble for CCSU came with ball security, like it has in previous games. The team kept the fumbles at zero, but two major interceptions helped give the Minutemen the edge it needed to get the victory.
UMass intercepted Jespersen twice for 128-yards, but the major interception came with under two minutes left in the game as CCSU was going in for another touchdown. Darren Thellen ran his interception back 85-yards for the final touchdown with 1:33 of the game left, with no hope of a CCSU comeback.
“We were alive in the locker room and moving around on the sideline,” said Jespersen. “It looked good, it felt good and we came out and we played in the second half, unfortunately I turned the ball over, we turned the ball over too many times, a lot of that starts with me, something I’ve got to clean up and we’ll go from there.”
The Blue Devils took the early 7-3 lead with a 69-yard, drive resulting in a Jespersen touchdown, but the first UMass touchdown and a safety put the Minutemen ahead by five early in the second quarter.
UMass was able to continually build on its lead through the first half with another field goal and touchdown, to lead the Blue Devils 22-7, but Chris Tolbert jumped into the endzone to cut the deficit to 22-13 with under a minute in the half.
Even with Jespersen’s and Raul DeBeneditis’ third quarter touchdowns to put CCSU within two, the Blue Devils could not pass the Minutemen. A 90-yard kick-off return for seven put UMass ahead even further, eventually ending in the interception return.
“We’re a work in progress,” said McInerney. “I’m very proud and it did look like football. It was much better, but you don’t get moral victories, so we’ve got to carry this on to Duquesne. We’re going to Pittsburgh, we’re getting on a bus next Thursday night to go out there and play a conference game and they’ve got to want it as bad as we just did [today].”
The Blue Devils are on the road next week and will return back to action on Oct. 22 to take on Albany at 12 p.m. in a Northeast Conference matchup.