Despite playing in cold and rainy conditions, the Central Connecticut football team cruised to a victory over Wagner College behind a dominant defensive performance and record-breaking day by young running back Aaron Dawson.

The Blue Devils won in decisive fashion with a final score of 49-24 over the conference opponents, which moves them to 5-4 overall on the season and 3-1 in the Northeast Conference.

Central’s special teams and offense spotted the Seahawks with 14 points to start the game with one blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a pick-six thrown by quarterback, Jacob Dolegala.

With just under 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Blue Devils trailed 24-21, but did not look back, outscoring the Seahawks 28-3 in the remainder of the contest.

Going into the game, the game plan for Wagner was undoubtedly going to be feeding the leading rusher in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Ryan Fulse.

“He’s a great back,” linebacker Tre Jones said after the game regarding the FCS leading rusher. “We knew we just had to key in on him and the running game.”

Fulse was able to get his numbers, pile up yards, but he was never able to put his imprint on the game as the Blue Devils held him in check.

But Central’s defense was ready.

“They played great,” head coach Pete Rossomando said about his defense. “I’m just proud because they played really well with guys missing due to injury.”

The defense forced seven fumbles, recovered four of them and one was for a touchdown by safety DJ Exilhomme.

Jones was a key factor on the defensive game plan as he came up with multiple big plays, logging in the only sack on the day for the team and forcing multiple fumbles.

He’s one of the young guys making an impact this season for Coach Rossomando and the Blue Devils.

The other was the sophomore running back Dawson.

While the FCS leading rusher had everyone’s attention entering the game, Dawson stole the show as he was the most dominant back on the field.

Dawson compiled 361 rushing yards on that day, setting a new school and NEC record, while adding five touchdowns on the ground, which tied a school record.

“I just give all thanks to God, and the o-line, they played great up front,” Dawson said of his performance.

He is now the team’s leading rusher with 725 yards and leads the team in rushing touchdowns with 11.

The offense was carried by Dawson’s performance but Rossomando also took time to recognize how the game was managed by his senior quarterback Jacob Dolegala in the weather conditions.

“He [Dolegala] played a great game handling the football, we didn’t have any exchange problems,” Rossomando said of his quarterback.

After the pick-six, Dolegala was a great game-manager despite being held to less than 100-yards passing.

The team now heads into their late-season bye week, where they will try to recover and “cover the bumps and bruises,” per Dawson.

“We go into the bye with a win, that’s very important,” Rossomando added.

The Blue Devils will be back on the field Nov. 10 at Saint Francis (PA) with kickoff scheduled for 12 p.m.