With 18 seconds remaining against Eastern Michigan, Central Connecticut was leading 29-28 and had the opportunity to continue the historic start of its season.

If the Blue Devils had won the game, it would have been the first time starting the season 4-0 since 1970 and would have been the first victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team in school history. Also, it would have been the first time a Northeast Conference team beat an FBS opponent.

That’s when disaster struck for the Blue Devils, as they had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, causing Central to lose 34-29 and fall to 3-1 on the season.

Heading into the week, Head Coach Ryan McCarthy knew what his team had to do to win the game.

“Special teams, special teams, we had two punts blocked last week and a third that should’ve been blocked,” McCarthy said. “I’m looking for us to play that complete game in all three phases, I haven’t seen that yet, those are the things that need to happen.”

“I know full well what’s going to happen when we punt, they’re going to come after us, our guys better be ready for it,” McCarthy continued.

Beyond the special teams, McCarthy also recognized how good Eastern Michigan was in all phases.

“I think they’re extremely well-coached and they’re very talented,” McCarthy said. “Defensively their eyes on in the right spots, you’re not going to trick them, offensively they have a really talented quarterback, a big offensive line and good receivers. They do a lot of things and they do them well.”

Despite the last-second defeat, Central put up a good fight that was led by a solid offensive performance and a dominant defensive performance. The Blue Devils held the Eagles to fewer yards than they had against their previous two opponents, Illinois and Kentucky.

Quarterback Aaron Winchester put up arguably the best stat line of his young season, completing 17/22 passes (77%) for 231 yards and one touchdown.

Junior Wide Receiver Tyshaun James caught two passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. 118 yards is a career-high for James and it came against one of the best teams he has ever faced.

Both receptions came in the fourth quarter and his touchdown catch was the go-ahead score with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

James also continued to be dynamic, rushing the ball five times for 33 yards and another touchdown. His 151 yards of total offense and two touchdowns earned him the honor of NEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Sophomore running back Keonte Lucas led the rushing attack for the second straight week, rushing nine times for 51 yards (5.7 avg) and a score.

Central rushed for 115 yards as a team and did so without their Preseason All-NEC starting right guard, J’Von Brown.

“I’m not in a real hurry to rush him back,” McCarthy said. “He’s dealing with a shoulder and I’m going to try to give him the most rest that I possibly can and right now, there’s no reason to put him out there.”

On defense, sophomore linebacker Foday Jalloh led the team with 10 total tackles and .5 tackles for loss.

The Blue Devils defense intercepted the Eagles twice and now have nine interceptions on the season through four games.

One interception was recorded by the NEC Defensive Player of the Week, Tre Jones. The junior linebacker forced his first turnover of the year to go along with five tackles and one tackle for loss.

The second interception is categorized as a team interception.

“I am incredibly proud of our players and staff,” McCarthy said to CCSU Athletics. “The kids played their tails off and executed the game plan put together by the staff extremely well.”

“There are still a lot of things to clean up, but there are numerous positives to take from this experience. It was not the outcome we had hoped for, but we will learn from it and work on improving ourselves,” McCarthy said.

The Blue Devils head into their bye week with a loss but will take the time to “improve and get ready for a very competitive Northeast Conference slate,” according to McCarthy via CCSU Athletics.

Central will face conference opponent Sacred Heart University on Oct, 5 with kickoff scheduled for 2:00 p.m.