The Central Connecticut State Blue Devils lost a 35-28 thriller to the Dartmouth Big Green in their homecoming game.
Central quarterback Brady Olson had his best game of the season, completing 25-of-33 passes, throwing for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Elijah Howard led the team with 69 rushing yards and added a rushing touchdown. Wide receiver Dave Pardo was Olson’s main target, catching six passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Defensive back Stylz Mitchell led the defense, securing seven tackles, breaking up a pass and hauling in an interception.
CCSU could not find success on their first drive of the game, having to punt after five offensive plays. On the sixth play of Dartmouth’s first drive, Stylz Mitchell jumped the route of the Dartmouth receiver and intercepted the ball and returned it to the Big Green’s 38-yard line. It was Mitchell’s first career interception.
Following the pick, Olson started the drive with a 14-yard pass to tight end Sean O’Brien. Five plays later on second down, Olson connected with Pardo in the back of the end zone for a six-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
Dartmouth immediately answered with their touchdown on a 75-yard drive where most of the work was done when quarterback Grayson Saunier completed a 71-yard pass to receiver Grayson O’Bara that took them all the way to Central’s two. Running back DJ Crowther finished off the drive with a rushing touchdown to tie the game at 7.
The Blue Devils returned the favor by scoring on the ensuing drive. Olson hit receiver Paul Marsh Jr. for a 12-yard touchdown for his second passing touchdown of the game. The 68-yard drive helped Central take a 14-7 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Saunier completed a 38-yard pass, but Central defensive back Navon Mitchell poked the ball loose, and cornerback Dekavis Preston recovered for CCSU.
Central could not move the ball and punted. Dartmouth answered with a six-play drive capped by another Crowther rushing touchdown to tie it at 14.
Central’s Howard fumbled on CCSU’s 35 with 8:38 left in the second quarter, and the Big Green secured the fumble. Dartmouth converted on a 36-yard field goal to take their first lead of the game to make it 17-14.
Central punted again, and Dartmouth added a 27-yard field goal as the second quarter ended to take a 20-14 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, neither team scored. Dartmouth reached Central territory twice but missed both field goal attempts.
After the second missed field goal, Howard scored a rushing touchdown to take a 21-20 Blue Devils lead with 14:52 left in the fourth quarter.
After a punt by each team, Dartmouth received the ball at its 11. A few plays later CCSU’s Preston was called for targeting, which is an automatic 15-yard penalty for the Big Green and an ejection for Preston. With the help of the penalty, Saunier threw a touchdown to tight end Chris Corbo and then ran in the two-point conversion himself to take a 28-21 Dartmouth lead late into the fourth quarter.
Central received the ball with 5:55 left in the game, needing a touchdown to tie. On the third play of the drive, Dartmouth was penalized with a targeting call, which moved the ball from CCSU’s 34-yard line to their 49. Central was able to get to Dartmouth’s 26-yard line but was facing a fourth-and-1. Backup quarterback Brett Griffis checked in and reached the first down to continue the drive. The Blue Devils ran down the clock, and on first-and-5, Olson connected with receiver Michael Trovarelli for a touchdown to tie the game at 28 with 58 seconds remaining.
Dartmouth took over at their 25-yard line with less than a minute remaining. They started their drive with a 6-yard pass then passed again for a 9-yard gain. CCSU defensive back Christopher Jean broke up a pass, but on the next play Dartmouth’s Ky’Dric Fisher scored a 50-yard receiving touchdown on a stop-and-go route with 18 seconds left.
Central ran out of time and did not reach the end zone.
The Blue Devils dropped to 2-3 in the regular season, and their all-time record against Dartmouth fell to 0-4.
CCSU Coach Adam Lechtenberg was proud of his team’s fight and gave credit to Dartmouth for their performance.
“That’s a team that has won four of the last five Ivy League championships, and they’ll have a chance to win it again this year,” he said. “We played physical, we played hard, we just didn’t play well enough, we still got to continue to play better.”
He added that he was disappointed he couldn’t get the win for all the alumni in attendance.
“[Winning] homecoming is one of our team goals every year because of the great crowd [and] because we want to win for our alumni,” he said. “Homecoming will always be a big deal for us, and we’re sorry.”
He also talked about the game-losing touchdown that they gave up.
“That’s just part of football, you know,” he said. “Our kids are playing hard trying to make plays, and their kid made a better play.”
Central will look to get its first non-conference win of the season in their last non-conference game against state rival Sacred Heart on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Arute Field.
