Suddenly it all makes sense.
That near-upset at Delaware in Towson's Atlantic 10 football opener last year. A winless season in conference in 2004. The crushing loss to New Hampshire and the stalled comeback against Northeastern in each of the last two weeks.
All for naught? Nope. All for a reason.
And if you were among the 10,788 fans in Johnny Unitas Stadium Saturday night, you probably understand.
There was no better setup. The two biggest games of the year, Homecoming and Delaware, combined into one. A game that exuded emotion and invited suspense. The fifth ranked Hens, against a team still searching for its first conference win in 11 tries. And a brewing rivalry that was missing one important prerequisite: the capability of both teams to win.
If there was one game you wanted to go in the Tigers' favor, it was this one. One game to send you home thankful you screamed until the final seconds, despite having lost your voice by the second quarter.
One game to celebrate on your birthday. And one win that served as a collective gift from a group of men clad in black and gold uniforms.
The fashion in which the win came was ideal. A blowout of the Hens would have been satisfying, yet anticlimactic. A defensive struggle would have been suspenseful, but frustrating. An offensive onslaught would have been exciting, but predictable.
Saturday night's win had the quick start Towson needed â€" scoring the first two touchdowns of the game â€" and the defense every Tiger fan had been looking for, evidenced in their first quarter goal-line stand, which resulted in a field goal rather than seven points.
What made the win so sweet was the fact that Delaware did what any No. 5 team is supposed to: They came back to the tune of three straight touchdowns, which should have deflated the Tigers. But this was not the case.
You think the Morgan State game showed Towson's heart? Not even close.
Nick Williams' legs never stopped pumping. Andrae Brown and Eric Yancey kept snatching in passes and creating first downs. And Sean Schaefer's offense kept moving. Even when just over one minute (and zero timeouts) remained on the clock, Towson kept fighting.
To be completely honest, I have no idea how the Tigers scored their final touchdown. I know Brown had a 42-yard catch that looked like something out of Madden 2006, and just two plays later Williams scored his second touchdown. But it all seemed way too easy â€" way too good to be true.
However, it soon became real. Eric Clark picked off Sonny Riccio to halt the Hens' comeback attempt and seal the win, the greatest I am likely to see as a Towson student.
A couple players happened to know the significance of the date. As I stood in the front row congratulating them, I thanked Carlos Allen and Allante Harrison for the gift, and for their birthday wishes.
"Hell of a birthday," Harrison said to me.
I couldn't have planned it better myself.
RSS Feeds
Be the first to comment on this article!