Tigers hit by Husky nor’easter

The winless Northeastern Huskies entered the weekend’s CAA contest against Towson with just four interceptions on the season. The Huskies defense came ready to play on Saturday, however, picking off Towson five times and helping Northeastern jump out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Northeastern got its first win of the year, 27-7, over the Tigers (2-5, 1-3 CAA). The win snapped Northeastern’s 13-game losing streak dating back to last season.

Towson came into the game seriously lacking depth on both sides of the ball. Most notably, freshman quarterback Tommy Chroniger made his first career start under center for Towson filling in for injured classmate Peter Athens, who is out for the year after injuring his ACL. Colin Bass also got his first career start with center Steve Jordan injured. Starting offensive tackle Hank Glackin was also lost for the year after suffering a shoulder injury and was replaced by John Esposito. And linebacker Donte Blakey was replaced in the starting lineup by Syracuse transfer Romale Tucker due to a neck injury. It got so bad that after Esposito was injured in the second half, reserve defensive lineman Ben Hunolt shifted to the tackle spot that was vacated following the injury. But to Towson head coach Rob Ambrose, the injuries aren’t any excuse.

“Offensively, Danny Bridges deserves some credit,” Ambrose said. “He’s the only guy to start every game on the offensive line. Offensively, there is a reason there is no continuity. You play a lot of young kids in the history of the program and you’ll have a lot of injuries because the young kids aren’t ready to go to war. Clearly, we are going to have to prepare our bodies for war in the offseason and the upcoming years. You have to work with what you got.”

Chroniger’s day wasn’t what Ambrose had hoped for from the young signal-caller. He went 1-8 passing for 32 yards and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Northeastern defensive lineman Mike Lukenda. The score gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead with 8:35 remaining in the first half. It was the fourth time this season a Towson quarterback has thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Chroniger was replaced in the second quarter by junior transfer Jeremy Jayne.

“Based on production coming out of the Delaware game, Jeremy moved up,” Ambrose said. “Jeremy earned the No. 2 spot. Tommy didn’t play well. Tommy didn’t play well at all, so the next guy’s up. The team needed somebody to move the ball and Jeremy took the team right down the field in a heartbeat.” 

Ambrose was referencing a drive midway through the second quarter when Jayne completed three passes and got Towson all the way down to the Huskies two-yard line, but a rush for lost yardage by tailback Dominique Booker and a sack of Jayne on back-to-back plays, ended up resulting in a missed 41-yard field goal by freshman kicker Marc Magas.

But with Jayne put in an unfamiliar situation, it was his first game action of his career, he struggled throughout the day and completed just 14-31 passes for 170 yards and three interceptions. The lone points for Towson appeared when Jayne threw his first career touchdown pass to senior tight-end John Godlasky in the third quarter. No decision has been made for the starting quarterback position next week when the Tigers will host top-ranked Richmond at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Tucker led the Towson defense with 10 tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.



 

Comments

1 comments

Tiger fan

Wed Oct 28 2009 15:29

Northeastern only scored 3 points second half. Amongst the second half defense, Darius Hill #33 did his job very well!! Way to go Tiger defense!!

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