Wilkes-Barre, PA - Down 17-13 at the half, the FDU-Madison
Devils football team came back in the second half to take a 26-20
victory over King's. FDU improves to 5-4 on the year and 2-1 in
the MAC Freedom Conference. King's drops to 5-4 overall and 1-2
in the MAC-Freedom.
This win guarantees FDU a .500 season. It also marks the first
time since 1994 that the Devils won five games in a single season.
With 6:22 left in the third quarter J.D. Potynski (Hillsborough,
NJ) ran in a three-yard touchdown and Rich Dwyer (New Providence,
NJ) made the extra point attempt. That put FDU up 20-17.
Ed Cracchiolo (Marlboro, NJ) busted through for a five-yard
touchdown to make the score 26-17. Ty Brady made a 28-yard field
goal for King's to cut FDU's lead to 26-20 with 6:46 left in the
game, but FDU held the Monarchs down for the remainder of the
game to preserve the win.
King's took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, on two rushing touchdowns
by Jim DeMaise. DeMaise ran in a 3-yard touchdown with 2:29 left
in the first quarter. He came back with a 13-yard TD run with
13:47 left in the second quarter.
The Devils stormed back as Colin Grenon (Hackettstown,
NJ) hauled in two touchdown receptions in the second quarter to
get the Devils back in the ballgame. Phil Revien (Huntington,
NY) hit Grenon with a 39-yard TD pass with 9:45 remaining and
exactly nine minutes later, Revien connected on a 37-yard pass
to Grenon for the next TD. Dwyer made the first extra point, and
FDU had 13 points on the board.
Brady made a 32-yard field goal just before the half to give King's
a 17-13 edge.
Revien threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns with a long play
of 39 yards. He completed 13 of 23 pass attempts. Mark Pollifrone
(Manalapan, NJ) threw for 57 yards for FDU on 3-for-5 passing,
including a long play of 38.
Mike Quigley (Manalapan, NJ) reeled in six catches for
111 yards, including a long play of 38 from Pollifrone. Grenon
picked up 92 yards on three catches, including two TD's and a
long of 39.
Aaron Manus (Hightstown, NJ) ran for 67 yards on 18 carries.
Cracchiolo ran for 59 yards on 14 carries while scoring a touchdown.
Potynski picked up 22 yards on six carries and ran in a TD.
The Devils' defense held King's to just 42 yards rushing in the
second half and just 59 yards passing on the day. Jon Roman
(Wayne, NJ) led the Devils defensively, making eight tackles,
three of which were for a loss of 10 yards. He also made one sack
for three yards. Justin Zaleski (Manalapan, NJ) made nine
tackles including on sack for three yards and a tackle for a loss
of five yards. Paul Gundersdorf (Hackettstown, NJ) made
six tackles for FDU. FDU's Greg Brandis (Lacey, NJ) made
the game's only interception.
FDU will host #4 ranked Lycoming next Saturday for a 1:00 pm game.
If the Devils win, it will be their first six-win season since
1993.