ANNVILLE, Pa. – The FDU-Florham football suffered a 56-14 setback to Lebanon Valley College on Saturday afternoon at Arnold Field.
Freshman quarterback
Joseph McCain made his first collegiate start for the Devils (2-3, 1-3 MAC) and completed 23 of 36 passes for 241 yards, including his first touchdown pass.
McCain's first touchdown came on a 20-yard jet sweep pass to sophomore wide out
Dennis Sutton early in the fourth quarter. The freshman would connect with sophomore wide receiver
Malik Pressley on a 60-yard touchdown strike in the game's final minutes, which closed the afternoon's scoring.
Lebanon Valley (3-3, 3-2 MAC) celebrated its annual homecoming by amassing 338 rush yards on the afternoon. The Dutchmen attack was led by Middle Atlantic Conference leading rusher
Brendan Irving, who gashed the Devils for 130 yards on the ground and had a 61-yard touchdown reception.
On the Devils' opening possession, McCain was sacked by
Zachary Adams, fumbled, and Lebanon Valley's
John Salcedo recovered it in Devils territory. The Dutchmen eventually converted a fourth-and-5 with a 26-yard pass from
Tim Pirrone to
Jeremy De La Cruz, which set up a one-yard touchdown plunge by
Ryan Fink that gave the Dutchmen a 7-0 lead.
Following a Devils punt, sophomore tailback
Jon Jones broke off a 61-yard touchdown run for the Dutchmen, which pushed the lead to 14-0.
The Dutchmen struck again on their first play of the second quarter when Pirrone hooked up with Irving for a 61-yard touchdown pass and then later in the frame Jones found pay dirt again with another one-yard carry to stretch the cushion to 28-0.
A frustrating first half for the Devils was capped when Lebanon Valley's
Kevin Antol intercepted a McCain pass and took it 56 yards to the house for a 35-0 lead.
The Dutchmen carried that large lead through intermission before eventually stretching it to 42-0 early in the second half.
Late in the third quarter, McCain led the Devils on a six-play, 65-yard scoring drive culminating in his first career touchdown pass. The first-year signal caller shoveled a pass to Sutton, who was running across the formation in motion. Sutton snuck around the edge of the Dutchmen defense and raced in from 20-yards out.
The Devils added another late score when McCain connected with Pressley on a 60-yard touchdown pass. Pressley's touchdown reception was his conference-leading eighth of the season. The second-year wide out finished with 10 catches for 117 yards on the day.
Defensively, the Devils were led by
Chris Fitzgerald and
Isaiah Turner, who tallied 13 and 12 tackles, respectively.
The annual homecoming game awaits the Devils in their next contest when they host unbeaten Albright College next Saturday, October 17 at 1 p.m.
