Kings Point, NY (September 2) – The FDU-Florham football team opened its 2022 season with a 17-7 victory at the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Friday night. The victory was the first for head coach Anthony Van Curen.
 
The Devils defense stifled the Merchant Marine offense as FDU-Florham allowed surrendered just 216 yards of offense (140 rushing, 76 passing), forced one fumble, made one interception and were successful on seven third down attempts by the Mariners.
 
Eric Castorina II (Sparta, NJ) led FDU-Florham offensively with ten catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. In his first collegiate start under center, TJ Brown (Staten Island, NY) passed for 225 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.
 
Defensively, Marquez Haywood (Lindenwold, NJ) tallied six solo tackles, while Kenny Hands (Runnemede, NJ) posted 2.5 tackles for a loss and forced a fumble. Matthew Dougherty (Wilmington, Del.) made four total tackles and intercepted a pass late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
 
FDU-Florham sophomore Jorden Bennett (Queens, NY) blocked 41-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter and the Devils turned it into an eight minute, 76-yard drive that ended in a four-yard touchdown reception by first-year Kwanir Edwards (Trenton, NJ) early in the second.

Prior to halftime, Merchant Marine capped off a six minute drive that stretched 87 yards with a 16-yard touchdown reception by Jayden Colon as the teams went into the break knotted at 7-7.
 
After deferring on the opening coin toss, the Devils took the ball to start the third quarter and drove 45 yards down to the Merchant Marine 20-yard line. Chris DiMedio (Cornwall, NJ) split the uprights from 37-yards out for a 10-7 edge midway through the third.

On the ensuing drive, Hands forced a fumble that was recovered by Jake Swindasz (Hamilton, NJ). The Devils took over at the Merchant Marine 40-yard line, drove 60-yards in 3:04 and Castorina pulled down the pass from Brown in the end zone to extend their lead to 17-7.
 
In the second half, FDU-Florham's defense held Merchant Marine scoreless and ended their drives on a fumble, two punts, a turnover on downs and an interception from Dougherty.

As a team, FDU-Florham went 9-for-16 on third down conversions and were successful on all three trips to the red zone.

FDU-Florham will play its first home game of the season next Friday, September 9 against William Paterson University. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 pm on Robert T. Shields Field.

FDU-Florham is currently running a campaign in honor of former Devils men's basketball head coach, men's golf coach and athletic director Roger Kindel.

All donations will go directly towards funding a complete renovation of the basketball and volleyball court inside the Ferguson Recreation Center with his name dawned on both sides. If you are interested in reading more about the campaign and/or making a donation to the cause, please follow the link here: https://support.fdu.edu/athletics/devils/giving/roger-kindel

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