Madison, N.J. (September 14)- The FDU-Florham football team (2-0,1-0 MAC) saw their first Saturday game of the season taking place on Robert T. Shields Field against Middle Atlantic Conference opponent Albright (1-1, 0-1 MAC), that resulted in favor of the Devils as they defeated the Lions by a score of 35-7.

Once again, Ryon Thomas (Mattapoisett, Mass) had a stellar offensive showing as he was seen completing 15-of-21 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns as well as adding 12 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Kwanir Edwards (Trenton, N.J.) led the team in rushing with 83 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Thomas's top weapon this week was Aidan Clowry (Pawling, NY) who was just one yard shy of breaking 150 yards on the day with one touchdown. Also shining for the Devils Anthony Bilotta (Cedar Grove, NJ) as he was the second top receiver in the game with 80 yards and 1 touchdown on 4 receptions.

Defensively, The Devils relied on a team effort as 13 guys reached multiple tackles in the game. Christian Puntolillo (Wayne, NJ) accounted for four solo tackles and four assisted for a total of eight on the day while Nathan Saccal (Alexandria, NJ) added three solo tackles as well as four assisted tackles of his own.
 
With Albright winning the coin toss, FDU-Florham stood downfield to receive the kick. The Devils' first drive allowed them to get a feel for the Lions' defense as they were able to pick up a first down after a 17-yard pass completion to Michael DeSantis (South River, NJ) at the Devils' 36-yard line. Despite their efforts to get the ball field for another set of downs, the Lions' defense pounced, forcing FDU to put from almost midfield into Albright's territory.

With time on their side, Albright was able to start at their own 29-yard line and continued to work their way down the field with five first-down completions. As the Lions entered the red zone, FDU was aware of the situation but was unable to keep Albright off the board of the first potential shutout of the series' history. On 3rd and 1 on the FDU 7, Albright stuck to their well-known run game and ran the ball in their own claim the first points of the game including the extra-point attempt, 7-0.
 
FDU-Florham attempted to answer Albright's touchdown drive with one of their own as they marched up the field all the from the FDU 35 to the Albright 11. With the drive now at a 3rd and 11 stances, quarterback Thomas threw the ball up to Bilotta at the Albright 1, who was initially ruled for an incomplete pass but was overturned when a challenge by the Devils for the complete pass. FDU was not able to full make a successful drive after the challenge as they were stopped and forced to turn the ball over on downs.

The Devils did not give the Lions great field position as they started on their own 3 yard-line. After a delay of the game on the offense, Albright was pushed back to the 1 yard-line and did not make much progress as they failed on their first downs, being forced to punt away to FDU at the end of the quarter.

With a new opportunity starting out with a decent return from Adrian Reese (Indianapolis, Ind.) of 21 yards, the Devils started their drive saw a small rush and then a big completion downfield as Thomas connected with Clowry for 28 yards. With the offense closer to a direct scoring opportunity, they were able to pick up the first down and then the Devils' first touchdown after the ball was rushed in by Thomas. The extra point stood allowing FDU to tie Albright for the moment.
 
The defense played a major part in the remainder of the quarter as they forced Albright to turn over on downs once again after picking up three first downs, only to end at the FDU 49. With the FDU-Florham's next drive starting at the 20-yard line due to a touch back, the Devil offense had their work cut out for them as they once again marched down the field. FDU found success in this drive as Thomas once again looked downfield and found Bilotta for a 47-yard pass and the Devils second touchdown, with the extra point being good, 14-7.
 
Although Albright was given the ball back with just over four minutes to play, they soon returned the ball to back as they once again were forced to punt away. With this drive starting in the middle of the field, FDU wasted no time in getting down into the Albright red zone as they rushed the ball in once again for another touchdown and extra point, 21-7, with about a minute remaining on the clock. The Lions attempted to make use of their time quick but were not able to break through on the ground game as they were sent to the locker room without a score before halftime.  
 
The third quarter started out on a back-and-fourth pace as Albright attempted to score on two drives but was stopped by the superior Devils defense. The first drive of the third quarter was also not in favor of the scoring for FDU-Florham, but they were successful on their second attempt as another 50-yard deep ball to Clowry was caught shook off his defenders for FDU's third touchdown of the game.

With the extra point good and FDU-Florham now up by 21 points, Albright received the ball with 4:32 remaining in the quarter. The FDU defense stepped up the line of scrimmage each time against Albright's offensive line and accounted for stops when it mattered most. Toward the end of the Lions' drive, the defense was able to shut them down on the FDU 8 and forced another turnover on downs.
 
Despite having the offensive spark in this game, the Devils did not complete every drive with a score. However, they did succeed in pushing the Albright special teams and offense back into their own territory.
 
With 9:40 remaining, FDU-Florham once again found themselves in a scoring position after completing three plays all on first downs. Edwards was the Devil who secured the last and final touchdown of the game for either team. The extra stood and the ball was then kicked back to Albright for their final chance to break double-digit scoring. They failed and returned the ball to the Devils to close out the game on their last drive. FDU-Florham made their way to the Albright 27-yard line but did not pick up the extra points as the game expired with a 35-7 victory for the Devils.

 
FDU-Florham will face Misericordia for their first business trip of the year on Saturday, September 21 with a 12:00 pm kick-off.
 
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