ORONO, Maine- Joe Fagnano hit Earnest Edwards for an 11 yard touchdown with 34 seconds remaining Saturday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears rallied from a pair of 14 point deficits to pull off a shocking 34-30 win over the Rhode Island Rams in Colonial Athletic Association football action at Alfond Stadium on Senior Day. It was the fourth straight win for Maine.
Rhode Island (2-9, 0-7 CAA) dominated play in the first half gashing the Maine defense with their rushing attack led by Naim Jones, and a defense that held the Black Bears to just two first downs for most of the opening 30 minutes. The Rams took the opening kickoff and went 77 yards on 11 plays and Jones finished it off with a two yard touchdown run to make it 7-0. A.J. Carrick extended it to a 10-0 advantage with a 20 yard field goal with about 1:30 to go in the first half. Maine got on the board just before the break with eight seconds left on a Kenny Doak 28 yard field goal. The kick was setup with the two key plays being a 14 yard run by Fagnano, and a 22 yard passing play from Fagnano to Jacob Hennie. The two first downs on the drive doubled the amount of first downs the Black Bears had managed to get over the first 28:30 of play.
Maine (6-5, 4-3) went three and out with the opening possession of the third quarter. It took URI just 1:04 to push the lead to 14 when on the third play Jones went down the left sideline untouched for a 34 yard TD run to make it 17-3. Edwards made a big play about 4:30 later when the Rams punter was forced into a punt from his own endzone. Edwards caught it at the Rams 47 and went down the right sideline for a 28 yard return to the URI 19. The first play after the return Fagnano hit Devin Young on a slant pass in the endzone to cut it to 17-10. Young was penalized on the play for an unsportsmanlike conduct. Maine with the penalty had to kickoff from their own 20 setting up good field position for the Rams at the Black Bear 44. QB Vito Priore hit Aaron Parker for a 32 yard pass on the second play down to the 10, and Ahmere Dorsey caught an eight yard TD from Priore three plays later to push it back to a 14 point lead. The hosts bounced back with a nine play drive but it would stall at the Rhode Island 17 forcing a 34 yard field goal from Doak, and the Rams took an 11 point lead to the final quarter.
URI once again made a 14 point advantage when Carrick connected on his second kick of the day from 38 yards and it was 27-13 Rams with just under 10 minutes to play. Maine wouldn’t quit however. It took them just 1:31 to cover 61 yards with the big plays being a 22 yard run by Young, a 16 yard run by Emmanuel Reed, and also a 15 yard facemask penalty against the Rams. Reed finished off the drive with a 12 yard TD run and it was a seven point game. With just over six minutes to play Carrick would miss a 44 yard field goal that fell short that would of increased the lead back to 10. Two huge plays by the Black Bears set up the game tying score. Fagnano hit Edwards for a 21 yard pass and catch to the URI 47, and then on the next play Edwards took a pitch on a double reverse and cut it up the left sideline for a 44 yard gain to the 3. Joe Fitzpatrick ran into the endzone off left tackle on the next play to tie it 27-27. The Rams took their final lead of the game driving to the Black Bears 12 yard line set up by a Priore 23 yard pass to Parker. A one yard run by Jones and two incompletions by Priore set up a 29 yard field goal from Carrick to make it 30-27 URI with 1:49 left. Fagnano and the Bears immediately went to work as the freshman quarterback hit Young on the first play of the game winning drive with a stop and go route that went 44 yards to the URI 37. Fagnano also completed passes to Fitzpatrick for 11 yards and Hennie for 15, before tossing the winner to Edwards in the left front corner of the endzone from 11 yards away. Rhode Island had two more chances near midfield in the closing seven seconds. Priore did complete one on the final play to Dorsey at the Maine 18, but Dorsey was tackled by Edwards to end the game. Maine Head Coach Nick Charlton said, “It was a pretty wild game, and a great win for this program and for what we are trying to accomplish this year. I thought our defense played very very well throughout the day. In the first half we really struggled offensively, alot of human error and Rhode Island has good players, but we felt like we should of played better in that half but our defense was unbelievable. In the fourth quarter we rattled together a few scores together and we started playing complimentary. We found a way to win that game and now we still have everything in front of us with a chance to get another win next week. I am very proud of our staff and players. Our staff did a great job this week with alot of guys out, but our players stepped up and won that game, and I am just very proud of them”.
Maine quarterback Joe Fagnano drops back for a playaction pass during fourth quarter CAA football action against Rhode Island on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at Alfond Stadium. The Black Bears won the game 34-30. Photo by Chris Lessner.
Fagnano finished the day 20-29 passing for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Big runs in the second half from Edwards, Reed, and Young helped the rushing attack that ended up with 160 yards on 22 attempts after just 16 yards on 9 carries in the first half. Edwards led the way with 73 yards on 3 attempts. Edwards also caught five passes for 58 yards and the game winning TD. He also had 100 total yards on four kickoff returns and 28 on a punt return for a total of 251 all purpose yards. Taji Lowe had 10 total tackles and a half sack for the Maine defense. Seniors Kayon Whitaker and Joshua Huffman had 2 and 1.5 sacks respectively in their final game at Alfond Stadium. Darrius Perrantes started the game at quarterback for URI completing 9-18 passes for 68 yards but left after halftime after an injury to his right index finger. Priore finished 9-18 for 137 yards and a touchdown in relief. Jones had the big offensive day for the visitors rushing for 167 yards on 31 carries and two touchdowns. Parker caught five passes for 113 yards. The Rams lose their 13th straight game in the series to Maine, and also is their 10th straight loss in Orono.
Maine goes back on the road for a rivalry battle next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Durham, NH against the UNH Wildcats in the last regular season game and annual matchup for the Brice-Cowell Musket. A Black Bear win almost guarantees a return trip to the FCS playoffs.
URI (2-9, 0-7) 7 3 14 6- 30
UME (6-5, 4-3) 0 3 10 21- 34
Total yards- URI 395 Maine 376
First downs- URI 18 Maine 19
Turnovers- URI 1 Maine 0
Third downs- URI 9-19 Maine 0-8
Time of possession- URI 37:17 Maine 22:43
