Freddie Brock scored a fourth quarter touchdown on Saturday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears held off the Albany Great Danes 19-16 in Colonial Athletic Association football action at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium in Albany, New York.
Maine (3-4, 2-3 CAA) took the opening kickoff and got on the board first on a 39 yard Jonny Messina field goal. Albany would drive into Black Bears territory as well on their first possession, but quarterback Jeff Undercuffler was hit at the Maine 36 and fumbled and Justin Sambu recovered for the visitors. That would lead to a Derek Robertson 15 yard TD pass to Steve Petrick just over six minutes later and a 10-0 advantage. Another Messina field goal of 41 yards in the second made it 13-0. The Great Danes had one more great chance to put up some points in the first half, driving to the Maine 11 yard line but was stopped there and had to settle for a 28 yard Dylan Burns field goal to make it a 10 point game at the break.
Neither team could get much going in the third quarter, but it was Albany again who was able to slice into the margin with a drive that started late in the third and ended early in the fourth. Undercuffler hit LJ Wesneski for a 15 yard touchdown with 10:23 left, but the extra point by Burns was no good and it was 13-9. Maine got a 30 yard return on the ensuing kickoff by Devin Young to set them up in good field position at their own 44. It took three plays after a run by Elijah Barnwell for a loss on first down. Robertson hit Andre Miller on a 22 yard connection to the UAlbany 35, then a 15 yard pass to Young, and then Brock finished it off with a 20 yard touchdown run with 8:12 to play. It was the first fourth quarter TD this season for the Black Bears. They would go for a two point conversion to try to make it a two score game but a pass by Robertson failed. The Great Danes weren’t quite done yet, as they went 75 yards on 10 plays capped off by a Karl Mofor two yard scoring run with still 4:14 remaining. Maine went three and out and punted back to the hosts with taking just 30 seconds off the game clock. On their last opportunity to try to at least tie things up, Albany was down to a 4th and 8 play at their own 31 and Undercuffler made a good throw on a hook route to his receiver Mike Gray but Bears defensive back Shakur Smalls broke it up for a turnover on downs. Brock took a first down handoff and went 11 yards for another set of downs, and the guests were able to run out the clock for their second consecutive win.
Robertson went 14-26 passing for 182 yards and one touchdown. Robertson has thrown five TD passes and only one interception since becoming the starter when Joe Fagnano went down with an injury in the first quarter in the second week of the season. Brock had 12 rushes for 35 yards with the big fourth quarter touchdown. Young led the receiving core with five catches for 69 yards, while Miller and Jacob Hennie caught three each for 55 and 35 yards respectively. Petrick, the graduate student transfer tight end who also played for Robert Morris and Temple, caught his first pass of the season which went for a touchdown. Adrian Otero had eight tackles to lead the Black Hole defense, while Ray Miller and Xavier Nurse had seven a piece. Nurse added two tackles for loss and a sack, while Miller also had one tackle for loss. Undercuffler started the game and played the first offensive series, left the game for QB Joey Carino, and returned late in the third quarter and finished the contest. He finished 7-14 passing for 99 yards and a touchdown. The redshirt freshman Carino was 6-13 for 52 yards. Mofor rushed 25 times for 113 yards and a touchdown, and also added five receptions for 41 yards. Larry Walker, Jr. and Jackson Ambush had seven tackles a piece, as Albany dropped to 0-7 and 0-5 in the conference. Maine visits Rhode Island for a 1 p.m. kickoff with the Rams next Saturday.
