PITTSBURGH — Duquesne (7-2, 4-0) welcomed Robert Morris (6-4, 3-1) for an important NEC showdown at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field on Saturday afternoon. The implications of the game heading into the week was outright first-place in the conference as both teams entered undefeated in conference play.
“I was impressed with our team, with the way they prepared, I was really impressed with our practice this week,” Duquesne head coach Jerry Schmitt told reporters following the game. “They practiced really with a pace of about them and an intent about them, preparing for this game, probably because it was for first place. Realistically, in the conference, every week is a playoff game right now, you can’t lose. You need to keep playing and keep winning.”
The ranked Dukes squad handled business, in large part due to the three first-half touchdown connections between Darius Perrantes and John Erby, as they rolled past their rivals, the Colonials, 31-6. With the win, the Dukes are now in prime position to be crowned NEC champions for the second straight season.
“We got out-coached, we got out-played and that is what happens when you get out-coached and put-played, you lose the football game,” Robert Morris head coach Bernard Clark told reporters after the game. “Coach Schmitt had his guys ready to go. They played outstanding. I give them all of the credit. We did not play well at all.”
The Dukes won the toss and elected to receive to start the game. Then on their first drive, the Dukes showed why they are ranked inside of the FCS Top 25 as they marched right down the field for the game’s initial score. After converting a fourth-and-long earlier in the drive, Perrantes connected with Erby for their first touchdown of the afternoon.
Despite the double coverage that Colonials deployed on Erby, he managed to rip the ball out of their air over two defenders for the 13-yard touchdown.
After a punt on their second drive, the Dukes punched it in again to extend their lead to two scores. Erby finished the drive off with his second touchdown, a 45-yard catch, after he beat the Colonials cornerback and safety on a deep post route.
Then to cap off the first half, Erby struck again, as he squeaked out to the left side of the field on a wheel route where Perrantes found him wide open in the corner of the end zone. Erby’s three first-half touchdowns helped the Dukes build a 21-0 lead that they carried into halftime.
“[The Colonials] were playing a lot of one-high through the season and they were giving us a little bit of two-high, I imagine because of our pass game, so we started out running the ball but as they started to matchup, we had some [good looks,]” Coach Schmitt said following the victory. “Coach [Anthony] Doria does a good job and Coach [Luke] Smith, the receivers coach, dialed up some things that created some matchup problems for some of their guys. When you are going to play man against three receivers, your linebacker or safety is going to have to come down to cover Erby and sometimes that’s tough.”
Erby finished the game having caught six passes for a game-high 126 yards to go along with his three touchdowns.
The Colonials best chance to crawl back into the game came on their initial drive of the second half. The Colonials moved down the field on a 32-yard connection between Anthony Chiccitt and Shawn Charles. On the plus-14, Chiccitt dropped back and tried to pass into the end zone, but the pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Ty Howard at the 7-yard line.
Charles was the lone bright spot on the Colonials offense as he finished the game with seven catches for a team-high 88 yards.
Howard’s interception marked his fourth straight game with a defensive turnover.
“Howard is just a really good athlete,” Coach Schmitt said after the game. “He has gotten so much better in understanding his role in schemes and what’s going on. He’s been pretty fortunate with balls being tipped but he is that kind of athlete where he is in the right spot at the right time because he is athletic. I still think he has a lot of growth, he is a really good football player, but he has a lot of growth left. He can get so much better.”
The Dukes added a 25-yard field goal by Brian Bruzdewicz at the start of the fourth quarter to extend their lead which proved to be crucial to the outcome of the game.
The Colonials answered the field goal with their only touchdown of the game. Delvecchio Powell II ran hard for the Colonials all drive and capped it off with a strong 10-yard touchdown run. The Dukes field goal on the drive prior forced the Colonials to go for two to make it a two-possession game but their attempt fell to the turf which kept the difference at three possessions.
Duquesne added one more fourth-quarter score on a 44-yard touchdown connection between Perrantes and Joey Isabella, the younger brother of NFL wide receiver Andy Isabella.
Perrantes completed 14-of-26 pass attempts for a game-high 231 yards and four touchdowns.
The Dukes stay at home to take on Wagner next week while the Colonials stay on the road to take on Central Connecticut in another pivotal NEC showdown. For the Colonials to have hope in regard to winning the NEC, the Dukes would need to lose out while the Colonials win out since there will not be an NEC championship game.
“We got to figure it out,” Coach Clark said following the loss. “It is more upfront and we have some injuries upfront but I don’t like using excuses. … The bottom line is we have to get it done. It doesn’t matter who is up front, we gotta get it done if we want to win football games.”
Regardless, each team still has two games remaining on their schedule and everything is still on the table until Duquesne clinches the conference title. The Dukes and the Colonials both know that and will not lay down over the next two weeks as they continue their fight towards a conference championship.
