No. 19 Salisbury outruns the Storm on Homecoming Weekend
SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 19 Salisbury University football team defeated Lake Erie College 39-15 before a Homecoming crowd of 2,278 Saturday afternoon at Sea Gull Stadium. This is the third straight win for the Sea Gulls, who have not lost during the month of October, and have scored 145 points in the three games.
The Salisbury (6-1) running game was dominant against the Storm as it amassed 533 rushing yards and scored five touchdowns. The Sea Gulls were 63 yards shy of the school record of 596 offensive yards, set during last year's Homecoming Game against Becker College on October 20, 2007.
Senior quarterback Ronnie Curley led the way for the Gulls with a season-high and a career-high 196 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns. Curley's previous high came in the 2006 Regent's Cup against Frostburg State University with 178 yards on 14 carries.
Senior superback Shelby Fisher (16 carries, 93 yards, two touchdowns) and sophomore slot back Bryan Woolson (12 carries, 104 yards, one touchdown) kept the offense churning as they combined for 197 yards and three scores.
On the opposite side of the ball the Sea Gull defense held the Lake Erie ground-game to 55 yards rushing. The Sea Gull defense was a three-headed monster as seniors Paul Cynewski, Matt Barnes and sophomore Justin Chura were all over the field. Cynewski made six solo tackles in the game, including a career-high four sacks pushing the Storm offense back a combined 30 yards. Barnes made four solo tackles and broke up an attempted pass while Chura made five tackles (3.5 for a loss of nine yards).
The Sea Gull defense was playing with a comfortable lead from early in the game as Curley broke a 48-yard run to start the SU scoring less than two minutes into the contest. Woolson and Curley each reached the end zone again in the next 15 minutes to put the maroon and gold in control up 21-3.
Lake Erie (2-6) scored its first touchdown on a 47-yard pass connection from freshman quarterback Sean Bedevelsky (15-for-25, 186 yards) to Brandon James, who spun free at the Sea Gull 25-yard line, and scored. The Storm, a Division II school, is in its inaugural varsity season as a football program and has just three upperclassmen players on its roster.
The Storm managed to pass for 186 yards against the Gulls but could not sustain enough offense to keep up with the high-powered running game of the maroon and gold. The Gulls ran the ball 71 times, just five rushes shy of the single-game record for SU.
Freshman linebacker Scott Given (18 tackles) recorded 15 solo tackles for the Storm including two touchdown saving stops against sophomore superback Nick Coates (five carries, 51 yards) late in the fourth quarter. Freshman defensive back Ryan Studer recorded 11 tackles while fellow freshman Gus Armbruster made nine tackles forced one fumble to keep the Gulls in check.
The SU defense held the Storm scoreless for the final 22 minutes of play including a scoreless fourth quarter. Lake Erie's leading rusher Tony Howard was held to nine carries for 29 yards as the Storm only had 55 total rushing yards in the game. The Sea Gull special teams also blocked two extra-points attempted by Lake Erie.
SU freshman kicker Tommy Kowalick (4-for-4 on extra-points) connected on a 34-yard field goal late in the third quarter. Fisher scored his second and final score of the game, and the half, three seconds into the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Salisbury will travel to Leicester, Mass., to take on Becker College on Saturday, October 25, at Noon in another non-conference game.
