Oct. 29, 2005
Box Score | Notes
Duquesne, facing 10-0 deficit with its third-string quarterback about to take his first career snap, responded by reeling off 24 consecutive points in extending its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League win streak to 36 games with a 31-17 victory at Iona.
The win put Duquesne (5-3, 3-0) in control of its own destiny, with the Dukes needing a victory over La Salle next Saturday to clinch their seventh consecutive MAAC title. The loss dropped Iona to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the MAAC.
Duquesne, which opened the game with Ben Palumbo at quarterback in place of the injured Scott Knapp (shoulder), turned it over on the game's second play when a muffed hand-off from Palumbo to Jeremy McCullough was recovered by Iona's Terence Kehayas at the DU 25.
Iona gained four yards on three plays before Chris Lofrese connected on a 38-yard field goal.
Iona then drove 59 yards on 13 plays to take a 10-0 lead on a one-yard run by Rich Wroblewski with 2:11 left in the opening quarter.
Things went from bad to worse when Palumbo, the only DU quarterback beside Knapp with game experience, went down with an injured leg when sacked on the last play of the quarter.
With the Dukes' league win streak looking to be in serious jeopardy, DU head coach Jerry Schmitt turned to true freshman Kevin Rombach and watched the Dukes take off.
Duquesne's defense provided the spark when Travis Decker sacked Iona's Dustin Croick and forced a fumble that was recovered by Ryan Esdale at the Gaels' 21. Following a ten-yard Iona penalty, McCullough scampered in from eight-yards out to cut the lead to three.
On DU's next possession Rombach, who finished the game 11-of-16 for 171 yards, completed a 49-yard pass to Alex Roberson to set up a 37-yard field goal by Mark Troyan to make the score 10-10 at the half.
In the third quarter, a big hit by Michael Hill on an Iona punt return forced a fumble that was recovered by Paul Mulbah at the Gaels' 17-yard line. James Jacobs took it from there, carrying three times - the last of which was an eight-yard run for a score that made it 17-10.
On Duquesne's next possession, Rombach completed five consecutive passes, the last of which was a 10-yard strike to Dan Spriggs, to put an exclamation point on an eight-play, 59-yard drive and make the score 24-10.
Iona stayed in the game when Rombach was sacked and fumbled at the Iona nine, setting up a four-yard run by Greg Bielski that cut the lead to seven early in the fourth quarter.
Hill then came up with another big play, intercepting a tipped pass and returned it 24 yards to the Iona 11.
Jacobs, who finished with a game-high 67 yards on 17 carries, scored from one-yard out with 2:37 left for the game's final points.
Duquesne's defense, which held Iona to two yards on 11 third-quarter plays, limited Iona to 135 total yards on the afternoon. Ryan Esdale led the defensive charge with 11 tackles including a sack. Hill added seven tackles to go along with his fumble recovery and interception.
Roberson was the prime beneficiary of Rombach's clutch performance with four catches for a career-high 103 yards. Duquesne finished the game with 255 yards of total offense.
BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 FINALDUQUESNE 0 10 14 7 31IONA 10 0 0 7 17
LEADERS
Rushing (Att./Yds./TD)
DU - Jacobs (17-67-2)
IC - Christoforo (15-60-0)
Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD)
DU - Rombach (16-11-0-171-1)
IC - Croick (12-6-0-31-0), Biehl (9-4-2-34-0)
Receiving (Att./Yds./TD)
DU - Roberson (4-103-0)
IC - Calacione (4-10-0)
Tackles (Tot./Solo)
DU - Esdale (11/5)
IC - Pfistner (12/4)
GAME NOTES --
Duquesne's conference win streak now stands at 36 games ... it is the longest active conference win streak among NCAA Division I-A and I-AA schools and ranks third all time behind Oklahoma (44 in the Big Eight from 1952-59) and Nebraska (39 in the Big Eight/Big 12 from 1992-98) on the all-time list for Division I-A and I-AA ... the Dukes also extended their series win streak to five in a row over Iona ... Duquesne began the game without starting quarterback Scott Knapp (Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry Traditional Academy), who was nursing a shoulder that was injured in last week's win at Marist ... back-up quarterback Ben Palumbo (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) went down with a combination ankle, knee, hip injury late in the second quarter forcing true freshman Kevin Rombach (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) to enter the game with Duquesne down 10-0 ... Rombach promptly led the Dukes to a season-high 31 points by connecting on 11-of-16 pass attempts for 171 yards and one score ... his first career pass was a 29-yard completion to wideout Alex Roberson (Waynesboro, Ga./Curtis Baptist Upper School) ... Roberson posted his first career 100-yard game with four catches for 103 yards ... media covering the game, including the public address announcer and Duquesne radio, did not mention Rombach's name once during the game ... Rombach, whose road jersey No. 6 is missing, was outfitted in jersey No. 17 which belongs to fellow freshman Brian Smoot ... no one in the pressbox was aware of the number change until after the game was over - thus Rombach was refered to as "Smoot" for the entire game ... James Jacobs (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) led all rushers with 67 yards on 17 carries ... Jacobs scored on runs of two and one yards ... freshman Aaron Strader (Pittsburgh, Pa./Allderdice), who was making his second career start in as many weeks at cornerback, picked off a pass for the second-straight week ... strong safety Michael Hill (Largo, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) set up a pair of second-half Duquesne touchdowns with a fumble recovery at the Iona 17 and interception return to the Iona 11 ... Hill, who finished the game with seven tackles (five solo) also was credited with two passes broken up ... Hill now has intercepted a pass in each of DU's last three games ... Duquesne held Iona to two yards on 11 third quarter plays ... DU scored twice during that span to make it 24-10 entering the fourth quarter.
