Sept. 16, 2006
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
Scott Knapp threw for 269 yards and a career-high four touchdowns to lead Duquesne to a convincing 41-10 win over Saint Francis, Pa. in the Dukes' home opener at Rooney Field.
Knapp, who completed 18-of-28 passes on the afternoon, found Bruce Hocker for three scores in the opening 30 minutes as the Dukes jumped out to a 27-3 halftime lead.
The win was Duquesne's second in a row over a Northeast Conference school and upped the Dukes' record to 2-1. Saint Francis dropped to 1-2. The victory also extended DU's series win streak to eight games.
The Knapp-to-Hocker connection made its mark early as the sophomore quarterback found the junior receiver for a 14-yard score on Duquesne's first possession. The two teams exchanged field goals before Knapp found Hocker from nine-yards out to make it 17-3. Mark Troyan added his second field goal of the game - a career-long 44-yarder - to make it 20-3 before Hocker pulled in a 20-yard pass from Knapp with 1:02 left to give the Dukes a 27-3 lead at the half.
Saint Francis' Todd Harris, who rushed for a hard-earned 75 yards on 23 carries scored the Red Flash's only touchdown on a one-yard plunge to cap a 10-play, 90-yard drive to open the second half.
Duquesne answered with a 64-yard drive of its own stamped by an eight-yard touchdown pass from Knapp to tight end Calvin Gitter to make the score 34-10. Conrad Carter fell on a James Jacobs fumble in the end zone with 8:29 left for Duquesne's final score of the game. Jacobs had run 35 yards to the SFU two before losing the handle.
Duquesne's defense frustrated Saint Francis quarterback Anthony Doria - the 2005 NEC Offensive Player of the Year - into an 8-of-25, 144-yard performance. Despite the rough outing, the senior from Pittsburgh managed to eclipse the 7,000-yard career passing mark with a third quarter 27-yard completion to Michael Caputo that set up SFU's lone touchdown.
Senior safety Michael Hill and linebackers John Simmons and Brent Whiteleather led the Dukes with seven tackles each. Hill, who also broke up a pair of passes, had a team-high five solo stops.
Andrew Ardestani led Saint Francis with a game-high 10 tackles.
Dennis Void led the Duquesne ground game with 40 yards on eight carries. Starting tailback Jeremy McCullough added 28 yards on 12 rushes and also caught four passes for 43 yards. Dan Spriggs added three catches for a team-high 73 yards.
Caputo led Saint Francis with four catches for 73 yards.
The Dukes outgained the Red Flash 401-277 and enjoyed a 19-13 advantage in first downs. Duquesne's defense limited Saint Francis to a 2-of-11 success rate on third down - including 0-of-6 in the pivotal the first half.
BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 FINALSAINT FRANCIS, PA 3 0 7 0 10DUQUESNE 10 17 7 7 41
LEADERSRushing (Att./Yds./TD): DU - Void (8-40-0); SFU - Harris (23-75-1)Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD): DU - Knapp (28-18-0-269-4); SFU - Doria (25-8-0-144-0)Receiving (Att./Yds./TD): DU - Hocker (4-61-3), Spriggs (4-43-0); SFU - Caputo (4-73-0)Tackles (Tot./Solo): DU - Hill (7/5), Simmons (7/4), Whiteleather (7/1); SFU - Ardestani (10/6)
DUQUESNE QUOTES -- Head Coach Jerry Schmitt: "Our defense is really starting to play well together. Since the Bucknell game, they have started to get into a rhythm. [Defensive coordinator] coach [Joe] Bernard has done a great job getting the young guys comfortable and playing hard. The defense gave us great field position and our punter, Dave Kovalcik, had a good game. That really helped our offense. "They [Saint Francis] do a great job throwing the ball and Harris is an outstanding running back. We wanted to keep them under control and prevent big plays and we were able to do that. "This team has the potential to be very good."
Quarterback Scott Knapp: "The coaches put together a good game plan, the line gave us time and we just executed. They stacked the box against the run and that gave us a chance to go one-on-one in the passing game."
GAME NOTES --
The win was Duquesne's eighth in a row over Saint Francis ... DU is now 5-1 against teams from the Northeast Conference since 2003 ... the Dukes, who won won 27-7 at Robert Morris last week, face their third consecutive NEC opponent next weekend when Sacred Heart visits Rooney Field ... Duquesne is now 11-2 in home openers at Rooney Field ... junior receiver Bruce Hocker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) continued his torrid pace with four catches for 61 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 13 catches for 289 yards and seven touchdowns on the young season ... over half of his 13 catches (seven) have gone for scores ... his seven TD grabs have covered 32, 34, 68, 30, 14, 9 and 20 yards ... sophomore quarterback Scott Knapp (Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry Traditional Academy) completed 18-of-28 passes for 269 yards and a career-high four touchdowns ... his previous career high for TD passes in a game was two (four times) ... Knapp has eight touchdown passes in three games this year ... the Dukes held Saint Francis QB Anthony Doria -the 2005 NEC Offensive Player of the year - to 144 yards on 8-of-25 passing ... Mark Troyan (Ford City, Pa./Ford City) connected on a pair of field goals, giving him four makes in a row ... he bested his career-long 42-yarder last week at Robert Morris with a 44-yarder in the second quarter to give the Dukes a 20-3 lead ... Troyan's other field goal came from 36 yards out in the first quarter.
