Sept. 15, 2007
PROVIDENCE, RI - Brown turned a 4th-and-3 play into a 33-yard touchdown with just over two minutes left in the third quarter to break open a close game in going on to defeat Duquesne 28-17 at Brown Stadium.
Dereck Knight ran for 208 yards on 33 carries, Michael Dougherty threw for three scores and tight end Colin Cloherty caught eight passes for 171 yards to lead Brown.
Kevin Rombach came off the bench to throw for 229 yards for Duquesne.
Knight gave the Bears an early lead when he raced 61 yards around left end for a score on the game's second play.
Duquesne answered with a 50 yard drive capped by a 32-yard Mark Troyan field goal.
Brown once again used a big play, this time a 44-yard Dougherty-to-Cloherty hook-up to make it 14-3 after one quarter.
Rombach replaced starting quarterback Scott Knapp during the Dukes' second possession of the second quarter and ran for 21 yards and completed a pair of passes for 34 yards - the last of which went for a 14-yard score to Bruce Hocker - to make it 14-10 with 7:19 left in the half.
Brown drove to the Duquesne one late in the first half before Ronnie Garvin forced a fumble that was recovered by Paul Mulbah at the three-yard-line with 21 seconds left.
Rombach drove the Dukes from their own 27 into Brown territory on DU's second possession of the second half before Jay Spinks lost the ball after a catch at the Brown 15. Brown's Frank Nuzzo recovered the fumble for the momentum-changing stop.
Neither team moved the ball until Dougherty found Paul Raymond on a play-action pass from 33 yards out on 4th-and-3 to give Brown a 28-10 lead at the 2:24 mark.
Duquesne drove 65 yards for a score - a one-yard plunge by Dennis Void - to make it 28-17 with 7:41 left. Rombach then completed 3-of-4 passes to drive the Dukes into Brown territory with under five minutes left before Void fumbled after an six-yard gain on a screen pass to give the ball back to Brown with 3:46 left.
Knight topped the 200-yard mark on Brown's final possession.
Rombach finished 18-of-28 for 229 yards. Conrad Carter caught seven passes for 98 yards - both career highs - to lead the Dukes. Bruce Hocker added six grabs for 72 yards. Greg Hough led the Dukes with 73 yards rushing on 10 carries including a 45-yard run in the game's closing moments.
John Simmons led Duquesne with a career-high 15 tackles (10 solo). Derron Thomas added 11 stops for the Dukes.
Jose Yearwood led Brown with eight tackles.
Brown outgained Duquesne 510-388, including a 262-88 advantage on the ground.
BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 FINALDUQUESNE 3 7 0 7 17BROWN 14 0 7 7 28
LEADERS
Rushing (Att./Yds./TD)
DU - Hough (10-73-0); BU - Knight (33-208-1)
Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD)
DU - Rombach (28-18-1-229-1); BU - Daugherty (31-17-1-248-3)
Receiving (Att./Yds./TD)
DU - Carter (7-98-0), Hocker (6-72-25); BU - Cloherty (8-171-1)
Tackles (Tot./Solo)
DU - Simmons (15/10), Thomas (11/7); BU - Yearwood (8/6)
GAME NOTES
Duquesne is now 0-4 against teams from the Ivy League ... all four meetings have come in the past five seasons ... Brown held a 34:26 to 25:34 advantage in time of possession ... Duquesne scored on all three of its red zone possessions ... Duquesne had just 43 yards on the ground before Greg Hough's 45-yard run with under a minute left ... junior receiver Conrad Carter (Clinton, Md./Archbishop Carroll) finished with a career-high seven catches for 98 yards ... his previous career bests for catches and yards was five (at Fordham as a sophomore) and 81 (vs. Fordham as a freshman) ... Alex Roberson (Waynesboro, Ga./Curtis Baptist Upper School) caught two passes for 62 yards in his first appearance since a season-ending knee injury suffered in last year's opener ... sophomore quarterback Kevin Rombach (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) came off the bench to set new career highs for completions (18), attempts (28) and yards (229) in his first appearance in over a year (Rombach redshirted last season) ... senior All-American receiver Bruce Hocker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) added six catches for 72 yards and one score (14 yards) ... he has caught at least one TD pass in 11 of his last 12 games ... outside linebacker John Simmons (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) led the Dukes with a career-high 15 tackles (10 solo) ... his previous career high also came against an Ivy League school with 11 at Columbia in 2005 ... middle linebacker Derron Thomas (Forrestville, Md. /Eleanor Roosevelt), who had 18 stops in the season opener against Bucknell, added 11 tackles.
