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PITTSBURGH - In a matchup of the two top passers in Northeast Conference history, it was the Duquesne defense that stole the show, holding Sacred Heart to season lows in total yardage and points in a 31-10 win at Rooney Field.

DU linebacker Christian Kuntz had a pair of sacks to break the Duquesne career record and tie the NEC career mark as the Dukes held the Pioneers to 225 yards.

Duquesne's Dillon Buechel, who went over the 10,000 career yard passing mark early in the fourth quarter, finished with 238 yards passing, while Sacred Heart's R.J. Noel, who entered the game a little over 900 yards behind Buechel, was held to 93 yards through the air.

Freshman running back A.J. Hines ran for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Dukes, who finished with 381 total yards.

Duquesne converted a pair of fourth downs - one on a Kuntz run out of punt formation, and the second on a 21 yard pass from Buechel to Blair Roberts to set up a 4 yard Hines touchdown run.

Sacred Heart, which had just 62 yards of total offense in the first half, jumped on a Hines fumble at the Duquesne 12, but could only gain three yards before settling for a 25 yard Alec Finney field goal that made it 7-3 with 4:20 left in the half.

Duquesne answered with a 68 yard drive capped by a 2 yard scoring run by Hines. Hines had two big plays on the drive, an 18 yard reception and a 32 yard run to the SHU two.

The Dukes made it 21-3 early in the third quarter when Buechel hit Wayne Capers with a 24 yard touchdown pass to end a 12 play drive.

Sacred Heart put together its first extended drive of the game, going 68 yards in 10 plays to make it 21-10 on a 4 yard touchdown pass from Noel to Andrew O'Neill with 5:12 left in the third quarter.

DU came right back with a 38 yard Austin Crimmins field goal.

Kuntz, who became Duquesne's all-time sack leader when he took down Noel for a 16 yard loss late in the first quarter, tied for the NEC all-time lead with a strip sack of Noel that he covered in the end zone that made it 31-10 with 11:06 left.

Duquesne concludes the regular season at Central Connecticut State next Saturday at Noon.

LEADERS
Rushing (Att./Yds./TD): DU - Hines (18-86-2); SHU - Chavious (14-71-0)
Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD): DU - Buechel (21-37-1-238-1); SHU - Noel (14-26-1-93-1)
Receiving (Att./Yds./TD): DU - B.Roberts (6-82-0); SHU - O'Neill (4-14-1)
Tackles (Tot./Solo): DU - Henderson (10/5); SHU - Parvelus (7/5)

GAME NOTES
Duquesne held Sacred Heart to season lows in total offense (225 yards) and points (10) ... SHU's previous lows were 278 yards vs. Saint Francis and 16 points in a 16-10 win over Robert Morris ... Duquesne had a 35:35 to 24:25 advantage in time of possession ... with his nine yard completion to Wayne Capers in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Dillon Buechel (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour), the NEC career passing yardage leader, became the second player in school history to surpass 10,000 yards passing ... Buechel, who went 21-of-37 for 238 yards and 1 TD, now has 10,016 passing yards ... the only DU player with more is four-time first team All-MAAC QB Neil Loebig, who threw for 10,254 yards from 2001-04 ... with his one TD, Buechel (72) pulled within one of Tony Zimmerman (73 TDs from 1998-00) for second place on DU's all-time career list ... senior linebacker Christian Kuntz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) became Duquesne's all-time sack leader when he took down R.J. Noel for a 16-yard loss with 2:30 left in the first quarter ... he tied the NEC career mark with a strip sack on Noel with 11:06 left ... Kuntz covered the fumble for the score that made it 31-10 ... Kuntz has 29.5 sacks for his career the sack total is tied with Jeff Covitz (Bryant, 29.5 from 2011-14) for the most in NEC history ... running back A.J. Hines (Wilson, N.C./Fike), the first DU freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards at the FCS level, saw a streak of five consecutive 100 yard games snapped with 86 yards in 18 carries ... Hines' two touchdowns (of 3 and 2 yards) give him 11 on the season.