PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University football team dominated its home and season opener, 49-7, against Edinboro on Saturday afternoon at Rooney Field.
The Dukes started fast and never looked back to extend their home-opening winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons.
Ayden Garnes got the season started with a pick-six on the second play of the game to set the tone. Duquesne took that momentum and ran away with the mutual season opener.
The DU defense charted five turnovers, including three interceptions. Four of the five came in the first quarter.
Tim Lowery returned from a season-ending injury last season and made his impact felt right away as he followed Garnes with an interception of his own on Edinboro's third drive, still less than five minutes into game action.
The Dukes offense got on the board on their second drive, a six-play, 65-yard effort. Darius Perrantes, who settled quite well back into the starting role, found Keshawn Brown down the far sideline for a 38-yard completion setting DU up in the red zone for the first time in 2023. Perrantes used his legs on an option play and deked out the Fighting Scots defense for a four-yard score making it 14-0 at the 7:43 mark in the first quarter.
Perrantes finished the day 7-for-13 for 135 yards, two passing touchdowns, and one rushing TD all in one half of action.
Duquesne scored on three straight drives from 13 seconds left in the first quarter to 4:13 left in the second quarter to quickly extend the lead to 35-0 at the break.
The Red and Blue defense rallied for back-to-back fumble recoveries on the possessions following the Lowery INT. Right after the Fighting Scots got their first, first down of the game … Gianni Rizzo was right there two plays later to knock the ball loose from quarterback Matt Carlisle and Ryan Lopez jumped on it, giving the Dukes the ball in their own offensive end.
DU was unable to convert a 25-yard field goal on the ensuing offensive drive, but no worries the defense got the ball right back on a Kevin Kurzinger sack-fumble recovered by Ty Howard.
This time the Dukes found the end zone. Perrantes made something out of a broken down play, shedding a couple of Boro tacklers, and found Brown for six on the run from 33 yards out. Each of Perrantes' first two completions went to Brown for 30-plus yards.
Perrantes did it again on the next drive. Rolling out this time to his left, the junior from Los Angeles found DJ Powell, who was able to leap up over a Boro defender and drag his foot inside the back line, for a score. Perrantes went 5-of-6 on the 94-yard drive that ended with DU posting its 27th and 28th points of the afternoon at the 8:26 mark in the second quarter.
A penalty on Edinboro moved up the following Duquesne drive to Boro's 23-yard line. JaMario Clements punched it into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season putting DU ahead 35-0 with 4:13 left in the half. Clements finished averaging 6.7 yards per carry over seven handoffs (47 yards).
Matt Robinson and Jordan Heisey saw time under center for the Dukes in the second half and both posted touchdowns. Robinson led an eight-play, 60-yard march down the field that resulted in a four-yard touchdown pass to Powell. The Fresno State transfer rolled out right and perfectly placed a pass over an Edinboro defender to the Bethune Cookman transfer streaking across the backline of the endzone for Powell's second acrobatic TD grab of the day.
Heisey handled most of the fourth-quarter duties at quarterback for Duquesne. The defense set him up in a perfect spot on his first drive and Heisey converted with a rushing touchdown to round out the Dukes' 49-point outing.
Graduate student Ezekiel M. Daure was the one who set the quick score up with an interception and return 42 yards down inside the Boro red zone. Kevin Kurzinger rushed the Fighting Scots' quarterback and forced a bad decision that found Daure in stride resulting in a lengthy return.
Daure and Garnes were both tied for the team lead last season with two picks and both captured one in this season's opener.
Howard led the defensive unit with five tackles, three of which solos, he also had 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack to his record. Duquesne recorded six sacks, nine TFLs, and had 33 players record at least one tackle.
Powell finished the day with a team-high three receptions for 57 yards and two scores. Six different receivers accounted for the 10 completions. Brown's two big plays resulted in 71 yards, a game high.
Missouri transfer Taj Butts racked up 104 yards on the ground in his first time out in the Red and Blue, including a long of 39 yards which help kickstart the Dukes' third-quarter scoring drive. Butts averaged 11.6 yards per carry in nine rushes.
Nearly every stat category favored the Dukes. DU outgained Edinboro 390-170 in total offense including a 238-63 mark on the ground. The Red and Blue defense held Edinboro to 1-of-13 on third down tries.
Duquesne has now won 28 of 31 home openers since joining the FCS and snapped a two-game losing streak in season openers.
The home opening crowd of over 1,600 did not disappoint, as there was a lot of energy on the Bluff this afternoon for the return of Dukes football. DU honored four former championship winning teams celebrating milestone anniversaries back to Rooney Field with a halftime recognition, including the 2018, 2013, 2003, and 1973 teams.
UP NEXT
The Dukes will be on the road for the next four games, their longest away stretch since 1990, including two FBS matchups. First up is a road trip to Morgantown, W.Va. next Saturday to take on West Virginia. Kickoff is set for 6 pm from Milan Puskar Stadium and will be live on ESPN+ / Big XII Now.
FOLLOW THE DUKES
Follow Duquesne football online all season at GoDuquesne.com, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (@DuqFB).
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Head Coach Jerry Schmitt
DJ Powell & Ayden Garnes
