Dan Collins has been fighting to maintain a hold on the job as the University of Maine’s starting quarterback.
On Saturday night, the sophomore demonstrated that he has the talent and the poise to win in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Collins completed three fourth-down passes during a desperation fourth-quarter drive, including a 37-yard touchdown strike to Jordan Dunn with 52.4 seconds remaining, to rally the Black Bears to a thrilling 27-24 victory over Towson University in the teams’ mutual CAA opener at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland.
“It was awesome. It was a great team win for us. It’s going to be a great thing to build off of for the rest of the year,” Collins said.
Coach Jack Cosgrove’s team (2-2) was on its heels for most of the second half with Towson (2-2) dominating via the run game. However, a resilient defense held on to help set up the game-winning drive.
Collins finished the night 19-for-29 passing for 225 yards and two scores. He was intercepted once. Dunn, a sophomore wide receiver, had six catches for 80 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Freshman QB Drew Belcher, who was introduced into the mix at Boston College, saw limited action and was 3-for-5 for 47 passing for yards.
With the game on the line, the Black Bears went with Collins.
Trailing 24-20, UMaine (which had missed its first extra point) had a final chance after Towson’s Sam Hurwitz missed wide right on a 45-yard field goal try with 2:39 to play. The Bears had managed only 28 yards in the half up to that point.
Collins’ first three passes fell incomplete, but he found Jared Osumah for a 21-yard hookup at the 49-yard line with 2:24 to play.
“I threw it toward the sideline and Jared Osumah made a great catch, pulled it in while he was getting hit,” Collins said.
Three plays later, on fourth-and-5, Collins hit tight end Jeremy Salmon on the left side and he lunged out of bounds for a first down at the Towson 40.
Only 21 seconds later, UMaine faced fourth-and-6 from the 36.
“Taking that timeout, we all just kind of looked at each other and we were like, we’ve got to get in the end zone, we’ve got to pull off a win, and we did,” Collins said.
This time, he dropped back and found Dunn with a perfect throw down the middle for a touchdown. Sean Decloux’s kick made it a three-point game.
“I saw the safety got real wide off the hash into the field and was playing our No. 1 receiver, so I threw it right over the top of the linebacker and [Dunn] held onto it, touchdown. It was an awesome feeling,” Collins said.
With only 43.6 seconds to go, Towson managed a couple of first downs, but the Bears prevailed after four straight incompletions by QB Connor Frazier (15-for-28, 126 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).
Towson outgained UMaine 380-318 behind tailback Darius Victor, who netted 131 yards on 28 carries and scored twice.
The hosts began asserting themselves with their potent ground attack in the second half. Frazier’s 1-yard TD throw to Zach Vogelei got Towson within 20-17 at the 3:01 mark of the third quarter.
The Tigers then took the lead with a 10-play, 60-yard march that culminated in Victor’s 1-yard plunge to give Towson a 24-20 edge with 11:36 left.
The hosts got the ball back when they recovered the ensuing squib kick at the UMaine 35. However, a sack by linebacker Chris Mulumba Tshimanga led to a fumble and Trevor Bates’ 33-yard return to the 48.
Towson held and got the ball back, but missed the field goal.
Safety Khari Al-Mateen racked up 12 tackles and linebacker Cabrinni Goncalves made 11 for UMaine. Mulumba Tshimanga had nine.
Donnell Lewis led Towson with 11 tackles.
The Black Bears went into the locker room at halftime riding the momentum with a 20-10 lead.
UMaine churned out 218 yards of offense, including 162 through the air, behind the play of Collins.
The visitors started well, marching 75 yards on eight plays to open the game. Collins was 5-for-5 for 33 yards on the drive, including a 31-yard completion to Damar Aultman.
That set up Collins’ 2-yard TD toss to Dunn, but Decloux’s PAT kick hit the upright.
Towson responded with a long drive of its own, but could not find the end zone. Hurwitz booted a 25-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 6-3 at the 6:25 mark.
The Tigers got the ball back only two plays later when Collins was intercepted by Eric Handy. They capitalized, needing only five plays to get into the end zone on Victor’s 15-yard dash.
That PAT put Towson on top 10-6 at the 1:01 mark.
After the teams traded punts, UMaine went back on the offensive and took advantage after Micah Wright alertly fielded a low punt and returned it to the 47. The Bears covered 53 yards on 11 plays, including a fourth-down conversion on a pass.
Nigel Beckford closed it out with a 3-yard scoring run and Decloux’s kick put the Bears on top 13-10.
The defense held again and provided the offense with a final opportunity. UMaine went into the two-minute drill and popped a 34-yard completion from Collins to Jared Osumah to the Towson 30.
Four plays later, Beckford found the end zone from five yards out and UMaine’s lead was 20-10 with 54.4 to play in the half.
Sacks by Zach Hume and Bates helped snuff out a potential Towson threat to end the half.
UMaine returns home on Saturday for the first time since Aug. 30 with a 12:30 p.m. game against Villanova.