ORONO – The Albany Great Danes played like a team seeking a Coastal Athletic Association title and a Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore quarterback Reese Poffenbarger, who entered the game second in the FCS in touchdown passes, threw his 21st and 22nd TD passes of the season and graduate student running back Faysal Aden ran for a pair of third-period touchdowns as Albany triumphed 37-21 at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium.
Albany is now 4-1 in the CAA and 6-3 overall while UMaine fell to 1-5 and 2-7, respectively.
UMaine will host Hampton on Saturday at 1 p.m. while Albany will entertain William and Mary in an important CAA showdown.
UMaine senior quarterback Derek Robertson tossed three touchdown passes but was also intercepted twice and coughed up a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
He has now thrown 17 TD passes in his last five games.
Poffenbarger and Robertson each threw two touchdown passes in the first half but the Great Danes also received a 68-yard fumble return touchdown from graduate student defensive end Brian Abraham and a 22-yard field goal from junior John Opalko to take a 24-14 lead into the intermission.
Senior wide receiver Brevin Easton caught both first-half TD passes for Albany while Jamie Lamson and Mike Monios snared TD passes for UMaine.
The Great Danes all but sewed up the win by scoring on their first two drives of the second half, expanding their lead to 37-14.
Aden, who had carried the ball just once in the first half for a loss of one yard, rushed for 142 yards on 21 carries in the second half and scored on runs of 11 and seven yards.
Robertson threw an 11-yard TD pass to Tristen Kenan with 11:04 left in the game but Aden, Poffenbarger and the Great Danes were able to move the chains and prevent the Black Bears from getting any closer.
Poffenbarger finished with 18 completions in 30 attempts for 324 yards and the two TDs. MarQeese Dietz caught seven passes for 150 yards and Easton had four for 129 and the two TDs.
Robertson completed 29 for 43 passes for 220 yards. Monios caught a career-high 10 passes for 96 yards with Lamson and Montigo Moss each catching six passes for 55 and 18 yards, respectively.
UMaine’s leading receiver entering the game, Joe Gillette (35 catches, 563 yards), saw very little playing time due to injury according to UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens. He didn’t have a reception.
Albany linebackers Ori-Jean Charles and Dylan Kelly had 10 and nine tackles, respectively, which were tops for the game.
Tackle John Costanza’s seven tackles and linebacker Tyshawn Stewart’s six paced UMaine.
Neither team had a sack.
Albany produced 463 yards of offense compared to UMaine’s 312.
“Both sides of the ball did their job,” said Albany coach Greg Gattuso. “Reese (Poffenbarger) had another outstanding game and the defense was able to force three turnovers led by that scoop and score from (Brian) Abraham. Overall, it was a great team win.”
UMaine junior cornerback Kahzir ‘Buggs’ Brown said Albany didn’t do anything they didn’t expect. The defense just didn’t get the job done .
“As a defense, we just weren’t doing what we were supposed to do,” said Brown. “They didn’t do any outrageous stuff. They just used the plays that they (normally) use and we have to do a better job executing our plays (on defense), locking in our technique, reading our keys and making better plays.”
Robertson said the difference in the game was his three turnovers and he took full responsibility.
“It’s 100 percent on me. You can’t turn the ball over. It puts the whole team in an awful spot,” said Robertson. “It’s that simple. I can’t do that. I have to be a lot better.”
UMaine took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards on eight plays to take a 7-0 lead.
An eight-yard pass from Robertson to Lamson capped the drive.
Albany answered after being given a short field on a 31-yard punt by Aidan Cadogan.
Albany began the drive at the UMaine-40 and it took just four plays for them to get into the end zone as Poffenbarger lofted a perfect 22-yard pass into the corner of the end zone to Easton.
UMaine went three-and-out on its next possession and another 31-yard punt gave the Great Danes the ball at its own 41-yard line.
Dietz made a terrific one-handed catch for a 54-yard gain down to the UMaine 5-yard line.
The UMaine defense stiffened and Albany had to settle for Opalko’s field goal.
Following a 38-yard kickoff return by Rohan Jones which gave UMaine the ball at the Albany 49-yard line, UMaine moved the ball to the Albany-25 but on a second-and-10 play, a designed run featuring Robertson, Abraham tackled the UMaine quarterback and forced a fumble that he picked up and raced 68 yards.
The Black Bears responded with a 14-play, 75-yard march that featured five passes from Robertson to Monios including a four-yard TD reception with 5:08 remaining in the half.
But it took the Great Danes only 2:37 to restore their 10-point lead as Poffenbarger found Easton again, this time for a 53-yard TD.
The two head coaches and several players issued their condolences to the families and friends of the Lewiston shooting victims. The victims’ names were read in a pre-game announcement and then there was a moment of silence to honor them.
“We wanted to make it known we are in full support of those victims and their families and we will be working in the next couple of days to raise money for them,” said Stevens. “We wanted to make sure we played for the state of Maine and those people.”
Brown said he played with a “heavy heart” because of the tragedy and Robertson said “putting the block ‘Maine’ across your chest means a lot, especially at a time like this. As Coach said, we were playing for those victims, those families. It’s just an awful situation. It’s terrible.
“We’re going to pray for them and hope the state can recover as quickly as possible,” Robertson said.
“All of our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and the families involved in the recent tragedy,” said Gattuso.