The University of Maine’s football team built a 21-0 lead and then withstood a furious Towson University rally behind two huge defensive plays late in the fourth quarter to escape with a season-opening 21-18 Coastal Athletic Association victory over the Tigers at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Maryland Thursday night.
It was UMaine’s fifth win in its last six games at Towson.
Zaydaan Faridi’s 39-yard field goal with 12:19 remaining pulled Towson within 21-18 and the Black Bears gave the ball back to Towson just 1:46 later when an ill-advised fourth-and-five-yard gamble at the Towson 44-yard line resulted in a two-yard loss when quarterback Eddie Buehler was sacked.
The Tigers marched down to the UMaine five-yard line but, on third-and-three, quarterback Andrew Indorf was sacked for a 14-yard loss by blitzing Black Bear cornerback Brayden Isaiah.
That forced Towson to settle for a potential game-tying 37-yard field goal by Faridi with 3:53 left but he missed it left.
On the ensuing drive, Rashawn Marshall rattled off a 25-yard run for UMaine to pick up a first down at the Towson-49 but the drive eventually stalled and punter Anthony Pecorella pinned the Tigers back at their nine-yard line.
On the fourth play of the drive on a second-and-10 at its own 26-yard line, Indorf connected on an 18-yard pass play to Cleveland Charlton but linebacker Sam Oppenheimer forced a Charlton fumble and UMaine free safety Jake Kucera recovered it to sew up the win.
UMaine had appeared to be on its way to a comfortable win by scoring three touchdowns in a span of 7:56 late in the second period to build its 21-0 lead.
A 30-yard touchdown pass from Buehler to Nick Laughlin capped the spree with only 42 seconds remaining in the half.
But, following the kickoff, Indorf tossed a 56-yard pass to Charlton on the Tigers’ first play from scrimmage and it set up a four-yard touchdown pass from Indorf to Aaron Enterline.
A penalty on UMaine on the extra point placement moved the ball to the one and a half yard line and Towson elected to go for the two-point conversion and Indorf connected with Enterline again, this time for two points.
Indorf, the CAA’s Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, fired a 59-yard touchdown pass to Charlton with 5:11 remaining in the third period to cut the lead to 21-15.
The game went into a lightning delay with 13:20 left in the fourth quarter with Towson having the ball at UMaine’s 23-yard line.
UMaine benefitted from a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Towson’s Ian Markham-Miller which had pushed the ball from the eight-yard line to the 23 and put the Tigers in a second-and-17 predicament which ultimately resulted in the Tigers having to settle for Faridi’s 39-yard field goal.
The Black Bears had opened the scoring with 8:38 remaining in the first half as Buehler tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Virginia Military Institute transfer Malik McNeely to finish off an eight-play 52-yard drive.
UMaine extended the lead with a seven-play, 90-yard drive.
A 31-yard completion from Buehler to Evan Wallace set up a 32-yard TD run by Marshall with 2:38 left.
Following a poor punt which gave UMaine great field position at the Towson-35 yard line, the Black Bears wasted little time finding the end zone as a five-yard pass from Buehler to Elijah Smalls was followed by the 30-yard TD strike from Buehler to Laughlin.
UMaine outgained Towson 239-125 in the first half. Buehler completed 14 of 19 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Indorf completed seven of nine for 95 yards.
Redshirt sophomore Buehler, making his college debut, completed 17 of 27 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Wallace, Laughlin, Keyon Concepcion and Elijah Smalls each had three receptions for the Black Bears for 43, 39, 37 and 33 yards, respectively.
Marshall was UMaine’s leading rusher with 81 yards on 13 carries.
Graduate student strong safety Jeremiah McGilll and junior linebacker Oppenheimer each had a game-high 10 tackles. Redshirt defensive end Chris Bacon had two sacks and redshirt-senior tackle Derek Berlitz and graduate student tackle Bryce Purnell each had 1 ½ sacks to go with eight and six tackles, respectively.
UMaine had six sacks.
Isaiah had a sack and an interception along with four tackles.
Indorf completed 15 of 21 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Charlton had four catches for 136 yards and Enterline had four for 22 yards. Sophomore tailback Kemarrion Battles had a game-high 89 rusing yards on 18 carries.
Linebackers Jaydyn Johnson and Seth Chestnut had seven tackles apiece for Towson and safeties Meeko Lodge and T.J. Sands had six each.
Both Football Championship Subdivision teams will travel to take on Football Bowl Subdivision opponents on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 3:30 p.m. UMaine will take on Appalachian State (NC) and Towson will face Navy (MD).