UMaine football holds off Albany for 19-16 conference win
Oct. 23—The University of Maine's football team led by as many as 13 points but needed a crucial fourth-down pass breakup by redshirt freshman strong safety Shakur Smalls with 2:37 left in the game to preserve a 19-16 Colonial Athletic Association win over Albany at Casey Stadium Saturday afternoon.
UMaine beat Albany for the seventh straight time and it was the Black Bears' sixth consecutive victory over the Great Danes at Casey Stadium.
UMaine improved to 3-4 overall, 2-3 in the CAA, while Albany fell to 0-7 and 0-5, respectively.
All of Albany's five CAA losses have been by seven points or less.
Albany has lost its last 10 games overall dating back to the spring season.
Trailing 19-16, Albany took over possession with 3:44 remaining following a 49-yard punt by David Gelb.
A holding penalty negated an 11-yard pass play and the Great Danes eventually found themselves facing a fourth-and-8 at their own 31-yard line.
Jeff Undercuffler threw to Mike Gray but Smalls broke it up to enable the Black Bears to regain possession and they were able to run out the clock.
"That was a huge play. But a bunch of guys made big plays for us," said UMaine head coach Nick Charlton.
Albany had converted four-of-five fourth downs in the game prior to that one including a 2-yard touchdown run by Karl Mofor on a fourth-and-1 that sliced the lead to 19-16 on the Great Dane's previous possession.
"It was a hard-fought win," added Charlton. "I was disappointed with our offense. We left a lot of points out there. Our offense was efficient at times but we missed some throws and catches. I was really encouraged by our defense. Our defense won the game for us."
The Black Bears used a 39-yard field goal from Jonny Messina and Derek Robertson's 9-yard touchdown pass to Steve Petrick to take a 10-0 lead in the first period.
It was the first catch of the season for graduate student Petrick, who transferred to UMaine from Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) University.
The Black Bears covered 32 yards on seven plays to set up the Messina field goal and 64 yards on 10 plays for the touchdown.
Dylan Burns kicked a 28-yard field goal to open Albany's scoring with 1:24 left in the half.
Following a scoreless third period, Undercuffler tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to L.J. Wesneskli with 10:23 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 13-9.
UMaine responded with a touchdown drive of its own following Devin Young's 30-yard kickoff return to the UMaine 44-yard line.
A 22-yard pass from Robertson to Andre Miller and a 15-yarder to Young set up a 20-yard touchdown run by Freddie Brock just 2:11 after Albany had scored.
But Mofor's touchdown run cut it back to a three-point game.
Robertson completed 14 of 26 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown. Young's five catches for 69 yards, Miller's three for 55 and Jacob Hennie's three catches for 35 yards paced the UMaine receivers.
Brock was UMaine's leading rusher with 35 yards on 12 carries and the defense was led by Adrian Otero's eight tackles and seven apiece from Ray Miller, Xavier Nurse and Robby Riobe.
Undercuffler was 7-for-14 for 99 yards and a touchdown. Joey Carino went 6-for-13 for 52 yards after replacing Undercuffler in the first half but Undercuffler returned in the second half.
Mofor carried the ball 25 times for 113 yards and was also Albany's leading receiver with five catches for 41 yards. Thomas Greaney had three receptions for 30 yards.
Jackson Ambush and Larry Walker Jr. had seven tackles each for Albany.
UMaine will travel to the University of Rhode Island to take on the Rams next Saturday at 1 p.m. URI is 5-2 overall, 3-2 in the league, and is coming off a 44-0 loss to Villanova.
Albany will trek to Towson for a 2 p.m. contest.
