DANBURY, CT (Sep. 29) — Western Connecticut sophomore wide receiver Marquies Highsmith (West Haven, CT) caught eight passes for 110 yards and caught touchdown pass from nine and 13 yards out, but the Colonials dropped a 55-27 decision to visiting The College of New Jersey at The WAC on Saturday afternoon.
After a one-yard run from Western's Octavius McKoy (Stratford, CT) knotted the game at 7-7 with 4:49 remaining in the first quarter, the Lions scored 28 unanswered points and the outcome was never threatened the rest of the way.
A running attack that rushed for 261 yards was headed by senior Justin Doniloski (Rockaway, NJ) who had 24 carries for 127 yards and a pair of scores, from five and two yards, the later to give TCNJ a 35-7 advantage with 2:38 still left before halftime. He also had seven catches for 46 yards and an eight-yard TD from Daniel Dugan (Clark, NJ) to break the deadlock nearing the end of the first stanza.
Dugan completed 26 of 35 passes for 263 yards and piloted the offense which amassed 576 yards on the afternoon. Along with Doniloski, Glenn Grainer (Island Heights, NJ) pulled down a team-high seven catches for 107 yards.
The closest the Colonials would get in the second half, 20 points, followed a 12-play 76-yard drive the culminated by a the 13-yard pass completion by Will Arndt (Newtown, CT) to Highsmith with 7:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Arndt completed 22 of 41 passes for 236 yards while his back up Ryan Falaguerra (Milford, CT) was a perfect 3-of-3 for 55 yards and a 55-yard TD toss to Stephen DeJournett (Akron, OH) in the closing seconds of the third period. Falaguerra, Western's punter, came on when Arndt missed a series following hard hit by the Lions' defense.
Falaguerra, just a sophomore, averaged 41.5 yards on six points on Saturday, with a long of 56 yards.
McKoy carried the ball 18 times for 78 yards to lead Western's rushing corps.
Ryan's younger brother Connor Falaguerra (Milford, CT) caught eight passes for 94 yards for his fourth-straight strong performance.
Defensively, Nick Bricker (Middletown, NJ) led the Lions with nine tackles while Jeff Adubato (Butler, NJ) and Greg Burns (Hamilton, NJ) each recorded seven tackles for the winners, now 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.
Western, now 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the league, was led by the tandem of Mike Lacaria (Watertown, CT) and Devin Myers (Waterbury, CT) who registered 13 and 11 tackles, respectively.
Western travels to Kean University next Saturday for a 1 pm meeting with the Cougars. TCNJ plays host to Cortland State at noon on October 6.
Box Score (Final)
TCNJ vs Western Connecticut (Sep 29, 2012 at Danbury, Conn.)
Score by Quarters...... 1.. 2.. 3... 4... Score
TCNJ.................. 14. 21.. 13.. 7... 55 Record: (2-2,1-1)
Western Connecticut.... 7.. 7.. 13.. 0... 27 Record: (0-4,0-3)
Scoring Summary:
1st 12:28 TCNJ Daniel Dugan 10 yd run (Derrick Hughes kick)
04:49 WCSU Octavius McKoy 1 yd run (Tommy Bruder kick)
02:20 TCNJ J. Doniloski 8 yd pass from Daniel Dugan (Derrick Hughes kick)
2nd 14:33 TCNJ Fred Sprengel 39 yd pass from Nicholas Tyson (Derrick Hughes kick)
07:49 TCNJ J. Doniloski 5 yd run (Derrick Hughes kick)
02:38 TCNJ J. Doniloski 2 yd run (Derrick Hughes kick)
00:34 WCSU Marquies Highsmith 9 yd pass from Will Arndt (Tommy Bruder kick)
3rd 11:17 TCNJ Daniel Dugan 4 yd run (Derrick Hughes kick failed)
07:09 WCSU Marquies Highsmith 13 yd pass from Will Arndt (Tommy Bruder kick)
02:03 TCNJ James Siracusa 34 yd fumble recovery (Derrick Hughes kick)
00:45 WCSU Stephen DeJournett 55 yd pass from Ryan Falaguerra (Bruder kick failed)
4th 11:51 TCNJ Victor Scalici 12 yd run (Derrick Hughes kick)
..............................TCNJ..... WCSU
FIRST DOWNS.................... 37....... 22
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............. 51-261... 29-68
PASSING YDS (NET).............. 315...... 308
Passes Att-Comp-Int............ 39-29-1.. 44-25-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS...... 90-576... 73-376
Fumble Returns-Yards........... 1-34..... 1-3
Punt Returns-Yards............. 2-15..... 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards.......... 5-30..... 8-93
Interception Returns-Yards..... 2-38..... 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............. 2-34.0... 6-41.5
Fumbles-Lost................... 2-2...... 1-1
Penalties-Yards................ 6-70..... 7-69
Possession Time................ 30:50.... 29:10
Third-Down Conversions......... 7 of 13.. 5 of 14
Fourth-Down Conversions........ 1 of 1... 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances........ 6-6...... 3-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards......... 1-7...... 0-0
RUSHING: TCNJ-J. Doniloski 24-127; Victor Scalici 11-66; Daniel Dugan 9-41;
Glenn Grainger 1-20; Nicholas Tyson 3-3; Brandon Brockelhurst 1-2; TEAM 1-1;
Nicholas Sands 1-1. Western Connecticut-Octavius McKoy 18-78; Stephen DeJournett
1-11; Marquies Highsmith 1-2; Anthony Biasetti 4-minus 1; Will Arndt 4-minus 4;
Ryan Falaguerra 1-minus 18.
PASSING: TCNJ-Daniel Dugan 26-35-0-263; Matthew Della-Croce 2-3-1-13; Nicholas
Tyson 1-1-0-39. Western Connecticut-Will Arndt 22-41-2-236; Ryan Falaguerra
3-3-0-72.
RECEIVING: TCNJ-Glenn Grainger 7-107; J. Doniloski 7-46; Fred Sprengel 4-74;
Victor Scalici 3-16; Kevin Barry 2-23; Kyle Janeczek 2-17; Matthew Chierici
1-11; Patrick Chirchirillo 1-8; Nicholas Tyson 1-8; Brandon Brockelhurst 1-5.
Western Connecticut-Marquies Highsmith 8-110; Connor Falaguerra 8-94; Octavius
McKoy 4-18; Tecumseh Champlain 3-16; Stephen DeJournett 2-70.
INTERCEPTIONS: TCNJ-Joe Laferlita 1-35; Zach Friedrich 1-3. Western
Connecticut-Vladimir Souffrant 1-0.
FUMBLES: TCNJ-TEAM 1-1; Kevin Barry 1-1. Western Connecticut-Ryan Falaguerra
1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): TCNJ-Patrick Kimball 1-0. Western Connecticut-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): TCNJ-Nick Bricker 4-5; Greg Burns 3-4; Jeff Adubato 3-4; James
Siracusa 3-3; Matthew Chierici 3-2; Joe Urciuoli 3-0; Mike Barber 3-0; Michael
Lambert 2-1; Joseph Mazzei 2-0; Joe Laferlita 2-0; Andrew Carbone 2-0; Michael
Curran 2-0; Thomas Hoppe 2-0; Sean Clark 1-1; Matthew Fleck 1-1; Zach Friedrich
1-1; Justin Bruso 1-1; Martin Flatley 1-0; Patrick Kimball 1-0; Jake Weiss 1-0;
Vincent Nocera 1-0; Daniel Dugan 1-0; Daniel Musselman 0-1. Western
Connecticut-Michael Lacaria 7-6; Devin Myers 7-4; Corey Lawlor 5-4; Eric DeRario
3-6; Vladimir Souffrant 8-0; Tom Lacey 7-0; Bill Birdsell 4-1; Tyrell Ballard
4-1; Matthew Datin 1-3; Maliik Tinney 3-0; Justin Rice 1-2; Michael Farnsworth
0-3; Kenneth Bradley 0-3; Nick Tulloch 2-0; Kevin Walsh 1-1; Pariss Woods 1-1;
Brenden Bish 1-0; Darence Delgado 1-0; Will Arndt 1-0; Marquies Highsmith 1-0;
Benjamin Mahaffey 0-1.