By Tim Baysinger
For now it appears the Pride has put last season’s dismal 2-9 season behind as the team defeated 9th ranked Furman 32-17 on Saturday at Shuart Stadium.
The defense shutout the Paladins in the second half and held them to just 313 yards of offense overall, allowing the Pride to rally in the fourth quarter for the come-from-behind victory. The Pride scored 23 unanswered points, all in the second half.
Junior quarterback Brian Savage played an efficient game in his first college game with Hofstra, while senior wide out Charles Sullivan tied a career high with 12 receptions totaling 147 yards and senior running back Kareem Huggins posted his second 100-yard rushing game of his career with 116 yards on the ground.
The Pride, playing on its brand-new FieldTurf at Shuart Stadium put up its first 400-yard game in total offense since 2005. The Pride amassed 410 yards.
The game started out as a battle between the kickers. Furman’s Scott Beckler opened the scoring with a 37-yard kick less than three minutes into the game. The Pride answered back with senior Rob Zarilli tying his career-long with a 52-yard score. He would later add a 33-yard field goal to give Hofstra a 6-3 lead. Furman answered back with an eight play 80-yard drive that ended with an 11 yard touchdown pass to tight end Chris Truss from quarterback Renaldo Gray to end the first quarter with the Paladins leading 10-6.
Zarilli brought the Pride within 10-9 with another field goal, a 22-yard score midway through the second quarter. The Paladins would answer back with another touchdown, this one coming on a one-yard run from running back Jerome Felton to make the score 17-9 to end the first half. The Paladins gained 195 yards of offense and held the Pride to only 135 yards.
Savage’s numbers were decent in the first half, going 11-17 for 68 yards, but the Pride only entered the red zone three times, getting only field goals out of those trips.
The second half however, was a completely different story.
The Pride came out inspired on both sides of the football. After Zarilli missed a 26-yard field goal, hitting the upright, the team was able to stop the Paladin offense by forcing it into a three-and-out. Savage then led them on a nine play, 56-yard drive capped off by a Huggins three-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 17-16. Savage completed five passes for 45 yards and rushed twice for six yards on the drive. The Pride completely outplayed the Paladins in the third quarter, dominating the time of possession while out gaining Furman 139-22 in total offense.
The Pride blew the game open in the fourth quarter. After forcing a turnover on a Jerome Felton fumble, the Pride drove 38 yards ending with another Huggins touchdown run, this one six yards. The Pride would fail on the two point conversion but would lead 22-17. Hofstra would not give up the lead.
The Pride defense once again stopped the Paladin offense, and then Savage drove the offense down the field again, this time finding wide receiver Charles Sullivan for a 43-yard touchdown pass that increase the Pride’s lead to 29-17.
The Pride added another Zarilli field goal, a 26-yard score, to push the lead to 32-17, which ended up being the final score.
The victory was Hofstra’s first win over a top-ten opponent since the 2005 season. The win also snaps a seven game losing streak, dating back to last season when the Pride lost their final seven games. Senior wide receiver Charles Sullivan moved up to fifth place on the Pride’s all time receptions list with 164. He caught 12 passes on Saturday. Quarterback Brian Savage ended up with 285 passing yards and a touchdown in his first career college game.
Hofstra will now travel to the University of Albany on Saturday for another non-conference match up.
Pride quarterback Brian Savage had the debut of a lifetime in front of the home crowd in Hempstead. Up against one of the Football Championship Subdivision’s top-ten teams, Savage was nearly flawless, throwing for 285 yards and one touchdown. (Chris Heimall)
Furman quarterback Renaldo Gray was no match for the Hofstra linebacker corps. No. 56 Stanley Gutierrez reached Gray here before the onlooking lineman could stop him. (Chris Heimall)