Ravens defense forces four turnovers and holds Princeton to under 300 yards of total offense

BOXSCORE

PRINCETON, N.J. (October 12, 2012) -- Freshman defensive lineman Will Ellery (Haddam, Conn.) returned a third quarter interception 44 yards for a touchdown Friday night to lift the Franklin Pierce University sprint football team a 21-14 triumph over Princeton University at Princeton Stadium. The Ravens improved to 1-2 and won for the first time in program history (in just their third game all-time), while the Tigers dipped to 0-5 on the season.

Ellery's pick was just one element of an outstanding defensive performance turned in by the Ravens on Friday. In all, Franklin Pierce forced four turnovers, including getting interceptions from freshmen Mike Abrams (Newark, N.J.) and Josh Tilton (Seymour, Conn.) and a fumble recovery by George Petta (Garfield, N.J.).

Franklin Pierce also recorded eight tackles for loss, three sacks and five pass breakups, while holding Princeton to under 300 yards of total offense (274 yards total). It marked the second time in three games this season the Ravens turned the trick in that department. The Ravens also held the Tigers to three downs and out on seven of its 14 possessions in the game.

Sophomore defensive back Derek Reddy (Natick, Mass.), who was seeing his first career action in a college football game, made a team-high 10 tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage, and a pass breakup. Freshman linebacker Connor Rogowsky (Nashua, N.H.) logged seven tackles, including a pair of sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

The Franklin Pierce offense battled through inconsistency during the evening, but was able to put up a pair of touchdowns in the first half to spark the Ravens to a 14-7 lead at the break.

The Ravens got on the board first early in the second quarter when freshman quarterback Tyler Mathews (Lunenburg, Mass.) plunged in from a yard out to cap an 11-play, 43-yard drive, which bridged the first and second quarters. 

However, the Ravens missed the extra point and Princeton answered with a touchdown of its own later in the quarter to go up 7-6. The Tigers took the lead when Jaison Zachariah connected with Nicolas Lulli on an 11-yard touchdown pass.

The momentum from that TD was short-lived for the Tigers as Tyler Holdsworth (New Bedford, Mass.) returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards to the Princeton 27-yard line. The return sparked the Ravens offense and it used eight plays and took 4:19 off the clock to go all 27 yards for a touchdown as Mathews hooked up with wideout Michael Holdridge (Peru, N.Y.) on an eight-yard scoring toss. Mathews went back to the air on the ensuing two-point conversion and found tailback D.J. MacDonald (Mattapoisett, Mass.) in the end zone to put Franklin Pierce up 14-7 with 4:26 left until halftime.

While Franklin Pierce's defense continued to hold Princeton at bay midway through the third quarter, the Tigers defense stepped up and made a big play when it recovered a Mathews fumble in the end zone to knot the score at 14-14 with 8:09 left in the stanza.

Princeton's defense, again, came up huge on the very next possession as it forced an interception, which helped energize the offense as it began driving. The Tigers drove into Franklin Pierce territory, but the drive stalled and they were forced to punt. Punter Andrew Bierschenk tried to scramble on fourth down and threw a pass right to Ellery, who returned the pick for what proved to be the eventual winning score.

Franklin Pierce has grown accustomed to close ball games in its inaugural three contests, as all three have been decided by seven points or less. The program's first win also came in its first road game ever.

Holdridge snagged five catches for 58 yards and the score, while MacDonald accounted for 96 yards of total offense (69 rushing, 27 receiving). Mathews was 10-of-19 for 114 yards, the one touchdown and the one pick.

Franklin Pierce has a bye next week, but returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 27 when the Ravens travel to face Mansfield at 1 p.m. in Pennsylvania. It will mark the final road game of the season for Franklin Pierce.

For more information on Franklin Pierce sprint football, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce sprint football apparel can do so on the athletic department's new online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)