TIGERS WIN! The Tigers once again claim victory for the Battle for Greater Baltimore once again. The Tigers beat Morgan State by a final score of 14-9. A low scoring defensive affair, the Tigers did just enough offensively to pull it out in the end.
The Tigers got off to a rough start with an interception on the first play of the game. The turnover put the ball inside the Towson 30. The defense stepped up and forced a 3-and-out which ended with a Beckett Leary 40 yard field goal to go up 3-0. The Tigers finally got on the board with a 5 yard touchdown pass from Carlos Davis to Sam Reynolds to make it 7-3 Tigers. Christopher Watkins added a touchdown run in the 3rd which capped Towson’s scoring for the day. The Bears added a 74 yard touchdown pass from Tahj Smith to Joseph Kennerly.
Carlos Davis and Morgan State quarterback Tahj Smith each threw for a touchdown and over 100 yards on the day. Davis’ INT was the only pick on the day. Davis continues to throw the ball well for the Tigers and has made a big impact so far.
The Tigers out rushed the Bears by 38 yards ( TU- 160) (MSU- 122). Jason Collins and Tahj Smith did a bulk of the rushing for the Bears. Towson running back Christopher Watkins punched one in for the only rushing touchdown. Morgan State was held to 163 receiving yards and 1 touchdowns. Jaceon Doss led the Tigers in receiving yards and Sam Reynolds cashed in one on his only catch of the day.
The defenses came to play for both teams. For the Bears: Arturo Mattocks led the team in total tackles with 9. Elijah Williams finished the day with 2 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. Ja’son Prevard recovered a fumble and Carlvainsky Decius got an INT on the first play of the game.
Towson had a monster day on the defensive side of the ball. 5 sacks from 5 different players and 11 total tackles for loss. Rodney Roane Jr and CJ McClendon combined for 5 tackles for loss. Both added sacks along with: Will Middleton, Evan Rutkowski, and Nchabanu Fortaboh. A big win for the Tigers sets them up for the start of conference play.
Up next are the Wildcats of Villanova. They are currently ranked number 5 in the FCS poll and have had a great season so far. Wins over Youngstown St and Colgate have them feeling very confident. Top to bottom their roster features a majority of homegrown and recruited guys. They feature very few transfers on the team. Under center is graduate senior Connor Watkins. He has 2 touchdowns on the year and 337 yards passing.
Watkins can run it as well and has 3 touchdowns on 16 attempts for 157 yards. Isaiah Ragland has also found the endzone twice this season and is over 109 yards on the season. Devin Smith has both receiving touchdowns for the Wildcats. He will look to add to that total this week. Daniel Lopes and Jaylan Sanchez are two guys to watch in that receiver corps.
The Wildcats boast a good defense. Brendan Bell leads the team with 21 total tackles. Shane Hartzell is right behind him with 17 total tackles. They will look to get to Davis and slow down the Towson offense and put pressure on them. Richie Kimmel, Zahmir Dawud and Christian Sapp have all gotten a pick. The Wildcats will look to force Davis to make mistakes and steal possessions from Towson.
Towson will need to play smart and disciplined in order to pick up their second straight win. A win would be a massive boost for this program looking to continue to make a name for themselves.
GO TIGERS
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