Inside the MEAC · recap

Ui Ale went 95 yards in the last five minutes

It rained on Dover most of Saturday and the temperature never really committed to September. Alumni Stadium was not full. For most of three quarters this had the feel of a game that would be decided by whoever made the last mistake, and both teams spent the evening auditioning for it.

Then Towson took the lead with 4:57 left, and Delaware State needed 95 yards.

Delaware State 33, Towson 28. We were in the press box for it.

The drive

Delaware State started at its own 10, and a delay of game on first down pushed it back to the 5. Ninety-five yards to go, one point down, under five minutes on the clock.

Ale hit Nathan Stewart for 10. He ran for 7 and a first down. He broke a 20-yard run to the Delaware State 42, and a holding penalty brought it back to the 32, though the first down stood. An incompletion. Five yards to Jaron Kelley. On third and five he found Jaylin Terzado for seven and another first down, and then an unnecessary roughness call on Ryan Taylor cost them ten and put them back at their own 28.

At that point they had moved 23 net yards and burned most of three minutes.

Ale threw 17 to Bronseman Davis with 1:55 left. Out of the two minute timeout he found Terzado for 23, and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Towson added ten more and moved the ball to the Towson 16 with 1:49 showing. Sean Weston lost two. Towson called timeout at 1:23.

Second and 12 from the Towson 18. Ale threw 12 to Terzado for first and goal at the 6. Nobody called timeout. Ale faked the handoff, kept it, and ran in the touchdown with 42 seconds left. The two-point try failed, so it was 33-28 and Towson would get the ball back needing a touchdown.

Ale finished 19-of-29 for 193 with a touchdown and no interceptions, and ran nine times for 71 yards and the winner.

The last play had four laterals in it

Towson started at its own 25 with two timeouts and ran a genuinely good two-minute drill. Eight yards to CJ Schaeffer, out of bounds at 0:34. Seven to Cleveland Charlton for a first down. Seven to Aaron Enterline, out of bounds at 0:20. A scramble and a completion to the 47. Eight to Jacob Zollar, out of bounds at the Delaware State 46 with four seconds left.

Towson lined up, called timeout to talk it over, lined up again, and then Delaware State called one of its own. Indorf threw short to Jarvis Jones, who lateraled to Jashaun Amin, and the ball went backward through a series of hands until Delaware State finally ran it down.

They got outgained again, and won anyway

Towson finished with 369 yards to Delaware State's 298. That's the third straight week Towson has out-gained the team that beat them.

The difference was four turnovers, and three of them came in the first half while the game was still being shaped.

Towson's opening drive ended on downs at the Delaware State 47 when they went for it on fourth and one. Delaware State's first drive ended when Terrence Rone caught a pass for a first down and fumbled it away. Then Andrew Harris came down with a tipped Indorf pass, and Delaware State turned it into a 45-yard Patrick Fisher-Butler field goal.

On the next kickoff Towson fumbled the return and Delaware State recovered at the Towson 12. Three plays later Jayden Jenkins ran it in from 8 and it was 10-0.

Towson answered on one play. Enterline got behind the defense and Indorf found him for 75 yards.

How the lead got built

Towson went ahead 14-10 in the second quarter on Enterline's second touchdown, a two-yarder that came after a pass interference call rescued a third and four.

Delaware State responded with Ale's 53-yard run from his own 37 down to the Towson 10, and Weston scored from three two plays later. When Towson tried a fake punt on fourth and five from its own 18 and threw it incomplete, Delaware State took over on the 18, got pushed back to first and goal from the 17 by a holding penalty, and Ale threw a 17-yard touchdown to Stewart anyway. 24-14.

Towson fumbled again two plays into the next drive. Delaware State converted that into a Fisher-Butler field goal at the horn and led 27-14 at the break.

The part that made it interesting

The third quarter produced nothing but punts except for one Towson drive, and that drive is worth describing because it explains the rest of the night. Towson got two first downs, then a holding penalty put them at first and 20. A one-yard run and a sack left them third and 27. A pass interference call gave them a first down and kept the drive alive, and Indorf threw four yards to Charlton to make it 27-21.

In the fourth, Indorf put a ball into the end zone that Quinten Johnson intercepted for a touchback. Delaware State went three and out and punted it back. Towson then drove from its own 28 without a big play until it needed one, and got it: 21 yards to Enterline down to the 5. Xavier Pugh scored from a yard out and Towson led for the first time since the second quarter.

Then Ale took it 95 yards.

Where it leaves them

Delaware State is 3-2 and 3-0 at home. Towson is 0-5 and has now lost three games in which they had more yards than their opponent.

Indorf threw for 247 and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Enterline caught five for 113 and two scores. On the raw production, Towson had the better quarterback and the better receiver on Saturday and lost by five, which is the same sentence we wrote about them on Friday and will probably write about them again.

Delaware State goes to UAlbany next Saturday, hosts Franklin Pierce on October 10, and opens the MEAC at home against North Carolina Central on October 23.

Then comes the one circled on both calendars. Delaware State plays Norfolk State on October 31 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Norfolk State is the home team on paper, the game is in an NFL stadium 200 miles from Norfolk, and it puts DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick on opposite sidelines of a field they once shared as Eagles teammates. The two schools played there last year as well, in front of 47,266.