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Buffalo State surrenders 401 rushing yards in first game after upset
By A.J. Speier
On September 26, 2012
On the heels of one of the biggest wins in program history, things didn't quite go
as planned for the Buffalo State football team it its Empire 8 Conference debut
Saturday.
The Bengals, coming off of an upset win against Wisconsin-Whitewater, surrendered
401 rushing yards en route to a 40-17 loss to Alfred.
"It disappoints me how obviously we didn't learn much of a lesson last Saturday,"
head coach Jerry Boyes said. "I've always said that some of your best lessons learned
come through adversity. I felt that this win last week really was a great lesson that
served to the kids on how you have to get ready to be successful, but it's obvious
that we didn't learn that."
The Saxons opened the scoring in the first quarter with a special teams touchdown.
Jonathan Ruffin broke free to block a punt by Joe Going. It was recovered by Andy
Ruddock, who returned it 18 yards for a touchdown, giving Alfred a 7-0 lead.
"They just overloaded our left side and I guess we just got confused," Going
said. "They had more than one guy come through, so we really didn't have a chance.
I just did whatever I could to get it off, but it didn't really matter what I did."
The Bengals answered on their next possession. Quarterback Casey Kacz found
running back Ismail Brooks on a screen pass that went for 63 yards to even the
score.
Alfred threatened to score later following runs of 30 and 39 yards by running back
Tyler DeRosa. The Saxons tried to rush it in four times from the Bengals' 1, but
Jordan Boser and Tawone Williams each had two tackles to lead the Bengals' goal-
line stand.
"We called a heavy nose which is me and another tackle," Williams said. "We were
head up on the center and basically from there, it's just, who's the stronger man and
who has the will to stop them. We ended up doing that."
Buffalo State's offense struggled on its next possession and was forced to punt,
but wide receiver Maleke Fuentes fumbled the return and cornerback Chris Hall
recovered. The drive ended with a 24-yard field goal by Nate Benoit to give the
Bengals a 10-7 lead.
The Bengals looked poised to score on their final drive of the half, but Benoit missed
a 22-yard field goal 38 seconds left.
"Our defense really bottled them up very well in the first half and gave us so many
opportunities that we could've taken advantage of," Boyes said. "Some of it was
dropped passes and things of that nature are a part of the game. You don't like it,
but quite frankly, it took us out of drives and scoring opportunities. Not to have that
score at the end of the half and put any points on the board."
Alfred opened the second half in the wildcat formation with a 35-yard pass from
Ruffin to wide receiver Josh Phillips. Quarterback Zach Sopak finished the drive
off with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Adam Schutz, but a blocked extra point by
Williams made it a 13-10 lead for the Saxons.
"Basically I just didn't want them to score," Williams said. "Most people on extra
points won't try because it's one point, but we needed something to try to change
the game around."
After preventing the Bengals from converting on fourth-and-6, Alfred fullback Chuck
Beckwith scored on a 31-yard touchdown run to give the Saxons a 20-10 lead late in
the third quarter.
Buffalo State had another three-and-out on offense and the Saxons capitalized again.
Beckwith scored his second touchdown on a 52-yard run to push his team's lead to
17.
A 2-yard touchdown pass by Kacz to Brooks early in the fourth quarter proved to
the Bengals' last score. Beckwith scored his third touchdown on an 80-yard run on
the next Saxons' next drive, giving Alfred a 34-17 advantage.
"They came out playing hard," Beckwith said. "We just had a game plan and we
executed it against them. We looked at their tendencies and had a good scheme."
Kacz turned the ball over with another fumble later in the quarter and Alfred
capitalized with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Sopak to Fuentes. A missed extra
point made the score 40-17.
"I honestly feel like they didn't stop us," Kacz said. "We had a couple of turnovers
and like I said, we missed blocks. I missed throws. It's a combination of us eleven
guys on offense not doing their job at the same time."
Kacz finished 17-of-34 for 225 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Pete
had 71 rushing yards on 15 carries and had a team-high five receptions for 29
yards. Brooks finished with 10 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown as well as two
receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown.
In addition to the three touchdowns, Beckwith finished with 177 yards on eight
carries.
"He ran hard," Williams said. "He found open holes and took full advantage of it,
obviously. He got those two big runs. One of them we had him wrapped up, but we
let him go."
The Bengals will look to bounce back at home against Salisbury at noon on Saturday.
The Seagulls are coming off of a bye week and are currently ranked seventh in the
D3Football.com poll and 11th in the American Football Coaches Association.
A.J. Speier can be reached by email at speier.record@live.com.
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