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Southern Connecticut State University Athletics

Scoreboard

Scoreboard

21
American Int'l AIC 1-1 , 0-0
35
Winner Southern Conn. St. SCS 1-1 , 0-0
American Int'l AIC
1-1 , 0-0
21
Final
35
Southern Conn. St. SCS
1-1 , 0-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
AIC American Int'l 0 7 7 7 21
SCS Southern Conn. St. 7 14 14 0 35
Keith Ridley

Game Recap: Football |

SCSU Football Tops AIC, 35-21, For First Win Of The Season

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Southern Connecticut football defeated American International, 35-21, to improve to 1-1 on the season. The Owls' win against the Yellow Jackets was their first of the season while they picked up a non-conference win before opening Northeast-10 Conference play next week.

The Owls dominated play, led by the bruising rushing game of E'Lijah Gray who rolled up 132 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. Gray also had two catches for 15 yards. It was Gray's sixth 100-yard game of his career and the fifth in his last five games. As a team, the Owls piled on 196 rushing yards, while the Owls defense held AIC to 20 yards on the ground.

Keith Ridley was 16-for-24 for 194 yards with four touchdown passes, matching his career-best that he tossed against Post last season. Ridley connected with 10 different receivers in the game including touchdown passes to Will Diamantis, Luke Gadson and Mike Strachan (2). Strachan had four catches for 41 yards, while half of his receptions were in the end zone. Diamantis, making his first appearance with the Owls after transferring from NCAA Division I Stonehill, had a team-leading five catches for 91 yards and a 48-yard touchdown. Gadson scored his first touchdown as an Owl as well, totaling two catches for 31 yards.



Defensively, first-year Owl Dominick Barbuto, a transfer from NCAA Division I LIU, led Southern with six tackles, including two for a loss and a sack, while Joe DiGello had two sacks in the game. Youssef Gamel had 1.5 sacks as well as a quarterback hurry. Kuhron Walker also had his first career interception, on a play with DiGello chasing AIC's quarterback out of the pocket.

Gray put the Owls on the board with the first quarters only points after a 15-yard run between the tackles gave Southern a 7-0 lead. AIC answered with a 54-yard touchdown pass to knot the game at 7-7.
From there, the Owls rattled off 28-straight unanswered points to take a 35-7 lead. On the drive following AIC's game-tying touchdown, Ridley moved the Owls' offense on a 12-play, 70-yard quest that ended with Ridley finding Gadson with an eight-yard strike to give Southern a 14-7 lead.

Strachan's first touchdown of the night came on a 23-yard pass from Ridley to give Southern a 21-7 lead. Ridley found him down the sideline and connected with the Owls' tight end from 10 yards out before Strachan turned and found the end zone. Diamantis scored on a 48-yard pass that capped a 9-play, 91-yard drive. At midfielder, the Owls' wide receiver blew by AIC's cornerback and was all alone down field where Ridley hit him in stride. Ridley made it 35-7 when he found Strachan at the end of an extended play in the corner of the end zone.

Southern is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 21 when it travels to Waltham, Mass. to take on Bentley at 1 p.m. The Owls then head to Saint Anselm on Saturday, Sept. 28 before returning home to host Assumption for its annual Homecoming Game on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m.
 
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Scoring Summary

Scoring Summary
Scoring Play Visiting Team Score Home Team Score
1st Quarter AIC SCS
SCS
08:46 - SCS - Gray,E'lijah 15 yd run (Benzi,Daniel kick), 8 plays, 79 yards, TOP 03:59
0 7
2nd Quarter AIC SCS
AIC
14:54 - AIC - Lafrance,Brian 54 yd pass from Williams,Cephas (Fonseca,Santana kick) 4 plays, 73 yards, TOP 02:10
7 7
SCS
07:11 - SCS - Gadson,Luke 8 yd pass from Ridley Jr.,Keith (Benzi,Daniel kick) 12 plays, 70 yards, TOP 07:36
7 14
SCS
01:55 - SCS - Strachan,Mike 23 yd pass from Ridley Jr.,Keith (Benzi,Daniel kick) 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 02:37
7 21
3rd Quarter AIC SCS
SCS
09:50 - SCS - Diamantis,Will 48 yd pass from Ridley Jr.,Keith (Benzi,Daniel kick) 9 plays, 91 yards, TOP 05:07
7 28
SCS
05:05 - SCS - Strachan,Mike 5 yd pass from Ridley Jr.,Keith (Benzi,Daniel kick) 6 plays, 30 yards, TOP 02:58
7 35
AIC
00:11 - AIC - Bell,Fatir 33 yd pass from Williams,Cephas (Fonseca,Santana kick) 2 plays, 33 yards, TOP 00:14
14 35
4th Quarter AIC SCS
AIC
01:27 - AIC - Posey,Anthony 2 yd run (Fonseca,Santana kick), 15 plays, 73 yards, TOP 03:52
21 35

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