William Paterson Crushed By Salisbury, Falls to 2-4

(Photo by Catalina Fragoso – Double G Media)

William Paterson (2-4, 1-4 NJAC) Head Coach Jerry Flora was clearly frustrated after a 77-19 loss to Salisbury University at Wightman Stadium in Wayne, New Jersey.

“Three consecutive weeks we started off 7-0 before we ever get the other side of the ball on the field,” said Flora. “You just can’t play football that way.”

On the opening kickoff, Sea Gulls’ Aaron Moore took the return back 80 yards to the house.

“On the kickoff return we have a lot of young guys out there due to injuries and going to have to figure some stuff out and get better,” Flora said.

The lead would grow behind two touchdowns from Salisbury quarterback Ryan Jones. Meanwhile, the Sea Gulls running game took over, compiling 117 yards.

At the end of the first quarter the Pioneers caught a break on a muffed punt by Sea Gulls returner Brian League at the 15-yard line with junior Dan Lordi recovering the ball. On second and goal from the five-yard line, Anthony DiMarsico took an end around and sprinted into the end zone trimming the lead to 21-7 with 14:53 left in the second quarter.

Salisbury responded on their ensuing possession marching down the field including on fourth and inches at the 11-yard line as Ryan Kolb took the hand off and dove headfirst into the end zone with 12:15 remaining. The margin grew to 28 points on the Pioneers next possession as Devon McClain intercepted an Isaiah Diaz-Mays pass back for a score with 11:27 left.

DiMarsico tallied his second score of the game with 8:18 on the scoreboard as Diaz-Mays hit him on a perfect 38-yard strike. However, the two-point conversion attempt failed leaving the score at 35-13. Back came the Sea Gulls 1:54 later as Jones hooked up with Sean Rowland on a 24-yard score. Connor Canonico who rushed 12 times for 142 yards blasted through for a 4-yard touchdown with 2:15 left in the first half. For the game, Salisbury racked up 416 yards on the ground.

“There is a reason why they are a top 25 team and won NJAC last year and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament almost every year,” Flora said. “A good football team we knew coming in and didn’t think they were 77 points better than us but it is what it is and you can’t turn the ball over.”

“We have to get back to the drawing board and play same type of offense next week and obviously not the same team,” he continued. “We did some better things on offense this week than last week and that’s an improvement.”

Next Saturday the Pioneers travel to Buena Vista, Virginia to play Southern Virginia University (1-5, 0-5 NJAC) with kickoff at 1:00 p.m. Last season William Paterson defeated the Knights 31-27 at Wightman Stadium.