Dave Corley may have given the No. 15 Huskies a reason to push the panic button.
The Tribe’s senior quarterback converted 19 of 28 pass attempts on the afternoon for 267 yards and two touchdowns as No. 14 William ‘ Mary (5-2, 4-1 Atlantic-10) defeated Northeastern (6-2, 3-2 Atlantic-10) at Williamsburg, Virginia on Saturday.
“We just couldn’t get anything going in the second half,” said head Coach Don Brown. “It resulted in us not getting it done.”
Sophomore signal caller Shawn Brady (2-6, 22 yards), who left the game with a tender shoulder, led NU down the field on an efficient 12 play, 60-yard drive to begin the scoring. After Wade Harrell and Marcus Washington stopped senior tailback William Griffin for a 2-yard loss on 3rd and 4 at the W’M 18, redshirt freshman Miro Kesic connected on a 37-yard field goal to give Northeastern a 3-0 lead with 6:27 remaining in the first quarter.
Sadly, that would be the visitors’ only lead of the day.
After the field goal, Corley guided the Tribe down the field on seven plays, and capped the 76-yard trek with a 4-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Rich Musinski (6 receptions, 132 yards) with 3:43 left in the first. A Greg Kuehn kick made the score 7-0.
Musinski helped set up William ‘ Mary’s next score, as he and Corley hooked up on a questionable 37-yard play to carry the hosts to the NU 1-yard line after junior safety Anthony Nolen forced a fumble that Musinski recovered at the aforementioned spot.
“We did force a fumble on the play, but the kid [Musinski] never caught the ball in the first place,” Brown said.
A quarterback sneak put W’M up 13-3 with 8:40 left before halftime.
Corley did most of his damage in the first half, going 13 of 20 for 195 yards, whereas Musinski did all of his in the segment, and had no receptions in the second half.
“Both [Corley and Musinski] are good players,” Brown said. “They’re a big reason why that offense is averaging around 30 points a game.”
Sophomore quarterback Sean Cassidy (12 of 28 passing, 102 yards, one touchdown) entered the game when Brady exited after the first series of the second quarter. Riding the legs of William Griffin (19 carries, 93 yards), who broke 16 and 27-yard runs, the Huskies shortened the gap to 13-6 with 4:11 remaining in the half.
Brown says that the offense took a huge hit when Brady left the contest.
“Shawn’s had the shoulder trouble since Rhode Island,” he said. “We thought we could get him ready to play.
“[When he was knocked out of the game] our chemistry on offense was disrupted. Sean Cassidy saw his first significant experience as a collegian in the game.”
Still, Brady was not the only person that entered the game hurt. Anthony Riley only had five carries in a limited role, dealing a huge blow to the offensive aspirations of the Huskies.
The Tribe started on their own 35 after Northeastern kicked the ball out of bounds on the subsequent kickoff. Another Musinski touchdown reception, this one 33 yards, completed the drive in only six plays, giving W’M a 20-6 lead entering the half.
The visitors began to move the ball on their first possession of the second half, but a 10-yard sack of Cassidy by senior linebacker Craig Pengitore put NU out of field goal range and forced a punt.
William ‘ Mary would score on the ensuing drive, as Jonathan Smith (28 rushes, 102 yards) finished the 13-play, 80-yard drive with a 5-yard jaunt into the end zone later in the third quarter. Another Tribe drive concluded with a Kuehn 35-yard field goal, putting Northeastern in a 30-6 hole with 11:00 remaining in the game.
A 20-yard TD pass by Cassidy, his first at Northeastern, to freshman wideout Cory Parks (6 receptions, 58 yards) ended the scoring for the afternoon.
The loss drops the Huskies to 2-2 on the road this season, and to 1-8 against the Tribe all-time. This fact was not lost on the squad, as it placed a greater sense of urgency on the No. 15 Huskies in its quest for a playoff birth.
“Winning there [away] is a premium in the Atlantic 10. If we are going to achieve our ultimate goals, it starts at Richmond.
“If you have more than three losses [in the conference], you’re in trouble. The three remaining games are big. We’re playing a Richmond team that is playing at a very high level. We have to go in there and beat them,” Brown said.
Starting time for Saturday’s game against the Richmond Spiders is at 1 p.m in Virginia.
