By Chris Estrada
KINGSTON, R.I. – There’s a new alpha dog in Northeastern football history.
While senior tailback Maurice Murray became the school’s all-time rushing and touchdown king Saturday, the Rhode Island Rams wrecked the coronation. Murray and the Huskies jumped to a 14-0 lead early, but URI would put the brakes on him and capitalize on several NU miscues to come away with a 35-30 victory at Meade Stadium.
Murray’s 182-yard performance this weekend caps his illustrious career with 3,806 rushing yards, 114 more than previous record holder LJ McKanas. He also set the total touchdown record with his 43rd career score, nipping Dave Klemic’s 42.
The senior took control of the rushing record on the first play in Northeastern’s third drive. After attaining 62 yards on the Huskies’ first two possessions, with the last one ending in a five-yard touchdown by junior back Alex Broomfield, Murray took the handoff from the NU 35, broke a tackle and surged 28 yards to history.
“It’s a great record,” he said. “But I have to congratulate my offensive line. They played great, like they always do … It hurts, but I knew it was going to come to an end. I’m just happy to come out with a couple of records.”
Head coach Rocky Hager said that the record, “couldn’t happen to a better person in the whole world.”
“It stings that this is his end,” the fourth-year coach said. “We’ve gone through some good times and tough times. I love him … He is damn special. Damn, damn special.”
But Murray’s day eventually got tougher and tougher. After rushing for 155 yards in the first half, he would only attain 27 in the second as URI’s defense switched to eight and even nine-man fronts.
After Murray scored from 14 yards out to make it 14-0 visitors, the Rams took advantage of good field position and drove into the Husky red zone. On third and goal from the one, quarterback Derek Cassidy punched it in to cut the lead to 14-7.
Sophomore kicker Mat Johnson booted a 38-yard field goal to make it 17-7 Huskies late in the second quarter, but the Rams answered quickly as Cassidy found Jimmy Hughes for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 on the clock.
The Huskies then suffered a special teams failure that enabled URI to recover an onside kick at the 41. Tailback Anthony Ferrer would set up the Rams inside the Husky five with a 20-yard run and on first-and-goal, Cassidy threw an arc to Shawn Leonard in the far right corner of the end zone. Despite solid coverage from cornerback Enrique Cox, Leonard caught the ball and the Rams took a 21-17 lead into the half.
More Northeastern mistakes would come back to bite them later. Junior quarterback Anthony Orio got the Huskies back on top on an eight-yard touchdown rush with 8:56 in the third quarter, but he was intercepted on the next NU drive by URI’s Adrian Owen. Starting at the Husky 20, the Rams would eventually retake a 28-24 lead with a two-yard run from Cassidy.
NU’s next offensive drive shorted out and ended even worse as the punt snap for Rob Conway went over his head. After Conway was downed deep in Husky territory, the Rams capitalized again with a five-yard touchdown run from Ferrer with 12:09 in the fourth. Hager took the blame for the botched snap.
“I work with the snappers, so I will take the responsibility for that,” he said.
But the Huskies would atone on special teams later in the fourth quarter. The defense blocked a URI punt, sending the ball high into the air and into the arms of defensive back Darryl Jones. Jones would run it back 26 yards to pull the Huskies to 35-30 at the 5:24 mark. The two-point conversion would fail as Orio’s pass to tight end Brian Mandeville was broken up by URI’s KiAmeer Nelson.
Armed with the chance to run out the clock, URI’s tandem of Cassidy and Ferrer stuck to the ground game and bagged first down after first down to force NU to kill off their timeouts.
Still, it was a record-setting day in Rhode Island. And although Maurice Murray will be the name in the NU record books, the 230-pound back deemed that his newfound accolades were his teammates’ as well.
“You know, you sit out there and you watch a game, you go ‘Wow, what a great back,’ or ‘That was a great run,'” he said. “But it’s not just the individual doing it, it’s 10 other guys … that are working [their] ass off to get there … They were able to get me to break the record.”
