TOWSON, Md. - Going back in recent Towson football history, there have been some remarkable comebacks.
In 1992, Towson actually had two phenomenal come-from-behind wins over Northeastern and Indiana (Pa.).
The IUP game came first
on October 31. The Tigers were trailing the Division II power on the
road, 33-13, with less than six minutes left. Towson scored three
touchdowns and recovered two
onsides kicks in the final 5:34 of the game. A four-yard touchdown run by Brian McCarty with 1:06 left gave the Tigers the lead they did not relinquish. This also ended
IUP's 29-game home winning streak.
After a bye, the Tigers hosted Northeastern and were down by 32-27 after a TD run by Henry
Rogan with four seconds left.
Game over, right? Wrong. On the ensuing kickoff, Towson went into its bag of
tricks, trying several laterals before Julian Blair was tackled at the
Northeastern 20-yard line. However, several
Northeastern players had charged the field prematurely, giving Towson
one
untimed play from the 10-yard line. Dan Crowley finished it with
a 10-yard TD pass to Mark Orlando and the players mobbed the field as
Towson won, 33-32. The finish was honored by ESPN as its Wildest Finish
of the 1992 season.
So let's take a deeper look into the remarkable finish that took
place on Saturday night in Norfolk as the Tigers downed #18 Old Dominion,
39-35.
Let's go back to the end of the third quarter when the Tigers were
down, 35-24, and about to put together the longest drive of the season.
Unfortunately, that drive ended with no points. The Tigers went 88 yards in 18
plays that took 7:59 off the clock. On 4th
and three at the ODU 8-yard line, freshman Terrance West was tackled for a two-yard loss by Aaron Evans and the Tigers turned it over on downs.
Towson would get the ball back less than two minutes later even though Monarch punter Jonathan
Prisco boomed one 62 yards from his 13-yard line to the Towson 26-yard line. So, sophomore quarterback Grant
Enders had the ball with 5:49 left, but trailing by 11 points.
Enders looked almost exclusively to big junior wide receiver Gerard Sheppard, targeting him five times. The
UConn transfer caught four passes on the drive for 57 yards. With 3:13 left,
Enders brought the Tigers to the eight-yard line. On first and goal,
Enders kept the ball and went
untouched in the end zone for a touchdown. Down by 35-30, the Tigers went
for the two-point conversion as sophomore wide receiver Leon
Kinnard hit tight end Mike Evans in the deep corner of the end zone for the conversion.
Towson was now down, 35-32, and was not out for the count with 3:09 left. Sophomore placekicker D.J.
Soven executed a perfect
onsides kick, booting the ball on the ground to ODU's Mitch Castleberry,
who handled the hop but was hit by several Tigers. Sheppard came up
with the ball for the Tigers (who else?) and Towson had the ball at its own 45-yard line with a chance to win.
But, comebacks don't always go perfectly and what make this so
special was the final drive. Not only does Towson score with a little
over 3:00 left after missing out an earlier 18-play drive and recovering
an
onsides kick, but they had to go through an incredible amount of drama to get the final score.
West took the first play up the middle for 11 yards to the
ODU 44-yard line. So, this had the look of a Towson drive that would either end up with a short field goal to tie or a short pass to win.
Instead, the Tigers made things a little more difficult on themselves. After West lost a yard on 2nd and 11,
Enders was sacked for a nine-yard loss by DE Ronnie Cameron and he tore his helmet off during the tackle.
Enders, who was shaken up on the play, had to come out of the game.
Enter redshirt sophomore
Peter Athens. On 3rd-and-20, Athens had no time to throw and was
sacked for a loss of 9 at the Towson 37-yard line. You couldn't ask to be in a
tougher position for a backup quarterback, especially coming
in cold.
So Coach Rob Ambrose went back to Enders, who calmly came back in the game. There was 1:07 left on the clock and on 4th and 29,
Enders rolled out to his right and heaved a pass to junior wide receiver Tom Ryan at the
ODU 32. Ryan outleaped safety
Carvin Powell, cut to the outside and raced to the end zone where he carried several tacklers before diving into the end zone.
The Tigers still had to hold the Monarchs and freshman quarterback Taylor
Heinicke, who was having a career night.
ODU started at their own 41-yard line with two timeouts left. But the Towson defense, dropping back eight and
rushing only three, managed to sack
Heinicke twice. On 4th and 11,
Heinicke's desperation pass was picked off by
redshirt freshman linebacker Kenton Powell at the Towson 47. Game. Set. Match.
Was this the greatest Towson comeback of all time? The most clutch
grab or gutsiest play by a quarterback who was just knocked out of the
game? Was there a better run after the catch in the history of the
program? There's not a correct answer to these
questions but one thing is certain. Towson is 5-1 overall for the first
time in 18 years and 3-0 in the
CAA for the first time.
