TOWSON, Md. – The No. 16/19 Towson University football team (7-5, 5-3 CAA) had its 2018 season come to a close with a 31-10 defeat to Northeast Conference champion Duquesne (9-3, 5-1 NEC) in the NCAA Playoff First Round.
 
Key Game Stats:

• Towson scored the first 10 points of the game, not allowing any from Duquesne for the opening 29:59.  The Dukes answered with 31 straight points, including 14 in each the third and fourth quarters, to win the game.
• With a pouring-down rain, Towson managed 357 yards of total offense, including 230 yards rushing, the most since October 20^th.  Duquesne had 426 yards of total offense, including 282 on the ground.
• Towson finished with a pair of 90+ yard rushers, with Shane Simpson having 96 yards on 18 carries and Kobe Young notching 92 yards on 14 rushes.  Tom Flacco had 38 yards rushing and 127 yards passing, having a passing touchdown to Jabari Allen, who concluded with three catches for 67 yards.
• On defense, Jamal Gay led Towson with 11 tackles, while Diondre Wallace had eight.  Malik Tyne tallied three tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
• For Duquesne, A.J. Hines had 175 yards on 28 carries plus a touchdown, while Daquan Worley finished with 73 yards rushing from eight rushes.  Brandon Stanback finished with 11 tackles, a sack and a fumble forced and recovered.

Postgame Quotes:
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose:
"Congratulations to Coach Schmitt, his team and his staff, they beat us in that second half.  From my own personal perspective, I want to thank [the media and staff], and all Tiger faithful that sat through that ridiculous weather to watch their football team.  That is Tiger pride, and our guys were very appreciative of that.  Tough loss.  These guys made a little bit of history, and they brought back respectability of this football program on a national level."
 
How it Happened:

• Despite an early five-yard run by Shane Simpson, Towson had to punt on a three-and-out.  Pat Toomney's punt pinned in Duquesne on its own eight, where the Towson defense held the Dukes to four yards and a punt.
• Next drive, Simpson used a couple of rushes to bring the Tigers to the Duquesne 34.  From there, Tom Flacco arced a pass between double coverage to Jabari Allen for the touchdown, making it 7-0 Towson with 10:43 left in the 1^st.  The Towson defense again held the Dukes to a 3-and-out, with Monty Fenner tackling Nehari Crawford one yard short of a first down.
• Kobe Young sparked the next drive with a 21-yard break out on a second down to get into Duquesne territory.  With the rain coming down, Toomey again had a great punt, with Coby Tippett downing the ball on the Duquesne 1.  The defense stood tall again with a three-and-out.
• Continuing to battle the driving rain, Towson converted a third down with an Ellis Knudson rush from the quarterback position to get deeper into the red zone.  Towson lined up for a field goal but missed wide.
• Duquesne went to A.J. Hines, its Walter Payton Award Watch List running back, to get down the field, and got into Towson territory for the first time into the second quarter.  Towson held after an incomplete pass on third down by the Dukes forced a punt to the Towson 2.
• Towson broke free with a couple of seven-yard runs from Simpson, then later by a pass and run from Flacco.  On 3^rd and 1, Towson's hurry-up offense paid off as Simpson went for 21 yards on the left side to get into the Duquesne side of the field.  Facing a 3^rd and 16, Flacco turned on the jets for a 15-yard run, then on 4^th down, Simpson stutter-stepped and went to the right for 12 yards to convert, later converting a third down with an eight-yard run to get inside the Duquesne 8.  Again, Towson lined up for a field goal, with Aidan O'Neill converting the 26-yard attempt to make it 10-0 Towson with 7:07 left in the 2^nd.  The defense stifled Duquesne to a three-and-out to get back the ball on its own 44.
• Two big plays for Towson brought the Tigers to the Duquesne 6: a 15-yard rush by Young and a short pass to Chris Clark became a 34-yard completion as he ran down the sideline.  But, a fumble on the 1-yard line was recovered by Duquesne to prevent a scoring chance.
• After each side had one set of downs, Duquesne got its first score of the game on a drive down the field, including 42 rushing yards from Hines and a 27-yard catch by Kellon Taylor.  Mitch Maczura hit the 32-yard field goal attempt to set the halftime score at 10-3 Towson.
• Into the second half, Duquesne had six rushes to get into the end zone, capped by a Daquan Worley 48-yard sprint into the end zone to tie the game at 10-10.
• Following a Towson three-and-out, Duquesne used a screen for Hines on the right side to go down 71 yards and score a touchdown, giving the Dukes a 17-10 lead with 9:40 left in the 3^rd.
• Towson was forced to punt again after an incompletion on 3^rd and four.  The defense came up with a big play, as Malik Tyne forced a fumble on a sack, then Grant Udinski recovered it to give Towson the ball on the Duquesne 47.  Towson tried to convert a 4^th and five, but pressure from the Dukes defense forced an incompletion and a turnover on downs on the Duquesne 28.
• Duquesne continued its running attack, getting back into Towson territory with help from 26 yards on three rushes from Hines.  The Dukes converted on 3^rd and 13 with a delayed QB run by Daniel Parr to get 15 yards before getting to the sideline.  After a Hines 21-yard run to get to the Towson 3, Parr leaped into the end zone the next play to make it 24-10 Duquesne with 12:31 left to play.
• Towson had to punt following a three-and-out, where the defense held around midfield as the Dukes ran the ball seven times to run clock.  Back on offense, a pass on 4^th and three was incomplete, giving the ball back to Duquesne.  The Dukes went three and out and punted back to Towson.  Towson again was held to one set of downs as Duquesne scored on a Hines rush the other way to put the score at 31-10 Dukes with 3:07 left.
• Towson's final drive late in the fourth quarter ended in Duquesne territory with an incompletion towards the end zone.  The Dukes took the victory 31-10.

Inside the Numbers:

• Towson played in its first FCS playoff game since the 2013 season.
• Tom Flacco had his 28^th passing touchdown of the season, matching the Towson single season record with Dan Crowley in 1994.  His 742 rushing yards is also a single season record for a Towson quarterback, while his 3,251 passing yards ranks fourth in program history.
• Shane Leatherbury finished the year with 67 receptions, third all-time in Towson single season history.
• Diondre Wallace tallied 270 career tackles, good for seventh all-time in Towson history.
• Duquesne advances to the second round, playing at 5-seed South Dakota State on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. ET.

- TowsonTigers.com –