CINCINNATI – The Towson University football team gave FBS opponent Cincinnati all it could handle in the season opener, falling to the Bearcats 38-20 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Down 11 at the half, Towson (0-1) pulled to within one score on the opening drive of the third quarter at Cincinnati (1-0), having a couple of long touchdown passes by Carlos Davis to Jaceon Doss and John Dunmore.  Cincinnati held the lead in the second half and took the victory.
 
Key Stats:

• In his first game ever with Towson, Carlos Davis threw 21-for-37 for 244 yards and two touchdowns, including a 76-yard touchdown throw to Jaceon Doss, who finished with 87 yards on three catches.  John Dunmore had two catches for 35 yards and a touchdown.
• Devin Matthews rushed for 70 yards on 17 carries, adding 25 receiving yards.
• On defense, Shafeek Smith led Towson in tackles with nine, adding a pass break-up.  Daniel Raymond forced a fumble and made five tackles.
• Keegan Vaughan converted each of his field goal attempts from 32 and 33 yards respectively.
• For the Bearcats, Brendan Sorsby was 22-for-31 in the air for 383 yards and two touchdowns, adding two rushing touchdowns.  Xzavier Henderson had seven catches for 101 yards and a score.  Josh Minkins had six tackles and three pass breakups on defense.

• Cincinnati started on offense and got downfield on the third play with a short pass to Aaron Turner turning into a 49-yard gain into the red zone.  Towson nearly held on third down and five, but a Jamoi Mayes nine-yard catch extended the drive.  Next play, Brendan Sorsby ran up the middle for a score to make it 7-0 Cincinnati 3:43 into the game.
• Towson went three-and-out, but a muffed punt was recovered by John Dunmore on the Cincinnati 20.  Towson would line up for the 32-yard field goal, knocked down by Keegan Vaughan, to put Towson on the board.  7-3 Cincinnati with 8:03 left in the 1^st.
• Cincinnati responded quickly with a couple of long passes, resulting in a 42-yard touchdown reception by Xzavier Henderson.  Towson looked to go quickly on the next drive, getting across midfield on a 22-yard pass to Lukkas Londono, but were stopped there and punted.  Again the Bearcats went to the long pass, having a 61-yard touchdown catch to Sterling Berkhalter to lead 21-3.
• A couple of completions from Carlos Davis to Lukkas Londono got Towson a first down, then a burst of speed down the sideline for Tyrell Greene Jr. for 18 yards sent the Tigers into Cincinnati territory.  Davis continued to thread the needle on passes to Da'Kendall James and Carter Runyon to pull into the red zone, then Chris Watkins burst up the middle for seven yards to the Cincinnati 4 as the first quarter expired.  Towson looked to pound up the gut for the first down but was stopped on fourth down and one, turning the ball over on downs.
• The Bearcats got near midfield on a Corey Kiner 18-yard rush, then Dion Crews-Harris and Daniel Raymond stopped Covey for a four-yard loss and shut down Cincinnati's drive.  Towson began its next drive on its own four.
• After a breakout by Devin Matthews for 14 yards, three plays later, a short pass from Davis to Jaceon Doss saw Doss break through the secondary and score on the 76-yard reception.  Towson trailed 21-10 with 9:54 left in the second.
• Two big Cincinnati plays got the home team to the Towson 3, where Crews-Harris and Mike Swain pushed back the quarterback to force third and 12, but Brendan Sorsby ran up the middle for the touchdown to give Cincinnati a 28-10 lead with 6:56 left in the second.
• After a Towson three-and-out, the Bearcats pushed down the field and entered the red zone, getting first and goal on the Towson eight.  Towson protected with a tackle on a recovered fumble and an Emiril Gant pass break-up, forcing a field goal attempt, which was missed from 31 yards.
• Watkins started the drive with a 39-yard burst up the middle to give Towson a last chance drive.  Davis kept avoiding getting sacked to buy time and used a couple of runs to get Towson to the Cincinnati 28.  On third down and 10 with 29 seconds left, Davis moved around in the pocket and launched to the end zone, finding John Dunmore for the catch towards the back of the end zone on the 28-yard touchdown.  Towson trailed 28-17 at the half.
• Towson received in the second half and was aided by a roughing the passer penalty on Cincinnati.  Matthews took up the mantle on the following plays with a couple of short runs and an 11-yard catch to move into Cincinnati territory, then used another couple of strong runs up the middle for a combined 23 yards.  Though Towson was stopped after a pair of incompletions, Vaughan knocked through the 33-yard field goal to pull Towson within one score at 28-20 with 10:10 left in the third quarter.  However, Cincinnati scored on its first offensive play of the third quarter on a 64-yard rush by Evan Pryor to put its lead at 35-20 with 9:52 left in the third.
• An opening rush by Greene for eight yards did not lead to a first down in the following plays as Towson punted.  Cincinnati went to the ground plus used short passes to get downfield.  Just into the red zone, Shafeek Smith broke up a pass one-on-one to force a field goal attempt.  Carter Brown hit the 36-yard attempt to make it 38-20 Cincinnati with 4:38 left in the third.
• Continuing the hurry-up offense, Matthews steamrolled ahead with 17 yards on three carries.  But a short pass and an incompletion led to a punt.  Into the fourth quarter, Victor Dawson ran for 47 yards, then Raymond stripped the ball out and Xavier Terry recovered for Towson possession on its own 12.  Four plays in, a bizarre play happened where Cincinnati recovered a Towson fumble, then Towson forced a Cincinnati fumble and recovered on the same play to get first down on its own 36.  Towson would have to punt, but Towson walled up and stopped Cincinnati on a three-and-out, including a combo Rodney Roane Jr. and CJ McClendon tackle on third and one to force a punt.
• On the next drive, Davis made a great rollout to throw to Doss on the sideline for 13 yards, adding a roughing the passer penalty to advance into the Cincinnati side of the field.  Towson looked for one final push on fourth down and six on the Cincinnati 36, but the incompletion ended the drive.  Cincinnati held the ball the rest of the way to take the game.

• 17 points in the first half is the most amount of points Towson has scored against an FBS opponent in a half in its last five contests.  The Tigers had 20 first half points at Wake Forest on Sept. 8, 2018.
• Carlos Davis's 76-yard touchdown pass to Jaceon Doss is the first 75+ yard reception for Towson since Sept. 15, 2018, when Tom Flacco found Shane Leatherbury for 76 yards in a win at Villanova.
• Eight different players made at least one reception for Towson while three different Tiger running backs notched at least 59 yards.

• Towson gets set for the home opener with the next chapter of The Battle for Greater Baltimore.  The Tigers host Morgan State on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m.
• For more information on Towson tickets, contact the Towson Ticket Office at 410-704-4501 or by emailing 4tigertix@towson.edu.

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