PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne defense scored three times in the final 4:09 of the first quarter to power the Dukes to a 27-14 win over Division II West Liberty at Rooney Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Dukes (2-2) who scored twice via interception and once on a fumble return after falling behind 7-0. The loss was the second in a row for WLU (2-3).
The Hilltoppers jumped on the Dukes early, when Omar Crawford stepped in front of a Dillon Buechel pass on the third play from scrimmage and returned it 12 yards to the DU 15. On the next play, Tyler Tucci hit Dylan Potts with a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0.
Duquesne tied it nine minutes later when Nick Floyd picked off a Tucci pass and raced 71 yards down the sideline to make it 7-7 with 4:09 left in the first quarter.
The DU defense made it two scores in under two minutes, when a blitzing Christian Kuntz forced a Tucci fumble that was covered by Zach Zidian in the end zone to make it 14-7 with 2:38 left in the first quarter.
Defensive end Dane O’Driscoll then picked off Tucci again and rumbled 33 yards for a score as time expired to make it 20-7 after 15 minutes.
Duquesne moved inside the WLU 20 in both the second and third quarter, but turned it over twice via interception
It wasn’t until the 13:14 mark of the third quarter that either offense managed a score when Buechel capped an 80 yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Chris King to make it 27-7.
King, who set career highs for catches (10) and receiving yards (127) was the offensive star for the Dukes. Buechel completed 17-of-26 passes for 193 yards. Ryan Ho ran for 70 yards for Duquesne, which posted a season-high 113 yards on the ground.
WLU’s Dylan Lagarde – who relieved Tucci in the second quarter – hit Potts with a 48-yard touchdown pass with just under four minutes left to close out the scoring.
Kuntz finished with a team-high 8 tackles for Duquesne. Four of his tackles – including a pair of sacks – were for losses totaling 11 yards. Linebackers Dorian Bell and Aaron Reed added 7 stops each for the Dukes.
Duquesne opens Northeast Conference play next Saturday with a Homecoming match-up against defending NEC champion Wagner at 1:10 p.m.
