Similar to last week’s win against Dayton, it was a struggle for a little bit for the Duquesne offense. But behind a big day from running back Larry McCoy, who rushed for 171 yards and three touchdowns, Duquesne rallied to defeat Valparaiso 45-17.
Valparaiso (0-3, 0-0) actually jumped on Duquesne (2-1, 0-0) quick and led 17-7 after the first quarter, before the Dukes’ defense buckled down and the offense got going.
After Crusaders field goal, McCoy scored his first touchdown of the game, a 28-yard scamper to put Duquesne up 7-3. But Valpo answered quickly, when quarterback Eric Hoffman scored from a yard out to cap off a 13-play, 77-yard drive to make it 10-7 and then gave the Crusaders a 17-7 lead when he hit Mike Gerton with an eight-yard touchdown pass to capitalize off a fumble by McCoy.
Duquesne then erupted for 38 unanswered points.
Serge Kona intercepted Hoffman in the second quarter and then Duquesne’s quarterback Sean Patterson got going, hitting Gianni Carter, who made a big touchdown catch last week against Dayton with a three-yard scoring pass to cut the Valpo lead to 17-10. On the day, Patterson was an efficient 20-of-25 for 260 yards and a pair of scores. A majority of those yards went to Carter, who had the best game of his young career, catching five passes for 113 yards and the touchdown.
Later on in the second quarter, the Dukes’ defense held on a fourth-and-three from their own 43 and converted that into McCoy’s second touchdown of the game, a 19-yard run to put the Dukes up 21-17.
Duquesne didn’t stop there and came out of the locker room clicking as a Charlie Leventry field goal and McCoy’s third score of the game (six-yard run) gave the Dukes a 31-17 lead.
The Dukes, who had 546 yards of total offense on the day, kept the foot on the gas pedal in the fourth.
Patterson hit Noel Oduho with an 11-yard scoring strike and then Marcus Hughes capped off the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run. Oduho had a good day catching the ball as well, hauling in seven passes for 90 yards and a score.
The Duquesne defense allowed 176 yards of offense in the first quarter but the Crusader finished with just 291 on the day. In addition the Dukes picked off Hoffman three times – two by Kona and one by middle linebacker Horvin Lattimer.
The dominant performance by the defense made it possible for McCoy and the offense to start rolling.
McCoy tied a school record with his 21st career 100-yard game, tying Donte Small (1998-2001).
Duquesne will look to make it three wins in a row next Saturday when they travel to take on Bryant University.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st
12:17 — VU – Pando 36 yd field goal, 10-53 (2:43) — 0-3
9:29 — DUQ – McCoy 28 yd run (Leventry kick), 7-75 (2:48) — 7-3
4:28 — VU – Hoffman 1 yd run (Pando kick), 13-77 (4:57) — 7-10
3:32 — VU – Gerton 8 yd pass from Hoffman (Pando kick), 2-40 (0:38) — 7-17
2nd
9:48 — DUQ – Carter 3 yd pass from Patterson (Leventry Kick), 3-44 (1:02) — 14-17
2:08 — DUQ – McCoy 19 yd run (Leventry kick), 6-57 (2:25) — 21-17
3rd
9:52 — DUQ – Leventry 39 yd field goal, 11-67 (5:08) — 24-17
5:27 — DUQ – McCoy 6 yd run (Leventry kick), 10-84 (3:22) — 31-17
4th
6:05 — DUQ – Oduho 11 yd pass from Patterson (Leventry kick), 10-69 (4:28) — 38-17
2:25 — DUQ – Hughes 37 yd run (Leventry kick), 5-69 (2:17) — 45-17
Photo Credit: Duquesne
