Score: UAlbany 28, New Hampshire 14
Location: Tom & Mary Casey Stadium in Albany, N.Y.
Records: UAlbany (1-0, 1-0 CAA) | New Hampshire (0-1, 0-1 CAA)
Short Story: The University at Albany football team opened the season with a 28-14 win over the Wildcats Friday evening, marking the first Division I win for newly appointed head coach Tom Perkovich.
Key Stat Lines
- The Great Danes tallied 374 rushing yards as a team, including 144 yards from junior Joey Koch, 90 yards from senior quarterback Kai Colón, and 62 yards from junior Rahshan La Mons.
- Aidan Semo found the end zone twice on the ground. Koch and La Mons each added a rushing touchdown of their own.
- Senior Shawan Lewis led the team with two and a half sacks, while Dillon Dunathan added a sack.
- Dunathan also tallied an interception.
- As a team, UAlbany out-rushed UNH with 374 yards compared to the Wildcats' 62 rushing yards.
- The Great Danes averaged 7.1 yards per carry while UNH managed 2.6 per carry.
How it Happened:
- The Great Danes received the opening kickoff, but an early interception gave UNH the ball at the UAlbany 45 yard-line.
- The Wildcats drive stalled outside the red zone, but a penalty on a field goal attempt gave UNH a first down. The Wildcats capitalized on the penalty and scored a touchdown three plays later to make it 7-0 early. Brooks Bentley took in a four-yard pass for the score.
- UAlbany answered back on the following drive. Following a 54-yard rush by BJ Norman, Rahshan La Mons found the end zone, for the first time as a Great Dane, from one yard out to even up the score at 7-7 with 4:13 left in the first.
- The Great Danes took the lead when Aidan Semo scored on a one-yard rush on fourth down to make it 14-7 with 6:05 left in the half.
- Set up by a 79-yard rush by Joey Koch, UAlbany extended the lead when Koch scored his first collegiate touchdown on a four-yard carry to push the score to 21-7.
- UNH started the second half hot with a 45-yard passing touchdown on the second play of the drive to cut the lead to 21-14 only 40 seconds in.
- The Great Danes answered back with a five-play, 66-yard drive capped off by a Semo eight-yard touchdown rush, his second of the day, to make it 28-14.
- As the third quarter came to an end, the Wildcats drove down the field to the five-yard line. But on the first play of the fourth quarter, pressure from Jaydon Williams forced an errant throw that was intercepted by Dillon Dunathan to give the Great Danes possession.
- The UAlbany defense kept UNH off the board for the remainder of the fourth quarter, and the Great Danes walked away with a 28-14 win
Next: The Great Danes will travel out to Buffalo for a rare Thursday night game next week against the Bulls. Keep up with all of the latest news, highlights, and insights on UAlbany football by following the team on
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