2008 Bryant Bulldogs football team

NCAATeamFootballSeason
Year=2008
Team=Bryant Bulldogs

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Conference=Northeast Conference
Division=
ShortConference=NEC
Record=3-2
ConfRecord=1-2
CoachRank=
APRank=
HeadCoach=Marty Fine
OScheme=Multiple
DScheme=4-3
StadiumArena=Bulldog Stadium (c. 5,500, grass)
Champion=
BowlTourney=
BowlTourneyResult=

chedule

2008

Game Notes

Central Connecticut State (Aug. 30th)

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Bulldogs
R1=3
R2=10
R3=0
R4=22
Home=Blue Devils
H1=7
H2=14
H3=0
H4=21If there were any questions as to whether the Bryant University football team was ready for Division I, Saturday's effort at Central Connecticut provided all the answers. Facing a talented Blue Devil team in the school's season opener, Bryant pushed Central Connecticut before coming up short, 42-35 Saturday night at Arute Field.

Bryant (0-1) trailed 21-13 at the half, but roared back as the Bulldog defense kept the Blue Devil offense in check for most of the second half. A Lindsey Gamble 24-yard run down to the Central 33-yard line early in the fourth helped set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jay Graber to Michael Canfora, trimming the lead Central lead down to two, 21-19. Going for the two-point conversion, Graber hit Vinton South across the middle to complete the 2-point conversion and tie the game at 21-21.

Another strong defensive stop forced Central into another three and out by the Blue Devil offense. But on the ensuing punt, the Blue Devils failed to get the punt off and the Bulldogs took over deep in the Central Connecticut territory. Three plays later, Gamble rumbled in from a yard out and the Bulldogs took their first lead of the game.

James Mallory finally gave Central Connecticut (1-0) fans something to cheer for in the second half as he broke free down the left side line for a 92-yard touchdown run to knot the game back up at 28-28.

Special teams play haunted the Bulldogs and after failing to pick up a first down, Central managed to block another Bulldog punt and Cory Robinson fell on the ball in the end zone to push the Blue Devils back out in front 35-28.

Bryant would answer again, however, as Canfora and Graber hooked up again for a 15-yard touchdown to tie the game at 35-35.

Central Connecticut opened the game blocking a Bryant punt on the Bulldogs' opening drive in the first quarter as Jordan Knight picked up the loose ball and ran it back 22 yards for the game's first score.

Chris Bird had a big day kicking a 37-yard field goal in the first half and adding a school-record 47-yard field goal at the end of the half to make it 21-13 at the break. Bryant got a gift penalty from Central Connecticut as Jerell Smith made a nice 32-yard run down to the Central 29 as time expired in the half. But a facemask penalty added 15 yard penalties, giving the Bulldogs one more play and Bird just squeaked his kick just inside the uprights.

outhern Connecticut State (Sept. 6th)

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Owls
R1=0
R2=14
R3=14
R4=8
Home=Bulldogs
H1=7
H2=7
H3=7
H4=18Junior running back Jerell Smith rushed for a career-high 221 yards on 34 carries to help lead Bryant University to a 39-36 non-conference win over Southern Connecticut before 2,417 at Bulldog Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win improves Bryant's record to 1-1 on the season heading into next week's home game with Merrimack College (1 p.m.). Southern Connecticut drops to 1-1 on the season.

In the first matchup between the two schools since last year's NCAA playoffs, won by the Owls 45-28, the Bulldogs capitalized on several Southern Connecticut mistakes to pull out the fourth quarter, come-from-behind victory.

"If we don't keep the ball in the shoot, they are going to run away from us, and that's what happened today," said Bryant coach Marty Fine.

Southern Connecticut (1-1), ranked 20th in Division II and picked to win the Northeast-10 Conference this season, got a strong passing effort from quarterback Steve Armstrong. The senior signal caller was 17 for 23 passing for 282 yards and threw three touchdowns before leaving the game with an injury early in the third.

Armstrong's replacement Kevin Lynch came on to throw a pair of touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to Ty Marshall to vive the Owls a 28-21 lead with 3:30 left in the third.

But in the fourth quarter, key plays by the Bryant defense and special teams and the hard running of Smith, helped Bryant rally. A Samad Wagstaff interception near midfield as the quarter came to a close resulted in a Smith 10-yard touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Southern fumbled the return and Bryant's Franck Tebou was there to recover. That play led to another Smith touchdown, making it 33-28 with 13:17 left.

Another fumble on the kickoff by the Owls gave the ball back to the Bulldogs and this time Mike Canfora was there to bull his way in from the 1-yard line to put Bryant on top 39-28.

Lynch and the Owls were done, as the freshman connected with Pete Digangi for a 6-yard score to pull to within 39-36 with 7:53 remaining.

Bryant was forced to punt after the drive stalled out at their own 34 yard line, but on Southern's next possession, linebacker Paul Polomski picked off a Lynch pass at the 45 yard line and the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock.

Smith's 221 yards are a career-high for the Howard University transfer and the seventh-most yards in a game, tying him with Lorenzo Perry who had 221 at Assumption in 2008.

Quarterback Jay Graber completed 13 of 25 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns while Vinton South caught three passes for 64 yards.

"Southern Connecticut is a good team and they deserve all of their credit," said Jay Graber. "They beat us pretty bad last year so it wasn't a Division I, Division II thing, it was a good football game."

Ty Marshall had seven catches for 203 yards and two scores for Southern Connecticut . Jarom Freeman, who rushed for an NCAA Division II record 418 yards against the Bulldogs last year, was held in check by the Bulldog defense. The junior finished with 70 yards on 16 carries in the game.

Bryce Martins had 11 tackles on the season while Andre White added seven.

Merrimack (Sept. 13th)

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Warriors
R1=0
R2=0
R3=0
R4=7
Home=Bulldogs
H1=3
H2=14
H3=0
H4=3Junior tailback Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) rushed for 130 yards on 27 carries to lift the Bryant University football team to a 20-7 non-conference win over Merrimack College before an overflow crowd of 5,530 fans on Homecoming & Reunion Weekend Saturday at Bulldog Stadium.

Bryant, with the win, improves to 2-1 on the season heading into next weekend's home game with Monmouth College (1 p.m.). Merrimack, which turned the ball over seven times in the game, drops to 1-1.

The Bulldogs, who forced seven turnovers in last week's win over Southern Connecticut, took advantage of an early miscue by the Warriors to get on the board first. A Paul Polomski (Franklin, MA) interception of a Kurt Leone pass midway through the first quarter led to a 31-yard field goal by Chris Bird, giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead.

Bryant would never trail again. In the second quarter, another interception, this time by Bryant freshman cornerback Samad Wagstaff (New Rochelle, NY), off a pass by Leone helped set up the Bulldogs' first touchdown of the game. Wagstaff, who added another interception in the second half to give him five for the season, returned his first of the day 20 yards to midfield, giving the Bulldogs excellent field position.

Seven plays later, Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury, MA) plunged in from a yard out to make it 10-7.

Smith would add a 20-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the second quarter to send the Bulldogs into the locker room up 20-0 at the break.

Smith, after a career-best 221 yards against Southern Connecticut last week, went over the 1,000 yard mark in his career Saturday. His 130 yards against Merrimack gives him 1,063 yards, becoming the seventh player in school history to go over 1,000 yards rushing in a career.

Bryant quarterback Jay Graber (Clarksburg, NJ) completed 14 of 22 passes for 117 yards while Ross Giffune (Foxboro, MA) had a fine day, catching four passes for 43 yards including a long of 17.

In addition to forcing seven turnovers, Bryant's defense held Merrimack's run-and-shoot offense to 278 yards in the game. Leone finished the game completing 12 of 36 passes for 143 yards. Backup Mike Sarnese came on later in the second half to replace Leone and completed 4 of 14 attempts for 84 yards but was intercepted three times including once in the end zone by Andre Whyte (Bennington, VT).

Monmouth (Sept. 20th)

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Hawks
R1=7
R2=10
R3=0
R4=13
Home=Bulldogs
H1=7
H2=0
H3=3
H4=7Senior running back David Sinisi rushed for 171 yards on 26 carries and scored twice as visiting Monmouth earned its first victory of the season defeating Bryant University 30-17 in non-conference football action Saturday before 4,107 at Bulldog Stadium.

Monmouth (1-3) got on the board first as quarterback Brett Burke found John Nalbone for a 6 yard score on the Hawks' second drive of the game. But Bryant would come right back as quarterback Jay Graber engineered a 12-play, 81 yard drive capped by a Jarrett Solimando 5 yard touchdown reception to tie the game up at 7-7 in the first. It was Bryant's longest scoring drive of the season.

A Fred Weingart 20 yard field goal and a 3 yard touchdown run by Bobby Giles in the second quarter gave the visitors a 17-7 halftime lead.

Bryant (2-2) managed to trim the lead thanks in part to a 19-yard field goal by Chris Bird, but Sinisi and the Hawks put the game away in the fourth with two quick scores, the second coming on a big defensive stop. Sinisi scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns on the day with a 2 yard run up the middle at the start of the final quarter to make it 23-10.

Looking to counter, the Bulldogs moved the ball deep into Monmouth territory thanks an impressive 10-play drive. But with the ball on the Hawks' 8 yard line, Graber was intercepted by linebacker T.J. Cerezo in the end zone for a touchback and the Bulldogs came away empty-handed.

Three plays later, Sinisi broke through for a game-clinching 70 yard touchdown run down the middle to make it 30-10 and the Hawks never looked back. Sinisi entered the game averaging 133 yards rushing .

Graber finished with 261 yards passing on the day and two touchdowns. Anthony DiNaso caught 5 passes for 70 yards while Ross Giffune and Solimando also added five catches for 45 and 42 yards receiving respectively

Wagner (Sept. 27th)

Linescore Amfootball
Road=Bulldogs
R1=7
R2=10
R3=7
R4=0
Home=Seahawks
H1=7
H2=0
H3=0
H4=7Bryant tailback Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) rushed for 143 yards on 31 carries and the Bulldog defense turned in one of its finest games of the season as the Bulldogs knocked off Wagner College 24-14 Saturday.

The win is Bryant's first over a Division I opponent in six tries and the first this season over a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (Bryant defeated DII Merrimack and Southern Connecticut earlier this year).

"We did a good job on defense today and got a couple of big plays right when we needed it," said Bryant coach Marty Fine following the game. "The defense really made some things happen and we were able to stay to our game plan and come out with a great win today."

Jay Graber completed 8 of 17 passes including a clutch 20 yard while Lindsey Gamble added 44 yards rushing in the victory.

But the story of the day was the play of the Bulldog defense that held Wagner to just 219 yards of offense - including 100 yards through three quarters - before 1,467 on a wet and dreary day at Wagner College Stadium.

Bryant overcame a pair of fumbles on punt returns in the game, but made the plays when they had to. It didn't hurt much in that Wagner's offense struggled against the Bryant defense all afternoon.

Wagner did strike first as quarterback Adam Farnsworth hit tight end Peter Zagorski with a short pass but the senior was able to break a few tackles and rumbled down the home side line for an 80-yard score. But the play was the only highlight on the day for the Seahawks who were penalized seven times in the game - including several unnecessary roughness penalties.

But the Bulldog defense, coming into the game shorthanded with several starters out of the game, stormed right back to take command of the game.

An Andre Whyte block of a Kyle Muir punt attempt was recovered by Anthony Castelli who returned it 4 yards to tie the game at 7-7.

Later in the first, free safety Bryce Martins helped set up the go-ahead score intercepting Adam Farnsworth inside the Wagner 20 yard line and returning it to the 15. One play later, Lindsey Gamble scored from four yards out to make it 14-7.

The wet conditions caused more special teams trouble for Wagner as Muir couldn't handle another snap on a punt attempt and the Bulldogs took over near midfield.

Bryant was able to drive down to the Wagner 3 yard line, aided by a beautiful pass from Graber to tight end Jarrett Solimando across the middle. But the Bulldogs couldn't get into the end zone but did come away with three points on a Chris Bird 20 yard field goal to make it 17-7.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with an efficient 8 play, 46 yard drive capped by a Graber 7 yard touchdown pass to Staten Island, N.Y. native Anthony DiNaso to make it 24-7.

Another defensive surge helped put the game away in the waning minutes. With the Seahawks driving late in the fourth, a Samad Wagstaff blitz from the blind side forced an errant pass by backup quarterback Matt Abbey as John Suarez picked off Abbey and returned the ball deep into Wagner territory.

Martins led the way with six tackles while Paul Polomski (Franklin, MA) had five tackles. Defensive end Don Smith (Attleboro, MA) had a huge day, finishing with five tackles plus two big sacks.

"It was a special day for him (Smith) today and for the entire team," added Fine.