The Towson University football program is on the rise.
A move to the Atlantic 10 Conference has boosted the Tigers in the regional prospect hunt, and that influx of talent has moved Towson up the ladder in terms of the top programs in the state of Maryland.
On Saturday, key offensive injuries did not deter Towson from a 30-2 runaway victory over cross-town rival Morgan State in the Battle of Baltimore season opener at Unitas Stadium. Depth played a vital role for Towson coach Gordy Combs? squad.
“[Combs] has definitely, with scholarships, increased his team speed,” said Morgan State coach Donald Hill-Eley. “Especially on the outside.”
Defensively, the Tigers (1-0) kept Morgan State (0-1) from the red zone all game and forced turnovers whenever the Bears entered Towson territory.
“It just seemed like every time we got to the 50 [-yard line] it was a turnover,” Hill-Eley said.
The 28-point win was the widest margin of victory in the series since Towson?s 42-7 win in 1994.
“Anytime you play Towson?s defense, you know we have speed,” said Tigers? senior linebacker Marcus Edwards, who recorded nine tackles and two sacks. “We have all 11 guys running to the ball, so you might cut back, but you might cut back into somebody else.”
Towson?s running game could not get things going against Morgan State?s defense. Without junior starter Nick Williams, the Tigers defense sputtered to 84 yards on the ground. But fill-in starter Rasheed McClaude, a junior, caught a pair of screen passes for a total of 101 yards through the air.
“The line, they did a wonderful job blocking out there,” McClaude said. “I tried to take it the distance, but that happens sometimes.”
Sophomore quarterback Sean Schaefer was 13 for 22 for 262 yards and one touchdown.
Aside from Williams, Towson was without preseason all-conference wide receiver Andrae Brown (broken hand) and starting tight end Ryan Collins (sickness).
“I think that we wanted to overcome our three losses on offense,” Combs said. “I think our football team rose to that occasion.”
It may not be as easy next weekend, when Towson travels to North Carolina to battle non-conference foe Elon, with Williams again expected to miss the action.
“I doubt that Nick?s going to be back,” Combs said. “I guess we?ll know more this week on all three of them as we go through practice. I know the preliminary report we got late last week [said] Nick will not go in the Elon game.”
Regardless, Combs looks for improvement out of his team after the first week?s “feeling-out” process has commenced.
“They always say you improve the most from your first to second game, and I hope we can do that next week against Elon,” Combs said.
INSIDE THE GAME
» Towson visits Elon at 6 p.m. Saturday, while Morgan State visits Monmouth at 1 p.m.
» Schaefer ran for a pair of touchdowns despite missing practice time recently with an ankle injury.
» Combs said Schaefer “has the authority to change” the play call if he sees the defense stacking too many players near the line of scrimmage.
