Towson?s football team proved it is the best team in Baltimore with a 28-21 victory over crosstown rival Morgan State last week, but the Tigers face a much tougher task Saturday: showing they should be considered among the best teams in their conference.
Towson (2-0) travels to Amherst, Mass., to take on defending Colonial Athletic Association champion and third-ranked UMass (2-0), which returns 12 starters from last year?s team that went to the Division I-AA national championship game. The Minutemen have scored at least 35 points in both their games, including a 35-17 victory over Colgate last week.
However, Towson will have to play much better than it against Morgan State (1-1) if wants to leave Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium victorious.
“All summer long we talk about keeping our poise,” senior co-captain and safety Kenny Scott said. “When we needed to make plays [tonight] we did, but going into next week we have to be more consistent.”
In the victory over the Bears, the Tigers turned the ball over four times?twice on downs?committed 11 penalties for 90 yards and were victimized by several bad snaps, with one leading to a botched punt attempt and another resulting in a game-tying safety.
Even standout quarterback Sean Schaefer had his share of misfires. Despite throwing for four touchdowns, he completed only 20-of-40 passes for 213 yards with 2 interceptions.
“[Mistakes] are part of the game,” Schaefer said. “I don?t always make the right reads. We can?t get mad, its just part of the game. I never had a doubt we were not going to lose, and it will help us out in the long run being in tight games like this.”
Towson yielded 246 rushing yards, but other than Chad Simpson?s 56-yard touchdown run, the Tigers stopped the Bears when it mattered most.
“Our defense is night and day from last year,” Scott said. “Last year we might have given up more points, but tonight when we needed to fight, we fought.”
The biggest positive Towson can take from its victories is the number of Tigers who received playing time.
Against Morgan State, 17 players saw action on defense, and the offensive rotation utilized 10 linemen, 3 running backs and 3 tight ends, Towson coach Gordy Combs said.
“We had a lot of adversity out there,” Combs said. “And we could have packed it in a couple times. But we fought through it.”
