Duquesne crushes La Salle, 38-0

By Adam Bagni
Collegian Staff
November 8, 2006

It’s the one title that La Salle and its fans would never want to play for.

Senior Lou Russo runs with the ball in last week's game against Husson - Mike Dao

Unfortunately, they don’t have a choice.

The La Salle football team’s 38-0 loss to Duquesne (7-3, 3-1) Saturday assures that they will play St. Peter’s College in their season finale in a battle to avoid the unofficial title of “Worst Team in America.”

The Peacocks’ 30-15 upset of Iona last weekend bumped them up one spot from the country’s worst Division I ranking of 241. The Explorers took their fellow MAAC member’s place in the cellar, according to USA Today’s latest Sagarin college football standings, published Tuesday.

As for the game, the Explorers (2-7, 0-3) committed six turnovers on the road to another frustrating loss. With junior Joe Procopio sidelined again, sophomore quarterback Chris Hanson threw four interceptions. Hanson completed just 14 of his 31 pass attempts for a meager 109 yards. La Salle also gave up four sacks on the day.

La Salle’s pass defense, which has been among the best in Division I-AA all season, was torched on four long touchdown passes by Duquesne quarterback Scott Knapp. In the first quarter, Knapp connected with Conrad Carter for a 56-yard touchdown pass, as well as Bruce Hocker for a 23-yard strike.

On the second play of the second quarter, Duquesne’s Dan Spriggs fumbled La Salle’s 4th-down punt. The Explorers recovered at the Duquesne 17-yard line, but senior Josh Brumfield fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, turning the ball back over to Duquesne. The Dukes proceeded to march 80 yards down the field on 11 plays, and the drive was capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Knapp to Carter.

Now down 21-0, the Explorers tried to answer the long drive with one of their own. But after moving the ball 63 yards down to the Duquesne six-yard line, Hanson threw an interception to Duquesne’s Greg Hough. The linebacker returned the interception 98 yards for a touchdown – a Duquesne University school record.

Hanson threw another interception two plays later, this time to Kyle Postell. Three plays after that, Duquesne tacked on another touchdown throw from Knapp. Spriggs atoned for his earlier fumble with a 25-yard catch that made the score 35-0 at halftime.

With the win, Duquesne clinched a share of the MAAC Football League title. They will split the crown with the winner of this Saturday’s Iona-Marist game. Duquesne is rumored to be moving to the Pioneer League or NEC as soon as next season.

The game also marked the final home contest for numerous La Salle seniors, many of whom removed their helmets and saluted the fans at the game’s conclusion.

Kick-off against St. Peter’s will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cochrane Stadium in Jersey City, N.J.

bagnia1@lasalle.edu