ORONO — Albany burst the 2010 University of Maine Black Bears’ bubble almost immediately with a 3-0 win in Maine’s home opener.
The Black Bears might want to consider inviting other guests to start the season, because the Great Danes returned with plenty of sharp objects to take the air out of yet another home debut on Saturday.
Three Sean Kenny field goals in the first half gave Albany the lead before Maine’s offense finally started finishing off its drives into enemy territory in the second half. Then Maine’s defense couldn’t tighten the screws and gave up three second-half touchdowns as Albany pulled away for a 30-20 victory before 7,101 at misty and foggy Alfond Stadium.
Albany, the defending Northeast Conference co-champions, improved to 3-1. The Great Danes have beaten the Black Bears in three of their last five meetings.
Maine, which came into the game ranked 22nd in the FCS Coaches Poll, dropped to 1-2.
“They were the better football team tonight. Coached better. Played better. All that stuff,” Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said. “We played very well defensively, I thought, in the first half, and not very well offensively. Then it kind of switched roles in the second half.”
“Talent-wise, we compete with the best of them, and we came in here and proved it,” said Albany senior running back Drew Smith (18 carries, 114 yards, two TD).
Maine outgained Albany, 399-379, but the Black Bears ran out of gas too frequently when they crossed midfield. Ricky Stevens, starting at tailback in place of David Hood, rushed for 83 yards on 20 carries and QB Marcus Wasilewski threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns. But too often they found a way to sabotage themselves.
“It was a combination of everything,” Wasilewski said. “Penalties are one of those things that shoot you in the foot when you get a good drive going. But I think execution-wise, we were lacking at times. The combination off those two really didn’t help us.”
Albany tried to help Maine in the early stages. Jamal Clay recovered an Albany fumble at the Danes’ 42 early in the first quarter. Making its second push into Albany territory, the offense stalled at the 15 after a bobbled snap and Brian Harvey’s 31-yard field did goal attempt was blocked.
Kenny’s 44-yard field goal broke the ice with 10:45 left in the second quarter. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Maine’s Michael Kolokowski gave the Danes’ next drive a head start, culminating in Kenny’s 39-yard field goal that made it 6-0 Albany with 6:12 left in the half.
“We were undisciplined,” said Cosgrove, whose team committed nine penalties for 95 yards. “Probably half of our penalties were from fifth-year seniors.”
Maine made two more forays into Albany territory in the first half only to come up empty handed again and again. A 33-yard pass from Wasilewski (23 for 36, 264 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) to Damarr Aultman moved the Black Bears to the Danes’ 33, but they stalled again after two incompletions and a short Wasilewski run led to a pooch punt by the quarterback.
The defense maintained the field position by forcing a quick three-and-out, but the offense couldn’t do anything with its excellent starting point at Albany’s 48. Justinian Mason intercepted Wasilewski at the 25, and, with the help of Maine’s second key uneccesary roughness penalty of the half, Albany burned the remaining 3:30 off the clock while setting up Kenny’s third field goal, a 25-yarder, at the horn.
The starts and stops of the first half gave way to punch-counterpunch to start the second half. Maine took the opening kickoff 69 yards on 10 plays to pull within 9-7 when Wasilewski found a wide open Aultman in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown.
The celebration was short-lived for the home crowd. Kevin Chillis took an inside handoff around the right end untouched and outraced the Maine defense 74 yards down the sideline to paydirt and a 16-7 lead.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” Ford said. “(Chillis) has got pretty good speed but he was up againt their kids out of the secondary, so I thought it’d be a foot race. I didn’t know Kevin could leg it that hard but he did.”
“They ran (the same play) the first play off the game,” said Maine senior linebacker Donte Dennis, referring to a 14-yard end around to start the game. “We just weren’t ready for it at that point (in the second half).”
The Black Bears didn’t have the big play in their arsenal and had to grind out the rest of their drives. Starting at their own 18, they mixed the run and pass to drive down to the Albany 14. The Great Danes were not able to get a hand on Harvey’s second 31-yard field goal attempt, despite being flagged for offsides, and Maine pulled to within 16-10 with 4:16 left in the third.
Darlos James’ pass interference penalty negated his own interception in the end zone and pushed Albany into position to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. On first and goal at the Maine 9, Smith hurdled a Maine defender and pounded into the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 23-10 lead.
“To be honest, it was us in the second half,” said Dennis. “We made too many mistakes on defense and we just can’t do that.”
Maine drove to the Albany 3 on its ensuing possession only to run into a brick wall via three straight runs. Harvey converted a 30-yard field goal to make it 23-13 with 11:53 left, but Maine wouldn’t get any closer.
Smith delivered the knockout punch with a 27-yard TD run up the middle on 4th and 2 with 5:48 remaining. Wasilewski and Derrick Johnson hooked up on a four-yard TD pass for window dressing.
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