Rowan DuBois | staff writer

Duquesne’s offensive struggles continued in its second consecutive loss on Saturday, falling to Long Island 29-11.

“Not a good day for the Dukes,” Duquesne Head Coach Jerry Schmitt said. “A lot of mistakes, technical mistakes that could have kept us in that football game. We did a lot of good things, but [there were] too many things that we let them get away with.”

The result significantly hurts the Dukes’ chances of winning the NEC and making the postseason, as they now must beat Central Connecticut State and rely on another Blue Devils loss in their final game.

After a bye week in which the Dukes had time to recoup after a surprise 24-13 loss to Wagner, they were hoping this week’s matchup would go differently.

“It was kind of like a repeat of Wagner,” wide receiver Joey Isabella said. “We just let ourselves go. It wasn’t like they beat us, we just made so many mistakes. The game just got out of hand eventually in the second half.”

Offensive miscues started almost immediately for the Dukes with a turnover on the first drive. Quarterback Tyler Riddell looked to find wide receiver BJ Alexander, who slipped, allowing an LIU defender to easily corral the ball for an interception.

Soon after, the Sharks got on the scoresheet as quarterback Ethan Greenwood kept the ball for a 20-yard touchdown run on a read option play. The Sharks went for two and converted, giving them an early 8-0 lead.

It appeared the Dukes were going to respond with a touchdown of their own as running back Ness Davis carried the ball down the field on a nine-minute, 73-yard drive. The Dukes were unable to punch it in, settling for a Matt Clark field goal on fourth down from the LIU 2-yard line.

“We had two plays there where we should’ve scored but didn’t,” Isabella said. “If we score a touchdown there, the momentum is in our favor, but instead we get a field goal, and it was a little bit deflating.”

Early in the second quarter, the Duquesne defense made a play of its own, as defensive back Dallas Harper took advantage of an underthrown pass. The pick came to nothing though, and the Dukes offense continued to stall against the stifling LIU defense.

A Greenwood touchdown pass for the Sharks and a Clark missed field goal for the Dukes gave LIU a 15-3 lead at halftime.

After getting a quick stop to start the second half, the Dukes received the ball back with a chance to bring the game back within a score. However, in a play that summed up Duquesne’s passing attack on the day, Riddell was picked off for a second time, this time by Trey Watkins. Watkins took it back 30 yards for his first pick-six and fifth interception this year.

With the pass game not firing throughout the contest, the Duquesne offense became predictably reliant on its run game.

“They were defending our pass, and they did a pretty good job at it,” said Schmitt. “I thought we were effective at running the ball, but we had to get it down the field a little bit, and we weren’t able to do that.”

On the following drive, the Dukes were held on fourth down as Riddell tried to find Isabella. The Sharks then put up another impressive drive ending in a 9-yard Greenwood touchdown pass.

Greenwood finished the day with a game-high 122 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also tacked on 97 rushing yards on 16 attempts.

“When you have one quarterback that can run, that’s always trouble containing,” Schmitt said. “They had two quarterbacks that could run, and when you factor that with a pretty darn good running back, we knew that was going to be a challenge.”

Attempting to surmount an improbable 29-3 fourth-quarter comeback, Riddell capped off an early drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Johnson. The Dukes would convert the two-point conversion, making the score 29-11, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough to catch the Sharks.

Despite outrushing the Sharks by 10 yards, and despite Ness Davis’ game-high 101 rushing yards, the Dukes had no answer for the LIU defense. Riddell finished with a meager 119 yards on 31 attempts.

Isabella, who’s been a standout for the Dukes this season, and led the FCS in touchdowns prior to the game, saw his five-game touchdown streak come to an end. The Sharks held him to just three catches for 23 yards.

“We move on pretty quick from wins and losses,” Isabella said. “We approach every week as a new week, and now we have an opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the conference and try to beat them.”

Rowan DuBois can be reached at duboisr1@duq.edu