Tigers Offense Falls Flat Against Blue Hens
The Towson Tigers traveled to Delaware for a bout with the number 6 ranked Blue Hens this past Saturday. The Tigers defense came to play, but the offense again fell flat and the Hens emerged with a hard fought 24-10 victory. The Defense managed to hold the Blue Hens to no points in the first 20 minutes of the game. They forced two turnovers on downs and scored more points than the offense did with an 97 yard INT return. Robert Javier intercepted the pass and took it 97 yards to the house to make the score 24-10 in favor of Delaware. The Tigers did at one point have the lead in the second on a field goal by Keegan Vaughan.
Pigrom turned in another performance he would like to forget. He completed 9-23 passes for 62 yards and an INT. He also ran for 46 yards on 11 carries. Joachim Bangda out touched Pigrome by one carry and the Tigers had 119 rushing yards combined. The Tigers offense has been struggling hard all year and this is by far one of their worst performances on the year. The Tigers just cannot seem to get any rhythm going and the offense seems to be stuck in mud. Whether the problem is Pigrome or the play calling or the personnel, something has to change in order for them to be successful.
With the defense, there was some good and some bad. Once the Hens got rolling, they started to gash the Towson defense. Delaware QB Nolan Henderson completed 25-41 for 368 yards and 2 touchdowns and 9 carries for 7 yards. Aside from the INT, he was on it and made it tough for the Tigers. The defense was able to keep Thyrick Pitts in check, but Chandler Harvin had a huge day for the Blue Hens. He caught 3 balls for 105 yards and a touchdown and really deflated the Tigers defense. Kyron Cumby ran the ball 15 times and rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown came on a 64 yard scamper in the second quarter. All 3 phases of the offense clicked for the Hens and Towson was not able to recover from it.
Towson was outgained by 375 yards and had 21 fewer first downs than Delaware. Towson has to do something to fix the offense and do it now. The Tigers now get a matchup with the Elon Phenix’s who currently sit at an impressive 4-1. Their only loss came to Vanderbilt and since then they’ve rattled off 4 straight wins. Their last win comes over a ranked Richmond team 30-27. Matthew McKay leads their offense and has been impressive so far this year. He has over 1300 yards passing along with 12 touchdowns, but the key is only 1 INT. Jalen Hampton is their workhorse in the backfield and has 4 touchdowns on 89 attempts for 439 yards. Bryson Daughtry paces the receiving corps in receiving yards and Jackson Parharm leads them in receiving touchdowns.
The Tigers defense will need to watch out for these guys all day long and keep them in check. Elon’s defense has racked up 11 sacks, and 2 INT’s and 6 fumble recoveries. Marcus Hillman leads their defense in total tackles with 38, 2.5 sacks, and 8 tackles for loss on the year. The offense will look to keep far away from him or he’ll make it a long day for them. This game is a must win for the Tigers if they are going to turn their season around. GO TIGERS.
