Football Falls in ECAC Bowl
Championship, 16-7
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (11/22/08) - The Kean
University football team closed out the 2008 season falling to
Delaware Valley College, 16-7, in the Eastern College Athletic
Conference South Atlantic Bowl Championship on a blustery Saturday
afternoon.
Senior Durell Dukes (Elizabeth, N.J.) closed
out his record-setting career with three more program marks,
as he finished with seven catches for 93 yards and one touchdown,
breaking the single season and career records for receiving yards
and tying the single season touchdown reception record.
For Delaware Valley, senior defensive back Anthony Byers
(Lansdale, Pa.) earned ECAC Most Outstanding Player honors
after making three interceptions and finishing with a team-high
seven tackles in the win.
Turnovers proved costly for the Cougars, as Kean turned the ball
over five times on the afternoon, including twice in the fourth
quarter deep in Aggie territory.
Playing into the wind in the first quarter, the Cougars were
forced to punt on each of their four first quarter possessions.
Delaware Valley got on the board late in the first quarter, as
the Aggies capitalized on a fourth and long conversion with a
21-yard completion from Isgro to junior Chad Peterman
(Hatboro, Pa.) to set-up first and goal at the 10-yard
line. After an eight-yard rush by sophomore Matt Cook
(Selinsgrove, Pa.), Cook took the ball again and scored on the
two-yard run for the 7-0 lead after the extra point.
The Cougar defense prevented Delaware Valley from extending the
lead in the second quarter, holding the Aggies on fourth down on
one drive and intercepting a pass inside the 20-yard line on
another drive.
After a Cougar punt, Delaware Valley took over at its own
three-yard line and marched downfield to the Kean seven-yard
line. On the 16th play of the eight minute drive,
the Cougars held Delaware Valley on fourth and one to take over on
downs with just 2:41 remaining in the half.
On the ensuing drive, the Cougars got unlucky when D'Ambrisi was
intercepted by Byers when Dukes, the intended receiver, slipped and
fell to the ground.
The Aggies took over with 1:05 remaining in the half at the Kean
13-yard line after the 25-yard return by Byers. On the third
play of the drive, Kean junior defensive end Darnell Butler
(Rahway, N.J.) picked off Isgro and returned the ball to
Kean's 38-yard line with just 16 seconds left on the clock in the
half to head into the half trailing just 7-0. 
After a Delaware Valley field goal extended the lead to 10-0
with the only points of the third quarter, the Cougars got on the
board on the first play of the fourth quarter when D'Ambrisi
connected with Dukes (pictured right) on a 21-yard touchdown pass
in the endzone. With the catch, Dukes tied Anthony
Robinson (1994) for the single season record with his
11th touchdown reception of the season.
On the eight-play, 61-yard drive that spanned three and a half
minutes of the third and fourth quarters, D'Ambrisi completed
4-of-5 passes for 60 yards, including three to Dukes for a total of
50 yards.
The Aggies extended the lead to nine points on their next
possession, taking advantage of a Cougar penalty and a big fourth
down conversion. The Cougars looked as if they had forced the
Aggies to punt after pressuring Isgro to throw the ball away on
third down, but Kean was penalized for the late hit on the
quarterback to move the ball into Cougar territory and keep the
drive alive.
On the same drive, the Aggies converted a fourth-and-four when
Isgro connected with senior Matt Mariano (East Brunswick,
N.J.) for the 20-yard completion along the Kean sideline to
give the Aggies a first down at the KU-15. Cook went the
final 15 yards for the Aggies, first carrying the ball seven yards
before scoring on the eight-yard run with 8:40 remaining in the
game for the 16-7 lead after the extra point attempt was missed.
Sophomore Louis Haynes (Tinton Falls, N.J.)
returned the kickoff 33 yards into Aggie territory to give the
Cougars good field position on the ensuing drive. D'Ambrisi
completed a 16-yard pass to senior James Felton
(Plainfield, N.J.) on the first play of the drive and the
Cougars eventually earned a fresh set of downs after Haynes caught
a 14-yard pass from D'Ambrisi to move the Cougars inside the
red-zone to the Aggie 16-yard line.
On the next play however, D'Ambrisi was sacked for just the
fifth time of the season, as sophomore Kyle Gesswein
(Williamstown, N.J.) sacked him from behind and forced the
fumble that was recovered by Aggie defensive lineman Dustyn
Seifert (Quakertown, Pa.) to end the Cougar threat.
The Cougars got the ball back after forcing Delaware Valley to
punt after three plays, and Kean again was in good field position
after Dukes returned the ball into Aggie territory with an 11-yard
return to the 39-yard line. Unfortunately, Byers again
intercepted D'Ambrisi at the eight-yard line three plays later to
essentially seal the Aggie victory.
Delaware Valley kept the clock moving on the ensuing possession,
keeping the ball on the ground before being forced to punt with 26
seconds remaining. The Cougars got the ball to midfield,
before D'Ambrisi's pass to Dukes fell incomplete as time expired to
end the 2008 season.
Dukes fell 15 yards shy of becoming the first player in program
history to finish with 1,000 receiving yards, as he finished the
year with school-records of 68 receptions, 985 receiving yards and
14 total touchdowns scored. In just three seasons in a
Kean uniform, Dukes closed out his career with a program-mark 2,684
receiving yards, breaking the record of 2,659 held by Kevin
McGuirl (1985-88).
D'Ambrisi completed 19-of-34 passes for 210 yards and one
touchdown in his first season under center. The 2008 New
Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year ended the season with
2,054 yards and 17 touchdowns, the third highest totals in single
season history.
On the ground, NJAC Offensive Player of the Year Jared
Chunn (Tinton Falls, N.J.) carried the ball just 12 times
and finished with 30 yards, increasing his own single-season
rushing record to 1,405 rushing yards.
Defensively, the Cougars held Isgro, the Middle Atlantic
Conference Offensive Player of the Year, to just 134 yards passing,
as he completed 10-of-22 passes.
Butler (pictured left) finished with a team-high 10 tackles with
the one interception for Kean , while senior Maurice
Ginyard (Cape May Courthouse, N.J.) had a career-high
eight tackles, including six solo stops.
For the Aggies, Cook carried the offense with 154 rushing yards
on 37 attempts, while Byers led the defense with the seven tackles
and tied the school-record with his three picks.
In a twist of irony, the two teams had never met prior to
today's game. However, they had already agreed to battle in
week two of the 2009 season, as the Cougars host Delaware 
Valley in their season-opener on September 12, 2009.
Today's game was also the final game in the careers of the
team's 12 seniors, Matt Ali, Markal Ginyard, James Felton,
Durell Dukes, George Williams, Maurice Ginyard, Tony Olamiju, Jake
Pew, Chris Gould, Andrew DuPoux, Matt Dempsey and Rodney
Holliday, as they posted three straight non-losing seasons
for just the second time in school history and became the first
class to advance to two ECAC Bowl Championships.
