“Heroes’ Triumph: Towson Dominates Hampton in Game Day Celebration”
By: Jackson Palich, Staff Writer and Jonathan Totten, Contributing Writer
The Towson Tigers displayed brilliant football against Hampton on Saturday en route to a 27-10 win. An important game, the win answered alarming concerns surrounding Towson’s ball security. In addition, the win was a treat to Tigers fans at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Hometown Heroes Day.
The Tigers got off to potentially the least ideal start, with a four-yard loss on a dump-off immediately followed by a Zay Perkins fumble. Even with the Pirates starting on Towson’s 31-yard line, the defense responded accordingly, forcing a turnover of its own. Defensive Back Shafeek Smith broke up their fourth and fifth attempts, picking up the offense’s slack.
After the fumble, quarterback Sean Brown took a role as a leader, instilling his confidence in not only Zay Perkins, but in the whole team.
“Things happen, you know. Fumbles happen.” Brown stated. “Hampton made a great play on the ball, and now it’s to the best of our ability to come back and get ready for the next drive. We know we’re gonna be back out there on the field, so we got past it, forgot about it, and moved on, and I told Zay that we’re coming back to him no matter what.”
Towson capitalized off a five-yard penalty that was tacked on to the return after a Hampton illegal formation. They’d set themselves up for a score behind a 33-yard pass from Sean Brown to Jaceon Doss, which led to a 10-yard rushing touchdown for Sean Brown on the next play. His first career rushing touchdown would get the Tigers on the board, up 7-0.
The Tigers defense would retain momentum, quickly getting the ball right back off their second turnover of the quarter, this one via a Myles Brodie interception. Towson would go on to score off the short field, with Brown hitting TE Carter Runyon for the eight-yard score. Towson’s defense/special teams would continue to set the offense up for success, deflecting a punt leading to a short-field opportunity. Up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and threatening another score, Towson responded to the early turnover about as well as possible.
Towson’s drive would go on to stall at the three-yard line and they’d settle for a field goal, extending their lead to 17-0. The Tigers would get the ball back quickly, but a promising drive was halted by a rough Sean Brown interception. Towson would respond with an interception of their own though, set up by a Kam Snell deflection that fell into the hands of Daniel Raymond, who then rushed 62 yards down the sideline and launched himself across the goal-line, putting Towson up 24-0.
“Every day.” Raymond responded emphatically when asked about how often the team works on tip drills. “We’re always working some sort of ball disruption, or you know just the way to put ourselves in the best position. When you come to college and you’re D1, everyone is athletic. But for those who work on the little things that don’t happen as often, they become habitual. Coach Dulin and Coach Shinnick make it a part of our daily process, every day in practice.”
Towson would go on to force another turnover on downs on Hampton’s next possession and took over with 23 seconds left. While most teams would’ve taken the conservative route up 24, Brown came out firing and hit John Dunmore on a 40-yard strike. They’d get further into field goal range due to a Hampton roughing the passer, and Vaughn would convert the 32-yard field goal, extending their lead to an emphatic 27-0.
Towson finished the half with 187 passing yards in 26 plays, illustrating how explosive their offense can be. Their defense accounted for 4 first-half turnovers, finally breaking out as a unit that was coming off a lackluster performance in Richmond the week prior. The Tigers dominated on both sides of the ball, which was a much-needed sight for the Tiger faithful.
“[Hampton] had scored I think 140 points in the last three games. They were getting after it”, Coach Shinnick asserted. “Really proud of what our guys were able to do. To hold them to ten, and really to hold them when we had the short fields to minimal points. Great, great job by our defense.”
Hampton began the half with intensity, running the ball through Towson’s defense in an attempt to get points on the board. Towson, however, slowed up their offense at the tail end of the 10-minute drive, forcing them to settle for a 20-yard field goal to make the score 27-3. After breaking the ice, teams would trade punts, capping off a less exciting third quarter. Towson remained up 24 with 15 minutes to go.
“As a coach you’re always doing the math”, Coach Shinnick stated when asked about Hampton’s long drives in the second half. “It took nine minutes to score and they got three points. That isn’t bad for us.”
Coach Shinnick had this to add while addressing the strategy for Hampton’s offense in the second half. “Then they went on another long drive and it was like okay, they’re not getting anything. We forced a couple of punts in there so you feel good about it.”
Hampton forced a fumble to put the offense on the three-yard line, but a series of great Towson defensive efforts leveraged a 22-yard PAT attempt, which doinked off the left upright. They would tack on their first and only touchdown of the game on a 12-play, 86-yard drive, but that would prove to be too little too late, with Towson taking home the victory, 27-10.
Towson is currently 5-5 and will face NC A&T here at Unitas stadium. Kickoff is set for Nov. 16 at 12 p.m.
