ORONO — Albany has a blueprint for winning football games this season.
Or maybe a black-and-blueprint.
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Unleash a bruising defense that has a knack for forcing turnovers at just the right moment.
Play it safe on offense, relying on tailback Omar Osbourne’s punishing runs.
Do that for 60 minutes, exhale and look at the scoreboard.
It’s not fancy or even necessarily entertaining. But all went according to plan Saturday in a 20-7 victory over Maine before a homecoming crowd of 7,464 at Alfond Stadium.
“It’s probably one of the more ugly games I’ve ever been in,” Albany Coach Greg Gattuso said. “It just depends on what turns you on. If you love defense, you probably were pretty excited.”
Maine controlled the Great Dane offense until the final minutes. Albany (5-2, 2-2 Colonial Athletic Association) turned two fumbles into 10 points to erase an early deficit. But Will Fiacchi was 12 of 30 passing for 120 yards and was sacked five times. Osbourne needed 30 carries to get 108 yards. Patrick Toole kicked field goals of 52 and 46 yards, with the wind at his back, to give the Great Danes a 13-7 lead after three quarters.
Finally, Maine turned the ball over on downs at the Albany 39 with 7:20 remaining. The Danes went 61 yards in eight plays and sealed it on a 4-yard Fiacchi TD pass to Brian Parker.
“I think our defense played very well today, high effort,” Maine defensive tackle Patrick Ricard said after helping limit Albany to 212 yards and creating 10 tackles for losses. “We were definitely making a lot of plays.”
Albany’s defense made the two biggest plays, starting with a bizarre, momentum-altering sequence as the first quarter ended.
Maine (2-5, 1-3) had taken a 7-0 lead on its second possession when freshman quarterback Drew Belcher, making his first start, also recorded his first touchdown, a 14-yard pass to Arthur Williams along the near sideline.
Albany was preparing to punt when Maine Coach Jack Cosgrove called a timeout with three seconds left in the quarter, an attempt to make the Danes kick into the wind. The Jon Martin punt was dreadful, sailing straight into the air, then bouncing back to him at his 15, where he tried to kick it again. This is against the rules. But Maine was also called for an infraction on the play for illegal hands to the face.
After six penalty flags descended, the officials conferred for a long time, consulted both coaches and awarded Maine the ball at the Albany 45.
Gattuso joked that he had no idea why this was done.
“The ref thought I was arguing with him. I really wasn’t. I was just confused and babbling probably,” he said.
A quarter can’t end on a penalty so Maine had to run one play into the wind. The Black Bears decided to try a pass downfield, but Belcher ran instead and lost the ball. Linebacker Christian Dorsey scooped it up and ran 60 yards for the tying touchdown.
“I was dropping back and I saw the quarterback step up to run the ball and he just dropped it,” Dorsey said. “I saw it, picked it up and ran as fast as I could.”
Maine wide receiver Damarr Aultman fumbled in the second quarter, allowing Albany to take a 10-7 lead at halftime. It was the 20th turnover Albany has forced this season, tops in the nation. The Great Danes have coughed up the ball only three times.
Maine was again unable to rally, shut out in the second half for the fourth time this season.
Belcher struggled to connect on passes more than 10 yards downfield, finishing 13 of 30 for 123 yards. He also was sacked five times.
Maine did have its best rushing game of the year, picking up 169 yards, led by freshman Nigel Beckford’s 75. This came despite a patchwork offensive line that had three freshmen.
“I feel like we’re progressing a lot on the offensive line,” center Bruce Johnson said. “They’re not freshmen anymore. They’re CAA starting offensive linemen.”
Still, it added up to a third consecutive loss for Maine, which has totaled 35 points in those games. Belcher, starting in place of sophomore Dan Collins, who is out for the year after shoulder surgery, was not made available to the media after the game.
Cosgrove called his performance mixed.
“I think there were points where he played with confidence and points where he wasn’t playing with confidence, which I think is always the key to success,” Cosgrove said.
Mark Emmert can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
memmert@pressherald.com
Twitter: MarkEmmertPPH
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