BUFFALO, N.Y.—Buffalo State scored early and often and its defense set a school record limiting visiting Finlandia to just 24 yards of total offense en route to a 62-0 non-conference victory today at Coyer Field.
THE BASICSFINAL SCORE: Buffalo State – 62, Finlandia - 0
LOCATION: Coyer Field, Buffalo, N.Y.
RECORDS: Buffalo State (4-2), Finlandia (1-6)
INSIDE THE BENGAL BOX SCORE- Buffalo State piled up 335 rushing yards, led by Antoine Holloman (Brooklyn/Abraham Lincoln) who had 99 on nine carries with a touchdown. Tre Jones (Rochester/Greece-Athena) finished with 94 yards on seven attempts with two scores, and Dale Stewart (Niagara Falls/Niagara Falls) had four carries for 59 yards and a touchdown.
- Aaron Ertel (Depew/Depew) started under center for the Bengals, finishing 5 for 10 for 147 yards and an interception. Three other quarterbacks saw action.
- Rey Jordan (Buffalo/McKinley) became the first player in school history to return two interceptions for a touchdown in the same game, taking picks 42 and 27 yards to the end zone.
- Andrew Cleveland (Rensselaer/Columbia) and Marquis Artis (Amherst/Amherst) recorded five tackles and two sacks each to lead a Bengals defense that finished with 16 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
HOW IT HAPPENED- Buffalo State raced out to a 35-0 despite turning the ball over three times in the first half. The Bengals outgained the Lions 353-12 in the opening 30 minutes.
- The Bengals finished with 552 yards of total offense, compared to 24 by Finlandia, which included minus-32 rushing yards thanks in large part to eight sacks.
- Jones scored the Bengals' first two touchdowns on first-quarter running plays of 2 and 69 yards.
- Stewart opened the second quarter with a 3-yard scoring run and just 17 seconds later, Jordan grabbed his third interception of the season and returned it 42 yards to the house to push the advantage to 28-0.
- Senior fullback Jesse Williams (Newfane/Newfane) registered his first career rushing touchdown on his first carry of the season from 1 yard to complete the first-half scoring.
- The Bengals continued to pour it on in the second half with Holloman's second touchdown of the season from 19 yards out.
- Jordan found the end zone for the second time with his fourth pick of the season, this time returning it 27 yards for the score.
- A pair of Marc Montana (E. Amherst/St. Joe's) field goals from 19 and 26 yards, and a 13-yard touchdown run by converted tight end to fullback Eric Schiffman (Wantagh/Wantagh) completed the scoring in the fourth quarter.
FOR THE FOES- Quarterback Ronald Brown finished 7 of 23 for 56 yards with two interceptions and was sacked eight times.
- Matt Schultz had 17 carries for 22 yards, and Tyler Kangas had three catches for 53 yards.
- Mitch Messing led the Lions' defense with a game-high 11 tackles.
NOTEWORTHY- Buffalo State recorded two shutouts in a season for just the second time in school history. The first was in 1995 when the Bengals blanked Thiel, 46-0, and Canisius, 31-0.
- Buffalo State's defense set new school single game records allowing just 24 yards of total offense and minus 32 rushing yards.
- The Bengals' six rushing touchdowns in a single game matched a school record.
- Jordan became the first player in Buffalo State history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a single game.
UP NEXTBuffalo State will play the first of two-straight road conference games next Saturday when it visits Utica for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
