Tops Fall Short in Boca Raton Against FAU, 10–6
An early Saturday evening kickoff in South Florida for the Hilltoppers wasn’t picture-perfect by all means. A thirty-five-minute weather…
An early Saturday evening kickoff in South Florida for the Hilltoppers wasn’t picture-perfect by all means. A thirty-five-minute weather delay prolonged the start time in Boca Raton as the Tops traveled to play Florida Atlantic. This was only the second meeting between both teams as Hiltopper great & former head coach Willie Taggart holds the reigns for the 2–1 Owls.
The 2–5 Tops kicked off the ball to the Owls and the game started with an FAU possession. They were also looking for their second conference win of the year in tonight’s game. After a quick 3 and out for FAU, the Tops opened the offensive drive with graduate senior Tyrell Pigrome starting at quarterback. The first drive took 16 plays with multiple third-down conversions. After Pigrome was sacked out of potential touchdown scoring range, Brayden Narveson was called upon for a 50-yard field goal attempt. The wind was the culprit as his field goal went wide right, missing the goalposts. With 3:15 left in the first quarter, the game was still tied with no score. During another punt attempt from FAU, wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley was the victim of kick catch interference, bringing the Tops into great field position after the penalty.
Going into the second quarter, the scoreless game remained under long ensuing offensive drives between the Tops & the Owls. Late in the second quarter, Tops linebacker Kyle Bailey was ejected for throwing a punch as he was accosted by a member of the Florida Atlantic offense. After review of the play in question, the call was overturned and it negated his ejection. At the end of two quarters, the game was still scoreless.
In the third quarter, the Owls drove down the field and scored on a 40-yard field goal from Vladimir Rivas. On the next drive, Pigrome was able to lead the Tops on the field on a balance of successful offensive plays. At the end of the drive, Narveson came back out for a field goal attempt. On his second try of the night, he was successful as he nailed a 32 yarder, tying the score at 3–3 late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Owls made a change at quarterback. Javion Posey was substituted in the game in favor of Trionti. The redshirt freshman quarterback/s fortune was short-lived as Kyle Bailey stepped up and intercepted the pass. This was all thanks to a topped ball from Shannon Bishop, Jr. The Tops offense turned the opportunity into another field goal attempt as Narveson was successful with a 49 yarder. The score was now 6–3 with over 8 minutes left in the game. The Owls offense finally started to warm up on the next offensive possession. They entered the red zone behind the rushing attempts of Posey and running back James Charles. BJ Emmons tried to convert the ball on third down and was quickly stopped by the Tops defense. Two plays later after a fourth-down conversion, Posey ran the ball on a quarterback keeper to take the lead late in the 4th. After the extra point attempt, the Owls now led the game 10–6 with 2:27 left. On the next possession, Pigrome went into last chance mode as he was able to make passes with little to no separation from the receiving corps. After a dropped pass from Xavier Lane on third down, the fourth down attempt didn’t make up for the mistake as it was a turnover on downs. The Owls held on to win 10–6, as the Tops fell short in what seemed to be a long, frustrating game.
Final notes from tonight’s game:
Piggy T did a good job in tonight’s contest. While he was not a high-performance quarterback, he played the role of game manager well. Especially when it comes to close games like tonight. However, this would’ve been better if the receiving corps delivered on offense. This will be a game that’ll haunt us for the rest of the 2020 campaign.
Gaej Walker had another solid performance as the halfback. This late in the season, you need a running game to keep things balanced and he did his part with the opportunity that he was given.
Up until the last few minutes of the game, the defense was the unit that we knew and loved. It was instrumental to shut down Nick Trionti’s offense in what looked like to be the best performance of the defensive unit all season. Deangelo Malone was back to his old self as he got a sack and some QB pressures. Willie Taggart’s offensive playcalling took advantage in the last moments of the game as the defense slowly tried out. This was a credit to Javion Posey as he went for 60 yards off nine rushing attempts.
John Haggerty was good as gold on his punting duties. This included some punts inside the 20-yard line, making things rough for the FAU offense in terms of field position.
Brayden Narveson was “money” for most of the night. After the first field goal miss, he was able to gain full control of the wind with his kicks. This made him the most important player in tonight's game, along with Haggerty.
The Tops dropped a heartbreaker on the road tonight. This makes the CUSA record to 1–3 as the confusing season continues for the Tops. They will return home to The Houch as they will take on Florida International next Saturday at 2:30 pm central time.
Here are the final stats from Boca Raton:
