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Knight, UNH bounce back

DURHAM – Junior quarterback Trevor Knight completed 23 of his 34 passes for a career-high 420 yards and matched a career high with three touchdown passes to lead the University of New Hampshire to a 28-14 Homecoming win over Rhode Island in front of a record home crowd of 22,135 Saturday afternoon in Wildcat Stadium.

“We were concerned about Knight because he’s like Houdini,” URI coach Jim Fleming said. “He’s a talented kid who can handle all the throws those coaches are giving him, and he was good enough to beat us today.”

O’Connor caught 11 passes for a career-high 232 yards. The 11 receptions matched his career-high.

“On offense we try to score, on defense we’re trying to stop them,” O’Connor said. “I don’t think anyone thinks about stats too much, which is good.”

Knight, an Amherst resident, also ran for a 6-yard score.

“First off the line did a much better job today protecting (than in last week’s loss to Holy Cross),” Knight said. “They took the challenge in practice. We had a great gameplan. There were guys open, so that kind of made my job easy.”

The No. 15 Wildcats bounced back from last week’s loss to Holy Cross behind a stingy defense and the efforts of Knight, junior receiver Neil O’Connor and others.

The defense came up with four turnovers, including two interceptions by sophomore cornerback Isiah Perkins. O’Connor had a career-high 232 yards in receiving yards and matched a career high with 11 catches.

UNH improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association and won its ninth straight Homecoming game. The Wildcats play Bryant University on Saturday in Wildcat Stadium at 6 p.m.

Rhode Island is now 1-3 overall and 0-2 in league play.

FIRST QUARTER

  • Knight connected with junior Rory Donovan  for a 17-yard touchdown with 6:07 left in the quarter.
  • Donovan’s catch on the left side of the end zone was originally called no catch because the officials believed he was out of bounds.
  • Upon review, it was ruled a good catch and TD.
  • Knight ran in for the two-point conversion and 8-0 UNH lead.

SECOND QUARTER

  • The Wildcats added to their lead on a Knight 6-yard scoring run with 5:56 left in the quarter. A conversion kick by senior Max Pedinoff  left the score at 15-0.
  • UNH had 276 yards of offense in the first half to URI’s 115.

THIRD QUARTER

  • Rhode Island got on the board with a Tyler Harris to Aaron Parker pass that covered 75 yards.
  • C.J. Harrick’s conversion kick made it 15-7 with 3:50 left in the period.

FOURTH QUARTER

  1. URI’s Harold Cooper scored on a 14-yard run with 12:40 left in the period.
  • Carrick kicked the conversion and UNH’s lead was down to 15-14.
  • Knight hit O’Connor for a 76-yard TD reception and Morgan Ellman  added the conversion kick for 22-14 with 11:21 left.
  • After the defense stopped URI on downs, Knight connected with sophomore Malik Love for a 24-yard TD play.
  • Knight escaped a rush to get the ball to Love, who won a foot race into the right corner of the end zone.
  • A Knight conversion pass was incomplete.

‘CAT NIPS

  • Lacey intercepted a Tyler Harris pass late in the second period.
  • It was his first pick of the season.
  • Knight’s 76-yard pass play to O’Connor was UNH’s longest since a Sean Goldrich to R.J. Harris 80-yarder against Rhode Island in 2014.
  • Knight crushed his previous high in passing yards: His previous best was 314 against James Madison last year.
  • O’Connor’s previous high in receiving yards was 192, also against James Madison.
  • O’Connor also had 11 catches earlier this year against Georgia Southern.
  • Knight had three touchdown passes last week against Holy Cross.
  • Love had four catches for 60 yards and the score.
  • Sophomore linebacker Quinlen Dean led UNH with eight tackles and forced a fumble.
  • Sophomore safety Rick Ellison and senior defensive tackle Rick Holt  each had six tackles.
  • Holt had one of UNH’s two sacks.
  • Junior defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak and redshirt freshman defensive end Brian Carter each had four tackles, including half a sack.
  • UNH had 420 yards passing. It was the first time the Wildcats were over 400 yards passing since they had 422 against Lehigh on Sept. 13, 2014.
  • The Wildcats had 472 total yards and held URI to 339 yards.
  • UNH converted 7 of its 17 third-down attempts.

TEAM STATS
Rushing: URI 22-68. UNH 41-52.
Passing: URI 24-42-3. UNH 23-34-420-1 3 TDs.
Total Offense: URI 64-339. UNH 75-472.
1st Downs: URI – 15. UNH 22.
Time of Possession: URI 25:46. UNH 34:14.
Penalties: URI 4-45. UNH 7-61.
Turnovers: URI 4. UNH 1.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: URI – Harold Cooper 10-48. UNH – Evan Gray   10-28.
Receiving: URI – Aaron Parker 4-112 1 TD. UNH – Neil O’Connor 11-232 1 TD.
Passing: URI – Tyler Harris 22-39-3-257, 1 TD. UNH – Knight 23-34-1420, 3 TDs.
Tackles: URI – Justin Hogan 4-6-10.  UNH – Quinlen Dean 5-3-8.

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