Knight, O'Connor, Stingy Defense Lead No. 15 'Cats Over URI

Saturday, September 23

Durham, N.H.

3:30 PM

University of New Hampshire

3-1 , 2-0

Rhode Island

1-3 , 0-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Rhode Island

New Hampshire

Trevor Knight ran for one touchdown and passed for a career-best 420 yards and three scores to lead UNH over URI.

Photo by: Maya Campbell

9/23/2017 3:17:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Record Crowd of 22,135 Sees UNH Improve to 3-1

DURHAM, N.H. – Junior quarterback Trevor Knight (Amherst, N.H.) 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.

Knight also ran for a 6-yard score.

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

The defense came up with four turnovers: sophomore cornerback Isiah Perkins (Williamstown, N.J.) had a pair of interceptions, sophomore safety Pop Lacey (Reading, Pa.) had an interception and senior safety D'Andre Drummond-Mayrie (Lawrence, Mass.) had a fumble recovery.

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.

COMING UP

The Wildcats stay at home to take on Bryant University next Saturday, Sept. 30, in Wildcat Stadium. Game time is 6 p.m.
Bryant evened its record at 2-2 with a 45-40 win over Fordham on Saturday. Fordham is 1-3.
UNH has Oct. 7 off and plays at Stony Brook on Oct. 14 at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats return to Wildcat Stadium to face Towson on Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. The last of five regular season home games is Nov. 11 against Elon at 2 p.m.
Individual and group tickets for all UNH home games are available by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000.

1^st QUARTER

Knight connected with junior Rory Donovan (Canton, Mass.) 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.

2^ND 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 (Newtown, Pa.) left the score at 15-0.
UNH had 276 yards of offense in the first half to URI's 115.

3^RD 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.

4^TH QUARTER

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 (Scotch Plains, N.J.) added the conversion kick for 22-14 with 11:21 left.
After the defense stopped URI on downs, Knight connected with sophomore Malik Love (Alcoa, Tenn.) 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 (Greenbelt, Md.) led UNH with eight tackles and forced a fumble.
Sophomore safety Rick Ellison (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) and senior defensive tackle Rick Holt (Portsmouth, N.H.) each had six tackles.
Holt had one of UNH's two sacks.
Junior defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak (Bethel Park, Pa.) and redshirt freshman defensive end Brian Carter (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) 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.
1^st 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.