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Bulls Fall In Shootout To Toledo, 56-29

Senior kicker Dallas Pelz hits a single-game UB record five field goals

TOLEDO, OH - Staggering offensive numbers were the story on Saturday night at Toledo's Glass Bowl. However, the Toledo Rockets outgunned the University at Buffalo and walked away with a 56-29 Mid-American Conference victory.

Bulls' senior kicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) had a banner night, connecting on a UB single-game record five-for-five on field goals. Quarterback
Photo of Randall Secky
Randall Secky
Randall Secky (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) also posted impressive numbers, completing 23-of-35 passes for 254 yards. Secky started in place of P.J. Piskorik (Swoyersville, PA/Wyoming Valley West), who missed the game because of a shoulder injury.

"I thought our kids played tremendously hard all-around," said Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher. "We faced what really has been the standard in the West Division (of the MAC). Toledo certainly looked like it tonight - there's a lot of firepower on that team. Our guys never backed down, we did struggle at times with some of the matchups, but our kids fought tremendously against an excellent football team."

Buffalo opened the scoring just over three minutes into the game on a 50-yard field goal by Pelz. The kick moved Pelz atop UB's all-time career field goals made list with 33.

The Rockets responded to the Pelz kick however, driving 85 yards in less than two minutes to take the lead. A 21-yard pass from Bruce Gradkowski to Steve Odom capped off the drive and put Toledo ahead, 7-3.

Gradkowski would finish the game with a school-record six touchdown passes, along with going 23-for-25 with 435 yards passing.

UB then put together a mammoth, 15-play, 80-yard drive to regain the lead. Redshirt freshman
Photo of Jared Patterson
Jared Patterson
Jared Patterson (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere) scored his first career touchdown on a six-yard run, which gave UB a 10-7 lead with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter.

It only took 1:11 for Toledo to jump back in front however, as Gradkowski hit Lance Moore with a nine-yard touchdown pass. The Rockets - who took a 14-10 lead - would retain that lead for the remainder of the game.

Buffalo did tighten the score on its next drive, pulling to within one point on a 44-yard Pelz field goal early in the second quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Ryan Sherwood-Ericsson (Erie, PA/McDowell) made an excellent special teams play, tackling the returner at the Toledo 12-yard line. The Rockets though, then put together another sub-two minute touchdown drive. Gradkowski hit Lance Moore with a 43-yard touchdown pass, which extended the Toledo lead to 21-13.

After the Rockets' defense forced the first punt of the evening, their offense then compiled another touchdown drive of less than two minutes. Gradkowski capped it off with a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josh Powell, giving Toledo a 28-13 lead with 6:07 remaining in the second quarter.

On UB's next possession, Pelz hit a 42-yard field goal to pull Buffalo back to within 12 points. The following kickoff was mishandled by Toledo and J.J. Gibson (Buffalo, NY/Sweet Home) recovered it for UB at the Rockets' 27-yard line. Pelz would convert that turnover into three more points with a 47-yard kick - his fourth field goal of the evening - cutting the Toledo lead to 28-19 with 2:54 left in the first half.

The Rockets then posted another quick strike on a 66-yard pass from Gradkowski to Odom. The two-play, 82-yard drive took only 28 seconds - Toledo's fifth straight drive resulting in a touchdown in less than two minutes.

Buffalo continued to fight back though, going 58 yards in four plays to score another touchdown and diminish the Rockets' lead to 35-26 at intermission. The big play was a 35-yard pass from Secky to tight end
Photo of Brian Miller
Brian Miller
Brian Miller (Santa Clarita, CA/Valencia). Patterson completed the drive with a seven-yard run - his second touchdown of the evening.

Toledo marched 72 yards on its opening drive of the second half, as a Trinity Dawson one-yard touchdown run expanded the Rockets lead back to 16 points.

Pelz then knocked the UB deficit back to 42-29 with his school-record fifth field goal of the night, which came from 39 yards out with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Near the tail end of the third quarter however, Gradkowski hit Moore with a 50-yard touchdown pass. That gave the Rockets a 49-29 lead.

Astin Martin capped off the game's scoring with a six-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

With just over one minute remaining in the game, Gemara Williams (Oak Park, MI/Brother Rice, MI) intercepted his first pass on the season and second of his career.

Secky led the UB offense by completing 23-of-35 passes for 254 yards with flanker Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) serving as his favorite target. Knueven had a career-best eight receptions for 101 yards, the second time in his career he has been over the century mark. Redshirt freshman
Photo of Chris McDuffie
Chris McDuffie
Chris McDuffie (Amherst, NY/Williamsville North) had a career-best 15 carries for 62 yards and added a career-best five catches for 20 yards. Freshman DeSean Larmond (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) had a career-best four catches for 33 yards as well.

BULL-etins: The Bulls were without three starters on offense as P.J. Piskorik, Eric Weber (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua), who will miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his leg, and guard Tim Schmidt (Apalachin, NY/Owego Free Academy), who hopes to be back next week from a knee injury...Randall Secky made his 16th career start for Buffalo, but his first since Sept. 13 versus Colgate. His 254 yards passing was the fourth time he has been over 200 yards passing in his career, ninth all-time in UB history for players who have thrown for over 200 yards in a
Photo of Dallas Pelz
Dallas Pelz
game...Dallas Pelz had a career night for the Bulls. His five field goals were a school record and his 50-yard field goal in the first quarter tied his career-best set at Army on Nov. 10. He now has a career-best 33 field goals, breaking a tie with Gerald Carlson (1993-96), who had 28. His 17 total points on the night, including two PATs, are a school record and moved his career total to 138 points - the most ever by a kicker and tying him for fourth place all-time. Pelz also matched his own school record of connecting on nine straight field goals (four in the second half versus Ohio and five tonight)...the Bulls' 26 points in the first half were the most they have had this season in any half...the Bulls' total of 254 passing yards was a season high. In fact, the Bulls eclipsed their previous season-high of 140 passing yards (10/18 vs. Marshall) in the first half of this game alone, with 161 first-half passing yards. In addition, the Bulls set a season-high in total offense with 394 yards in the contest...Jared Patterson not only scored the first two touchdowns of his career, but also set a career-high with 39 yards rushing...senior free safety Mark Graham (Monroe, MI/Monroe), who grew up 20 minutes from Toledo, returned the first kickoff of his career to open the game. Graham also had five solo tackles giving him 57 solo stops on the season (tied for eighth for a single season in UB history)...sophomore Aaron Sanders (Clarence, NY/St. Joseph's) had his first career sack in the second half...sophomore Gabe McClover (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Coconut Creek) made his first career start and had 27 yards receiving on two catches...the Rockets were averaging 44.3 points per game at the Glass Bowl in their previous three games...Chris McDuffie set new career bests in rushing yards (62), attempts (15), receptions (five) and receiving yards (20) while earning his second start.

11/01/2003

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