WEST POINT, NY - The University at Buffalo added another significant page to its football history on Saturday afternoon when the Bulls rallied from a fourth quarter deficit to defeat Army, 26-19, before 26,883 fans at Michie Stadium.

The win came on the heels of Buffalo's 44-0 shutout win over Ohio University, marking the first two-game win streak of UB's modern Division I-A era (1999-present), and was the largest gathering to see a Buffalo victory in school history. The game wasn't decided until the final play of regulation when Army quarterback Curtis Zervic's pass was batted away in the end zone by Buffalo's Mark Graham (Monroe, MI/Monroe) to give Buffalo its second road win of the season and its first back-to-back wins over Division I-A teams since 1969 (Temple and Boston College).

The Bulls got a huge performance from sophomore kicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis), who tied a school record with four field goals, including a career-best 50-yard boot in the second quarter.

The game was a drama in three parts as Buffalo dominated the first half, saw Army rally to take a lead early in the fourth quarter, before coming up with a pair of turnovers and two scoring drives in the fourth quarter to claim the heart-pounding win.

Buffalo jumped to a 15-0 lead at halftime with a dominant performance. The Bulls (3-7) rolled up 244 yards in the first half and ran their scoreless streak to six quarters while maintaining a streak of third down stops on opposing offenses to 17 straight after limiting Ohio to 0-for-12 last week.

The Bulls ran out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter, scoring on a 34-yard field goal by Pelz to cap a 13-play drive

Chad Bartoszek

on their first possession. On Buffalo's next possession, senior quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) hit tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca) on a perfect 22-yard strike to the left corner of the end zone. It was Bartoszek's third touchdown catch of the season and the junior finished with six receptions for 63 yards. Pelz, however, missed the extra point and Buffalo led, 9-0, with 2:26 to go in the second quarter.

Buffalo extended its lead to 15-0 before halftime as Pelz etched his name in the UB record book. Following the first

Craig Rohlfs

of two interceptions by senior free safety Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller), the Bulls went 32 yards in nine plays with Pelz booting another 34-yard field goal to make it 12-0. After Buffalo held Army on downs at the UB 31-yard line, Pelz capped another drive with a career-best 50-yard field goal with 1:23 remaining in the half. The field goal was the seventh-longest in school history and the first 50-plus yard field goal by a Bulls' kicker since Gerald Carlson kicked a school-record 54-yarder versus Edinboro in 1996.

Army came storming back in the third quarter and eventually took the lead. The Black Knights scored on their first two second-half possessions - to cut the UB lead to 15-13 - but failed to tie the game when junior cornerback Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) - who played an outstanding game -made a pass breakup at the goal line. The Bulls stopped a pair of two-point conversion attempts by the Knights on the day.

Buffalo extended the lead to 18-13 when Pelz tied an all-time school record with a 32-yard field goal after an 11-play, 60-yard drive. The field goal was Pelz' ninth straight on the season and tied the school record for field goals in a game (4) with Carlson, who established the feat in 1996 in a UB win at Illinois State.

However, the Black Knights came right back to take their first lead of the game and forced Buffalo to come-from-behind in the second half for a victory for the second time this season. Army (2-8) took the lead on a 37-yard pass from Curtis Zervic to Aris Comeaux with 14:17 left in the game.

Buffalo responded immediately to Army's challenge for the game-winning drive. Tailbacks Derrick Gordon (Brooklyn, NY/August Martin) and Marquis Dwarte (Baltimore, MD/Perry Hall) split the load on UB's game-winning drive. Gordon had 23 yards early in the drive while Dwarte scampered in for his seventh touchdown of the season from three yards out to give the Bulls the lead again, and this time for good, with 9:12 remaining.

Leading by five, the Bulls went for two and Bartoszek hauled in his second two-pointer of the season on a lob pass from Freedy, who for the third straight game did not commit a turnover.

This one was far from over, however.

Trailing by a touchdown, Army drove the ball to the Buffalo 37-yard line before Rohlfs would make another interception - this time on a tipped ball - for his second of the game and fourth of the season. The Bulls, however, could not move the ball and punted back to the Black Knights with 3:12 left.

Mike Lambert

After moving the ball to the Buffalo 46 with one minute left, Zervic was intercepted again on a fourth-and-eight play by Lambert, who got his third pick of the season. Even then, however, Army wasn't finished yet.

After Buffalo thought they had run the clock out on four snaps, officials ruled that :01 should be put back on the clock and Army had one more chance at the Buffalo 19 to tie the game. However, good pressure from UB's defensive line caused Zervic to throw incomplete as Graham tipped the ball out of the end zone and set off a wild celebration by the Bulls at midfield.

Buffalo had several stars defensively in another strong effort. True freshman Anthony Andriano (Queens, NY/Christ the King) made the most of his first career start with a career-high 12 tackles, including two for losses. Senior linebacker Bobby Johnson (Santa Ana, CA/Trabuco Hills) added 11 tackles while Graham finished with seven stops. Lambert had six solo stops, three key pass breakups and the interception which thwarted Army's last full drive.

Offensively, UB's offensive line was again outstanding, allowing the three-headed backfield team of Gordon, Dwarte and senior Albert Grundy (Springfield, PA/Springfield) to combine for 162 yards on 36 carries. Gordon led the way with 81 yards on 18 carries.

BULL-etins: The last time the Bulls had won two straight was their final season of I-AA football when they defeated Morgan State (35-17) and Canisius (47-0) in back-to-back weeks...the last time the Bulls had won two road games in a season was the 8-3 campaign of 1996, when Buffalo was 4-1 on the road...Craig Rohlfs' two interceptions moved him into a tie for seventh place all-time with 10 career hijacks and raised his single season total to four. It was the second multiple interception game of his career as he picked off three passes at Kent State in 1999. In addition, Rohlfs moved into 10th place all-time in total tackles with 253...Buffalo snapped a 14-game losing streak on artificial surfaces with the victory. The Bulls hadn't won on the fake stuff since a 14-10 win over Hofstra in November of 1996...Dallas Pelz, who received a game ball, is now 12-of-17 on field goals for the season and 10-of-12 from inside 40 yards. Pelz' 12 field goals this season ranks second all-time for a single season behind Gerald Carlson's 17 trifectas in 1995...the Bulls are now 3-for-3 on two-point conversion attempts with Joe Freedy throwing all three conversions, twice to Chad Bartoszek and once to Andre Forde...defensive end Jamie Guerra missed the game with back spasms...Buffalo is now 3-0 when scoring first this season and 0-7 when allowing the first points...the game was a makeup of an original Sept. 15 date that was postponed after terrorist attacks on America...in total the UB defense held opponents scoreless for 101:09 dating back to the Ohio game...tailback Derrick Gordon moved into seventh place in both rushing attempts (332) and yards (1,436) with his 81 on Saturday...Joe Freedy now stands second all-time in career pass attempts (978) and needs six completions to pass Marty Barrett (513) for second all-time in that category. Freedy also tied Chad Salisbury for third all-time in touchdown passes with 31. He has not thrown an interception in 113 passes and UB has committed just one turnover in its last three games...senior Chris Shelly had two more tackles for loss to move him into seventh place all-time with 30...the Bulls 24 first downs by penalty this season are the most in school history.

Post-Game Comments

Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher...

"There's no doubt this is a historic victory for UB in its infancy, if you want to call it that, in Division I football." I'm really proud and our kids should be really proud of how they played.

"We were getting kicked in the teeth pretty good in the third quarter but our guys fought back. They figured out how to get stops when we absolutely had to get stops."

Buffalo tight end Chad Bartoszek...

"I've never won two in a row. In fact, I've only got a few wins. This definitely ranks No. 1."

Army head coach Todd Berry...

"We underestimated them in my opinion. For one reason or another we felt like we were just going to show up and play and win. Obviously, they showed up and wanted it more than we did."