Chippewas Roll Past Buffalo

Huge first half by West Division champions leads to 55-28 win in season finale

Chad Upshaw

BUFFALO, NY – Quarterback Dan LaFevour threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead Mid-American Conference West Division champion Central Michigan to a 55-28 win over Buffalo to close the 2006 season.

LaFevour led a potent Chippewas offense by connecting on 14-of-16 passes for 294 yards.

“I'm really proud of our football team, they’ve done some good things this football season, but today Central Michigan was the better football team,” said Buffalo head coach Turner Gill. “They deserved the victory because they executed much better than we did.”

The Chippewas, headed for the MAC Championship game next week where they will face Ohio, started the game out impressively. Central took a 14-0 lead just 3:39 into the game. The Chippewas’ Tim Brazzel returned the opening kickoff 79 yards for a score. However, CMU missed the extra point.

After a Buffalo drive was stopped, Central blocked a punt and recovered at the UB 23-yard line. The Chips extended the lead four plays later when Marcel Archer went in from one yard out. A successful two-point conversion pass gave Central a 14-0 lead.

Like they have so many times this season, the Bulls responded to the adversity behind the strength of several seniors playing in their final home games. Senior quarterback Tony Paoli (Fort Lauderdale, FL/St. Thomas Aquinas) hit 5-of-6 passes on the ensuing drive for 59 yards, with senior tight end Chad Upshaw (Southport, CT/St. Joseph’s) grabbing three of the passes. Senior tailback Steven King (Hempstead, NY/Uniondale) capped the drive from one yard out for his sixth touchdown of the year and the 18th of his career.

The Chippewas would respond again, however, as LeFevour hit wideout Justin Gardner for a 66-yard strike to up the lead to 21-7 with 5:57 still remaining in the first quarter and Central Michigan would take control of the game from there en route to 48 first-half points.

Steven King

The Bulls would rally for 21 second-half points behind the play of senior quarterback Stewart Sampsel (Howard, PA/Bellefonte) who came in after a right should injury to Paoli. Sampsel would lead three second half scoring drives as Buffalo would score over 27 points for the third straight home game.

Sampsel first hit Upshaw for 19 yards and a touchdown with 5:59 remaining in the third quarter. It was Upshaw’s first touchdown of the ’06 season and the seventh of his career. Sampsel would then connect with junior Terrance Breaux (Randallstown, MD/Randallstown) for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter. It was Breaux’s third touchdown of the season.

Jeff Bublavi

Another senior, tailback Jared Patterson (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere) would close the scoring for Buffalo with a one-yard touchdown run with 11:15 remaining in the game. It was Patterson’s second touchdown of the season and 11th of his career. For the day, Sampsel would complete 15-of-28 passes for a career-best 161 yards and two scores.

Upshaw would lead Buffalo with six receptions for 83 yards. Breaux would finish with four catches for 48 yards, while sophomore Ernest Jackson (Rochester, NY/Gates-Chili) would haul in three grabs for 52 yards.

Patterson would lead UB with 55 yards on 10 carries, while fellow senior Steven King would account for 52 yards on eight carries.

Defensively, Buffalo got strong games from juniors Kareem Byrom (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick), Trevor Scott (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam) and senior Jeff Bublavi (Norwood, PA/Interboro) as well as junior defensive end James Judges (Pickering, Ontario/St. Marys Secondary). Byrom had eight tackles and a pass breakup, Scott had a career-best eight tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry. Bublavi had eight tackles to finish the season with 110 (tied for 10th most in a single season, while Judges matches his career-high with five tackles, including a sack.

BULL-etins: With the 28 points scored, Buffalo broke the single-season record for points (220) in a season since moving up to Division I-A in 1999...senior tight end Chad Upshaw finished his career by catching a pass in his 22nd consecutive game with his season-best six catches for 83 yards. Upshaw finished his career one catch shy of the most by a Bulls’ tight end in school history, with 94 receptions, but finished with more yards (972) than any other UB tight end in school history...true freshman Naaman Roosevelt (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph’s Collegiate) broke into the single-season top ten for all-purpose yardage by racking up 159 yards on Saturday. Roosevelt finished the season with 1,306 yards, the ninth-best total in school history. Roosevelt is the only freshman on the list. In addition, Roosevelt broke the single-season mark for kick return average in a season (25.9), while his 724 kickoff return yards rank second for a season..senior linebacker Ramon Guzman (Bronx, NY/DeWitt-Clinton) recorded the Bulls’ seventh block of the season on an extra point in the second quarter. That figure is the most in Buffalo’s Division I-A history and second to UB’s school record 11 in 1995...junior linebacker Ollice Ervin (Vero Beach, FL/Vero Beach) had his first career solo sack and finished the season with 96 total tackles...freshman tailback James Starks (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) became the first freshman to lead Buffalo in rushing since Aaron Leeper in 2002. Starks finished the season with 704 yards rushing and finished second on the team with 34 receptions for 226 yards...the Bulls did not record an interception in the game for just the second time this season...Buffalo recorded three sacks on the afternoon to finish the season with 25. Junior Trevor Scott led the Bulls with nine, including one on Saturday, a total that is fourth best in a single season...junior punter Ben Woods (Hermitage, PA/Hickory) finished the season with 2,539 punting yards, seventh best for a single season and now has 8,470 yards punting in his career, second to Gerald Carlson (1993-96) with 9,732 yards...the Bulls ended the season with four players catching 30 or more passes (Chad Upshaw, 35; James Starks, 34; Terrance Breaux, 32 and Naaman Roosevelt, 31)...Buffalo’s 200 pass completions on the season ranks sixth best in school history.

11/24/2006