Carson Camp Accounts for Six Touchdowns as Duquesne Rolls Past New Haven 41-14

Carson Camp did not need to do everything for Duquesne on Halloween afternoon in West Haven. It just looked that way. The graduate quarterback threw three touchdown passes, ran for three more, and turned New Haven's long-awaited homecoming into another Duquesne road show.

Duquesne beat New Haven 41-14 on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium. Camp accounted for six touchdowns, Ryan Petras caught three of them, and the Dukes won their third straight game.

Duquesne moved to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Northeast Conference. New Haven fell to 2-7 and 1-3. It was the Chargers' first home game since Sept. 19, after a four-game road trip, and it went sideways almost immediately.

A blocked kick and a 58-second swing

New Haven had the first real chance of the day. The Chargers drove into range early in the first quarter, and Liam Quigley lined up for a 48-yard field goal. Dashawn Fields blocked it. Fields came into the day with a sack in three straight games, and on this afternoon the defensive disruption came on special teams instead.

Duquesne took that momentum and ran with it. The Dukes went 69 yards in seven plays, and Camp found Petras for a 9-yard touchdown at 6:57 of the first quarter. Five seconds of game clock later, Zaon Laney fumbled and Bernard Blakey recovered for Duquesne. Three plays later, Camp and Petras connected again, this time from 29 yards, and it was 14-0 at 5:59. Two touchdowns in 58 seconds of game clock, and the Chargers had barely touched the ball.

New Haven deserves credit for the response. The Chargers put together a 10-play, 69-yard drive that ate 5:55 and ended with Matt Chandler scoring from 2 yards out with four seconds left in the quarter. The two-point try failed, but at 14-6 the home crowd had something to cheer.

Camp keeps answering

That was as close as it got. Duquesne answered with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that Camp capped with a 1-yard run at 9:45 of the second quarter, and the Dukes took a 21-6 lead into the break.

The half was not clean for either side. New Haven's Shaun Jackson fumbled late in the second quarter and Zach Chambers recovered, and a minute later Camp gave it right back when Ricky Encarnacion intercepted a pass and returned it 28 yards. Neither turnover produced points.

The Dukes put the game away coming out of halftime. They needed five plays to go 74 yards on the opening possession of the third quarter, and Camp hit Petras for a 15-yard touchdown at 12:10. That was three scores for Petras before the third quarter was five minutes old, and it was 28-6.

The turning point

New Haven had one more push. Jake Tripptree led a six-play, 70-yard drive and found LaSalle Rose Jr. for a 9-yard touchdown at 5:22 of the third quarter. The two-point conversion was good, and at 28-14 the Chargers were two scores away with plenty of time. Brodie Williams then intercepted Camp, the second pick of the day for the New Haven secondary.

This is where Duquesne won the game. Instead of letting the Chargers build on it, the Dukes went on a 12-play, 70-yard drive that took 6:45 and ended with Camp's 5-yard run at 13:30 of the fourth quarter. The extra point missed, but at 34-14 the margin was back to three scores.

On New Haven's next possession, Nico Pate intercepted Tripptree. Duquesne went 39 yards in seven plays and Camp scored a third rushing touchdown from 1 yard out at 9:16. That was the last scoring of the day.

Camp and Petras steal the show

Camp completed 16 of 23 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions, and added 37 rushing yards on nine carries. A week after accounting for four touchdowns against Wagner, Camp topped it by two. The two interceptions are the one blemish on the stat line, and both came with Duquesne already ahead by at least two scores.

Petras was the breakout. The receiver caught eight passes for 153 yards and all three touchdown throws, with a long of 34. Every time Duquesne needed a score through the air, the ball went to Petras, and Petras kept coming down with it.

Ness Davis, coming off a career-high 181 yards and an NEC weekly honor, did the grinding work with 79 yards on 19 carries. Shawn Solomon Jr. broke a 54-yard catch and run, Khiryn Boyd added three catches for 44, and Cam Oliver chipped in 26 rushing yards. Matt Marcinko made five of six extra points.

The stats that matter

Duquesne outgained New Haven 488-255 and won the first-down battle 23-13. The Dukes held the ball for 34:48, converted 6 of 13 third downs and went 4-for-4 on fourth down. They were not penalized once all afternoon, while New Haven was flagged five times for 49 yards. That kind of discipline travels.

New Haven's offense never found a ground game. The Chargers ran 21 times for 59 yards, and Laney led them with 27 yards on 12 carries. That put the game on Tripptree's arm again. The junior went 20-of-37 for 196 yards with a touchdown and an interception. D'Arious Reed had three catches for 78 yards, including a 48-yarder, and Chandler caught four passes to go with the rushing score.

The Chargers did find some life in the return game, averaging better than 19 yards on five kickoff returns with a long of 45, and punter Jack Morgese stayed busy with six punts for a 39.2-yard average and a long of 58. But field position only matters if the offense can do something with it, and New Haven managed just 13 first downs and went 5-of-13 on third down.

On defense, Luke Miller led Duquesne with seven tackles and two pass breakups. Deven Thomas had five stops, and Carter Lance and James Monds III each made a tackle for loss. Encarnacion led New Haven with nine tackles and the interception, and Frederick Borkey and Myles Hansford each made seven. The full numbers are in the box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

Duquesne started this season 1-4. Three straight wins later, the Dukes are 3-1 in the league and very much part of the NEC race. They have beaten Wagner 52-21 and now New Haven by 27, and they have scored 93 points in two weeks.

The schedule gets more serious from here. Next up is a home game against Robert Morris on Nov. 7. The other contender everyone is watching is unbeaten Central Connecticut, which ran past Robert Morris 49-14 on Saturday.

Duquesne is now 2-0 all-time against New Haven after winning 44-18 at Rooney Field last season. The Dukes are also 8-2 all-time on Halloween, in their first game on Oct. 31 since 2009.

For New Haven, the second season in Division I is still a building year. The Chargers are not eligible for the NEC's automatic bid, but they still have LIU, Wagner and Mercyhurst left on their league schedule, and Tripptree gives Mark Powell's team a quarterback to build around.

The last word

New Haven needed a clean game and a fast start to give itself a shot. It got a blocked field goal and a fumble in the first 10 minutes instead, and Duquesne turned both into a 14-0 lead before the Chargers could settle in.

After that, it was Camp's afternoon. Six touchdowns, three to one receiver and three on the ground, and a Dukes team that was 1-4 earlier this season now looks like it has found its offense at exactly the right time.

Sources: ESPN box score, play-by-play and team stats, Duquesne Athletics game preview, New England Football Journal and earlier Undrafted coverage. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Brandon Reed / Duquesne Athletics.