RELEASE: 10/23/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Desmen Johnson rushes for 121-yards and game-winning touchdown to lead Mansfield to 26-14 win over Princeton

PRINCETON,NJ – Desmen Johnson rushed for 121-yards and scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on a 7-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter to lift Mansfield to a 26-14 win over Princeton on a wet Powers Field at Princeton Stadium Friday night.

Johnson, who set a MU sprint football record with his 121-yards on 30 carries, capped off a three-play 21-yard drive to break a 14-14 tie. The drive was set up by David Wallace’s fumble-recovery on a muffed punt catch.

Mansfield failed to convert on the PAT-attempt after Johnson’s touchdown but held a 20-14 lead.

Mansfield forced a Princeton punt and then mounted a 15-play, 81-yard drive that consumed 7:29 ending with a 1-yard plunge by Luke Bailey for a 26-14 lead with 2:41 to play.

After a scoreless first quarter, Princeton scored on a 44-yard pass from Jay Zachariah to Kees Thompson at the 9:22 mark of the second period.

Mansfield tied the score six minutes later on a pass from Kode Plank to Ryan Bernaiche and the score remained tied at 7-7 at halftime.

Princeton retook the lead five minutes into the third quarter when Zachariah again connected with Thompson, this one for 36-yards and a 14-7 Tiger lead.

But Mansfield would score the game's last three touchdowns, including two by Johnson on a 3-yard run and 7-yard pass to pull out the win.

Mansfield compiled 303-yards in total offense to Princeton's 217 and ran 90 offensive plays to the Tigers 51.

Bailey accounted for 205-yards in total offense while Plank connected on 12-of-32 attempts for 116-yards and two touchdowns. Bailey had seven catches for 71-yards while senior Ryan Bernaiche had four catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.

Johnson also caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Plank late in the third quarter to tie the game at 14-14.

Freshmen Dalton Stump, Michael Wang and Trevor McHenry each recorded five tackles to lead the Mountaineer defense. Stump also recorded an interception as did Cedric Ingram.

Zachariah completed 7-of-25 passes for 142-yards while Thompson caught two passes, both touchdowns, for 80 yards. Princeton turned the ball over six times while Mansfield had no turnovers in the game.

Mansfield improves to 2-4 and travels to Cornell this Friday evening for the final game of the 2009 season.

                           Quickie Statistics (Final)

       Mansfield University vs Princeton (Oct 23, 2009 at Princeton, NJ)

                                                  MANS-SFB     PRIN

                   Score.........................       26       14

                   FIRST DOWNS...................       17        9

                   RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   58-187    26-75

                   PASSING YDS (NET).............      116      142

                   Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  32-13-0   25-7-2

                   TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   90-303   51-217

                   Fumble Returns-Yards..........      1-0      0-0

                   Punt Returns-Yards............     3-41     3-28

                   Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     3-80     4-57

                   Interception Returns-Yards....     2-26      0-0

                   Punts (Number-Avg)............   9-26.6   6-35.2

                   Fumbles-Lost..................      0-0      5-4

                   Penalties-Yards...............     9-75    11-56

                   Possession Time...............    41:57    18:03

                   Third-Down Conversions........  9 of 23  1 of 10

                   Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 3   0 of 2

                   Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      4-5      0-0

          Mansfield University                       Princeton

 Rushing         No  Yds TD Lg  Avg    Rushing         No  Yds TD Lg  Avg

 Desmen Johnson  30  121  1 31  4.0    K. Infante      12   62  0 29  5.2

 Lucas Bailey    14   55  1 18  3.9    Z. Sobel         6   30  0 14  5.0

 Michael Steele   5   15  0  6  3.0    K. Thompson      1    6  0  6  6.0

 Kode Plank       9   -4  0  7 -0.4    N. Moffat        3    3  0  5  1.0

 Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng  Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng

 Kode Plank       32-13-0  116  2  17  J. Zachariah     25-7-2   142  2  44

 Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long   Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long

 Lucas Bailey       7   71    0   17   L. Taylor          3   19    0   12

 Ryan Bernaiche     4   36    1   15   K. Thompson        2   80    2   44

 Trevor McHenry     1    6    0    6   N. Moffat          2   43    0   23

 Desmen Johnson     1    3    1    3

 Punting          No.   Avg Long I20   Punting          No.   Avg Long I20

 Andrew Licwinko    8  29.9   39   3   R. Fritz           6  35.2   49   1

 TEAM               1   0.0    0   0

 Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

 Lucas Bailey       3   41    0   21   K. Thompson        2   13    0   10

                                       J. Wolfe           1   15    0    0

 Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

 Michael Steele     1   24    0   24   A. Gabriele        2   45    0   33

 Jason Winters      1   18    0   18   S. Gulland         1    5    0    5

 Team     Qtr Time   Scoring play                                   Conversion                Plays-Yards  TOP  MANS-SFB - PRIN

 ----     --- ----   ------------                                   ----------                -----------  ---  -----------------

 PRIN     2nd 09:22  K. Thompson 44 yd pass from J. Zachariah       R. Fritz kick                1-44     0:08        0 - 7

 MANS-SFB 2nd 03:15  Ryan Bernaiche 15 yd pass from Kode Plank      Michael Steele kick          9-53     5:57        7 - 7

 PRIN     3rd 10:38  K. Thompson 36 yd pass from J. Zachariah       R. Fritz kick                5-85     1:51        7 - 14

 MANS-SFB 3rd 00:31  Desmen Johnson 3 yd pass from Kode Plank       Michael Steele kick          5-15     2:27       14 - 14

 MANS-SFB 4th 12:21  Desmen Johnson 7 yd run                        S. La Mountain rush failed   3-21     0:41       20 - 14

 MANS-SFB 4th 02:34  Lucas Bailey 1 yd run                          Kode Plank pass failed      15-81     7:29       26 - 14