Baltimore Sun Sunday

Tigers’ season grinds to halt

Towson can’t withstand offensive futility in FCS playoff loss to Dukes

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In the 2018 regular season, the Towson football team had thrived in the red zone. The offense led the Colonial Athletic Associatio­n in touchdowns when reaching their opponents’ 20-yard line with 35 scores.

But the Tigers could manage only three points in three red-zone trips in the first half of Saturday’s NCAA Football Championsh­ip Subdivisio­n playoff game. And that ineffectiv­eness contribute­d heavily to a 31-10 loss to visiting Duquesne in a first-round matchup before an rain-soaked 2,158 at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson.

The Dukes, the Northeast Conference champion, improved to 9-3 and earned its first win in the FCS postseason. They will travel to No. 5 seed South Dakota State (8-2) in the second round Dec. 1 at 3 p.m.

For the Tigers (7-5), the loss was their second in a row in the FCS playoffs after falling to North Dakota State, 35-7, in the 2013 national championsh­ip game. The program has not secured a victory in the postseason since Dec. 21, 2013 when that squad upset Eastern Washington, 35-31, in the semifinals. See TOWSON, page 9

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