Duquesne clinches share of NEC title with rout of Wagner
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PITTSBURGH — Darius Perrantes threw six touchdown passes and Tedy Afful had more than 200 receiving yards as Duquesne clinched a share of the Northeast Conference championship with a 42-21 win over Wagner on Saturday afternoon.
The Dukes (8-2) are now 5-0 in conference play and can clinch the outright title with a win at second-place Central Connecticut (6-5, 4-1) in Saturday’s regular season finale. Duquesne entered the game ranked No. 21 in the latest FCS Coaches Poll.
Running back Rickey Spruill put the Seahawks on the board first with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Teree McDonald with just under five minutes left in the first quarter, but Perrantes answered with three second-quarter touchdown passes: a 24-yard pass to John Erby, a 14-yarder to Joey Isabella and an 8-yard dart to Steven Mahar Jr. with 30 seconds left in the half to put the Dukes up 21-7 at halftime.
Perrantes went back to Isabella from 28 yards out to start the second half. Sekou Kamau broke free from 47 yards out to keep Wagner within two touchdowns, but Perrantes rolled to his right and found Erby in the middle of the end zone and the senior leaped to make one-handed catch for his second TD of the game. Perrantes found Afful for the touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
Perrantes threw four touchdown passes in the Dukes’ 31-6 win over Robert Morris and has thrown 10 of his 21 TD passes in his last two games.
His 393 passing yards (completing 27 of 46 attempts) give him 1,648 through 10 games with just six interceptions, two by the Seahawks. Afful caught 10 passes for 208 yards, including a 61-yard reception. Isabella caught five passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns and Erby caught 6 for 63 yards and two scores.
Jake Cady completed 21 of 36 passes for 196 yards to lead Wagner (4-7, 2-3) with a touchdown and an interception.