ALBANY, NY — The University at Albany Great Danes put up 20 unanswered second half points to defeat the Saint Francis Red Flash by a score of 20-9 Saturday night, but even though the Danes took the victory they suffered an even bigger loss.
Second leading tackler and the Danes Quarterback of the defense Michael Nicastro suffered what appeared to be a serious left leg injury with 1:34 left in the game. The two teams got chippy as the final minutes ticked off, and with 1:34 left Nicastro took a questionable hit to his lower part of his body and after writhing on the field in pain had to be helped off and would not return. After the game, Nicastro had to be carted off the field and early reports deemed the injury to be a serious shin injury that could end his redshirt junior season, concluding his season before the halfway mark for the second straight year after he suffered a torn ACL in his right year in the first half of the season opener last year at Buffalo.
The injury would unfortunately overshadow and bring a unfortunate end to the career night for Nicastro, as he led the team with 16 tackles, a new career high. Rayshan Clark and Josh Wynn, filling in for the injured Kyle Sakowski, would each pull their end of the rope with 10 apiece, while Abner Logan had nine and Kareem Brown was strong, bringing in eight tackles after an especially strong special teams performance.
Before the injury however, the Danes would score on four of their seven second half drives, not including the final drive that was two kneel downs in the final minute. The Danes would not turn back after Neven Sussman and Jordan Crockett connected in the right corner off a fade to give the Danes a 10-9 lead with 14:12 left to play.
Sussman would finish 7-for-15 for 83 yards, the touchdown to Crockett and an interception, while the touchdown catch would be Crockett’s lone reception on the evening. Sussman completed passes to five receivers, as Zee Roberson and Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks would be the beneficiaries of two completions.
On the ground, Ibitokun-Hanks would have another big night. The sophomore back would run for 90 yards on 22 carries, bringing his total on the year over 550 yards in just the four games so far. Dione Alston would also get his share of carries, taking the ball four times for 87 yards, the big play being a 54 yard touchdown run with 11:39 left in the game to give the Danes a 17-9 advantage.
Albany would continue to impress on their turnover margin, after coming into tonight’s game +10 would force four Red Flash turnovers, two fumbles and two interceptions, including a pick for Jamal Robinson in the end zone with 57 seconds to put the game on ice for the home team, improving to 4-0 in front of the crowd of 6,309 at Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium. The Danes came into this week ranked 22nd in the country in the Football Championship Subdivision STATS poll and No. 23 in the coaches’ poll, and will head into their bye week looking to improve on that ranking before hosting perennial power Richmond on October 8th.
