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 Those are the three words that Towson coach Rob Ambrose used to
describe what he was feeling after his program's five-year
rebuilding journey culminated in a ticket to Frisco, Texas, for the
Football Championship Subdivision national championship game with a
35-31 win over Eastern Washington on Saturday at Roos Field.
Towson will make its first appearance in the FCS national
championship game when the Tigers face North Dakota State on Jan. 4.
That ticket was punched with an improbable fourth-quarter comeback.
Down 31-21, playing with a backup quarterback and reeling from the
Eagles scoring 31 unanswered points, quarterback Connor Frazier led
Towson down the field in the final 11 minutes with touchdown drives
of 75 and 71 yards to take the lead back.
"Belief, faith, trust, hard work. They're pretty powerful things.
You put them all together you can accomplish things that people told
you nobody (could) ever do," Ambrose said. "These kids were brought
here on a dream, a chance to make history, to do things that have
never been done."
With 17 seconds left, Frazier had his number called, sneaking over
the goal line from the 1-yard line for the winning points on third
down to cap the clinching 71-yard drive.
At different points in the game, both teams had complete control.
Towson jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half, the largest
first-half deficit Eastern Washington had been in all season, before
Eastern Washington cut the lead to 21-7 and eventually took the
31-21 lead in the third quarter.
Eastern's comeback was spurred by quarterback Vernon Adams, who ran
around and made plays to the tune of 394 yards and two touchdowns.
"We knew what we were doing," Adams said. "We went into halftime
calm. I was seeing everything fine that I saw on film. I just needed
to make plays. I wasn't doing that the first half. Second half we
came out, adjusted to some things. We did better in the second half.
Just unfortunate we came out short."
Towson was rolling in the first half with senior quarterback Peter
Athens, who was 8 of 9 for 144 yards and two touchdowns in the first
half, frustrating Eastern Washington's defensive line and making
savvy plays down the field.
Momentum swung back to the Eagles when Athens took a hard hit on the
shoulder on a scramble out. After a fumbled snap, Ambrose had to
know whether his quarterback could go.
"I said, 'You're one of the toughest dudes I've ever met in my
life,'" Ambrose said. "If you can't go, you've got to tell me. I'm
really impressed that he put the team in front of himself (by
telling me)."
The injury of Towson's senior offensive leader played a
psychological part in Towson's second-half struggles, Ambrose said,
but Frazier stepped up in relief for 196 total yards to go with his
touchdown and two touchdown drives in the second half.
"Honestly, (coach) just said let's have some fun," Frazier said.
"Being the backup, I have to be prepared for anything. That's how I
approach each week. I felt pretty confident in the game plan this
week."
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Adams and the Eagles initially took advantage of the
situation with a 17-0 quarter in which Adams was 8-of-11 for 131
yards in the process of leading three scoring drives.
But the Eagles weren't able to respond in the fourth quarter
after Towson had cut it back to a one-possession game. Vernon
Adams' fourth-and-2 pass was floated just past the fingertips of
a wide-open Cooper Kupp, and the Tigers were given the ball back
with just under two minutes to go.
A remorseful Adams tried to pin the fault on himself after the
game, but teammate Cody McCarthy vehemently disagreed.
"Vernon didn't let this team down. The things he's able to do in
incredible situations, most people can't; he makes plays," said
McCarthy, a junior linebacker. "As a team we came up a couple
points short. ... We'll be back at it again. No doubt about it
I'd go to war with this man any day."
Adams' fourth-and-2 pass was the defensive stop Towson was
digging deep for in the fourth quarter, safety Christian
Carpenter said.
On Adam's final pass of the game, Carpenter leapt up and
collected the interception to put Frisco, Texas, on the
itinerary for good.
"The final drive, we said, 'Look, this is our season right now.
Either we stop them or we're going home," Carpenter said. "That
was all in our head. We didn't want to stop playing."
This is Eastern Washington's second consecutive season of
semifinal heartbreak, falling last season to Sam Houston State
on the inferno turf 45-42.
Meanwhile, this is the Tigers' first opportunity at the FCS
national championship. And for Ambrose, it's a culmination of a
five-year rebuilding of a program that went 3-9 the year before
he came in.
"(We're) at a place where people said it couldn't be done, and
these kids didn't listen to any of it," Ambrose said.
NOTES: Towson running back Terrance West set the FCS season
record for rushing yards, ending the night with 2,404. Jamaal
Branch set the record at Colgate in 2003 with 2,326 yards. ...
Eastern Washington freshman Cooper Kuff, winner of the Jerry
Rice award for top receiver in FCS, finished the night with 124
yards on eight receptions. ... Towson backup quarterback Connor
Frazier also serves as a receiver and kick holder and saw plays
in the first half as a receiver, though he did not catch any
passes.
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