ORONO — The University of Maine football team had two early opportunities Saturday night to put Towson on its heels.

Nothing came of them. And nothing has been a too-common refrain surrounding the Black Bears’ offense these days.

So Towson withstood a late rally for a 10-7 victory before an announced crowd of 3,196.

The Tigers (6-3, 4-2 Colonial Athletic Association) have won four consecutive games to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Maine (3-6, 3-3) has totaled only 20 points in its last three losses of what has become a squandered season.

“We’re playing at home against a team that’s won three straight games, we need to seize the game and we didn’t,” Coach Jack Cosgrove said.

Maine outgained Towson 127-16 in the first quarter, entering the red zone twice without scoring. A 15-play drive that covered 93 yards somehow ended with a missed 22-yard field goal by Sean Decloux, who is 11 of 19 on the season.

After Michael Kozlakowski deflected a Connor Frazier pass and Jeffrey DeVaughn cradled the football at the Towson 27, Maine’s offense was quickly back in business.

On fourth-and-1 from the 18, Cosgrove kept Decloux on the sideline, but quarterback Drew Belcher was stopped for no gain on a sneak attempt. Cosgrove admitted that he didn’t trust Decloux.

Maine didn’t get into the red zone again until the fourth quarter.

“We’ve found a way to somehow be horrible defensively in the field and be strong in the red zone,” Towson Coach Rob Ambrose said. “That’s allowed us to stay in ballgames.”

Towson took advantage of a 6-yard punt by James DeMartini to drive 60 yards and score on a Sam Hurwitz 19-yard field goal on the final play of the first half. The Tigers got their touchdown after Maine tailback Nigel Beckford fumbled for the second time, this one returned by linebacker Eric Handy to the Black Bears’ 6.

Towson tailback Darius Victor ran untouched around left end two plays later for a 10-0 lead with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

Maine finally mounted a scoring drive on the next possession, going 71 yards and scoring on a 3-yard pass from Belcher to Jordan Dunn.

But Victor ran for 81 of his 101 yards in the second half, helping Towson convert 6 of 9 third downs, including the final two that enabled the Tigers to run out the clock.

“As the game progressed and we found out that Darius could run again, it allowed us to be more versatile,” Ambrose said of Victor, who has been contending with injuries. “It allowed us to be better on first and second down, and not put ourselves in ridiculous third-and-forever scenarios.”

Kozlakowski, who had nine tackles, including two of Maine’s eight behind the line, said his unit needed to be perfect.

“We’ve got to hold them to nothing,” he said. “We have to hold ourselves accountable for that regardless of whenever they’re in that red zone. That’s something we have to stop.”

But it was obvious the offense and continued place-kicking woes continue to bedevil Maine. Belcher completed 23 of 31 passes for 150 yards, but all but two of his completions were for eight yards or less. Beckford gained 68 yards rushing and added 60 receiving, but his first two fumbles of the season proved devastating.

“We were taking quick throws, easy yards to try to put a drive together,” said Dunn, who had five catches for 25 yards.

“It’s real frustrating. It puts a lot of pressure on our kicker and our defense as well. When we have drives like that, you want to capitalize on the opportunities that you get and we just didn’t do it today.”

Or recently.

Mark Emmert can be contacted at 791-6424 or:

memmert@pressherald.com

Twitter: MarkEmmertPPH

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