Final Stats

(San Diego, Calif.) -- The USD Toreros (1-1) opened their home schedule with a convincing 45-21 victory over an athletic Western New Mexico University squad. The win improves USD's mark against the Mustangs to 5-0, but also ends a string of three games that were decided by seven points or less. USD heads into a bye week before opening up PFL play at Valparaiso on September 26th.

Redshirt freshman QB Anthony Lawrence made the most of his first collegiate start by completing 20-of-34 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns. His main target on the night was tight end Ross Dwelley who hauled in 10 balls for 123 yards and one score. Brian Riley caught five balls for 115 yards with touchdown receptions of 37 and 38 yards.

USD also had a balanced ground attack with Jereke Armstrong rushing for a career-best 109 yards on 14 carries. He found the end zone twice on runs of 24 yards (1st quarter) and 54 yards (4th quarter). Running mate Blake Martin turned in a solid performance as well with 70 yards on 13 carries. USD's other scoring came on a Justin Priest 13-yard touchdown reception from Lawrence early in the fourth period, and a 27-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Daniel McManus right before halftime.

"We were okay for a while but hit a little bit of a rut in the third quarter," said head coach Dale Lindsey. "Fortunately for us our defense did enough to keep them (WNMU) out of the end zone. Overall I thought we had better improvement, but they are a hard team to play, especially when they get out in space. They are always tough and fight you all the way to the very wire. Moving forward we are going to continue to improve our running game, and heading into the bye week we'll look to improve on a lot of little things."

Defensively the Toreros were led on the outside by cornerbacks Devyn Bryant (2 interceptions, 1 breakup, 3 stops) and Jamal Agnew (1 interception, 1 breakup, 4 stops). Sophomore DE Jonathan Petersen seemed to be everywhere as he finished with 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 quarterback hurries. On the other end, Joe Nomellini knocked down two passes, recovered a fumble and recorded the team's lone sack. Safety Ray Clark totaled a team best 7 stops, while Colton Giorgi chipped in with 5 stops.

WNMU (1-1) was paced by QB Mitch Glasmann (22-49 for 297 yards, 2 TDs), RB Marqus Rodgers (18 carries for 74 yards, 1 TD), and WR Xavier Ayers (9 receptions for 132 yards). USD led 24-7 at the halftime break, and extended their lead to 45-14 midway through the final period, before the Mustangs scored one last time on a Larry Young 12-yard reception from Glasmann.

For the game USD totaled 459 yards of offense (186 rush, 273 pass), but more importantly, had just one turnover.