The Lions were held scoreless for the first half, but the Columbia defense was mighty in holding the Dukes to 137 yards on 43 plays in the first 30 minutes. Mark Troyan's two field goals - a 20-yarder in the first quarter and a 40-yarder in the second -- accounted for all the scoring as Columbia trailed, 6-0. On the second field goal, the Dukes had started first-and-goal from the Lions' eight with 39 seconds left in the quarter, but a false start penalty and a sack of Dukes' quarterback Scott Knapp by Bill Beechum and Jeff Oke pushed Duquesne back to the 23.
"The key to the game was keeping it at 6-0 instead of 10-0," noted head coach Bob Shoop. "Then to go up 9-6 after three quarters speaks to the character of these young men."
Columbia, which had managed four first downs and 22 yards rushing in the first half, was a different team after the break offensively. Senior quarterback Joe Winters got things rolling on a 3rd and 19 from the Columbia 27 when he found Bowser up the right sideline for a diving 40-yard reception at the Dukes' 33. A personal foul by Duquesne on the following play moved Columbia to the 19. However, the Lions would get no closer to the goal line, and Rocholl, a first-year, got the Lions on the board with a 41-yard field goal at 6:32 of the third quarter.
One minute later, the Lions were right back in field goal range. On the fourth play of Duquesne's drive, junior linebacker Adam Brekke intercepted a Knapp pass and rambled 35 yards to the Dukes' 17-yard line. A fumble recovered by Winters took the Lions back to the 29, and Rocholl evened the score with a 46-yard field goal at 3:09.
Columbia benefited from another Duke miscue when Shay Murphy recovered a fumbled punt return at Duquesne's five-yard line late in the quarter. Two runs for no gain and an incomplete pass by Hormann set up Rocholl's school record-tying sixth consecutive field goal from 22 yards to give the Lions their first lead of the game at 9-6 just 11 seconds into the fourth quarter.
"I stayed prepared on the sideline," explained Rocholl, who tied the record set by Kurt Dasbach '88 and Matt Pollard '90 in 1987 and 1988, respectively. "I told Coach Shoop I'd probably be ready to kick from 45 so I just stayed ready."
The Lions, who had 14 defensive takeaways in all of last season, have nine in two games including six vs. Duquesne. At 13:53, junior safety Tad Crawford had his second interception of the season when he picked off a Knapp pass at the Duquesne 43 and returned it to the 39.
Hormann took over and found Pete Chromiak on a crossing pattern for a 22-yard pickup. Three plays later, he hit Bowser for a 13-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone for a 16-6 lead with 11:22 to play.
The Dukes answered with a 74-yard touchdown drive, keyed by pass completions of 16, 25 and 28 yards on consecutive plays. Knapp found Calvin Gitter for a four-yard touchdown to bring Duquesne back within three, 16-13, with 9:22 left.
The Lions scored on their third straight possession - and for the fifth time in six possessions - capped by a 10-yard falling catch by Bowser from Hormann to complete the scoring at 5:14. The Lions had chewed more than four minutes off the clock on a 56-yard drive highlighted by 23 yards rushing by first-year Jordan E. Davis and a 15-yard pass interference penalty when Bowser was held.
Nwokocha had seven tackles and an interception on the afternoon and sophomore and fellow cornerback Chad Musgrove added another interception. Crawford led the team with nine tackles and Beechum had seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Nwokocha's interception with 1:53 left to play essentially ended the game.
"He's one of the top corners in I-AA," Shoop said of Nwokocha.
Hormann (6 of 15, 63 yards, 2 TD, 0 Int.) and Winters (5 of 12, 89 yds., 0 TD, 1 Int.) split time at quarterback and Bowser had four catches for 71 yards. Davis rushed 17 times for 58 yards.
Rocholl (22), Bowser (18) and Nwokocha (6) have accounted for all of Columbia's points this season.
Columbia plays its Ivy League opener Saturday, Oct. 1 at Princeton at 1 p.m. The last time the Lions played in Princeton in 2003, the Lions defeated the Tigers 33-27 on a "hail mary" pass from Jeff Otis '05 to Wade Fletcher '05 on the final play of the game.
