BANGOR, Maine - John Smith was responsible for four of the six touchdowns on the night and surpassed the 200-yard rushing plateau for the fifth time in his career to help propel Husson to a 43-23 win against Dean in non-conference action on Friday night on the brand new turf of the Winkin Sports Complex.
Husson (1-1) wins its first night home game since 2007, while Dean (0-2) loses its second-consecutive game.
Smith finished the game with 39 rushes for a new single-game record of 280 yards with four touchdowns, while catching two passes for 25-yards giving him a single-game record of 305 all-purpose yards gained.
With the 280 yards on the ground Smith recorded his 18th career 100-yard rushing game passing Julius Williams for the most in program history. Smith wasn't done setting records under the lights of the Winkin Sports Complex as he become the first tailback in program history to have nine straight 100-yard rushing games.
For the tenth game in a row the Eagles scored the first points of the game when Cory Brandon completed a 15-yard pass to Deon Wiggins with 13:30 left in the first quarter, which capped a four-play, 75-yard drive.
The Eagles and Bulldogs swapped interceptions on the next four drives which lead to HU senior rover Logan Steward returning the second David Curry interception 64-yards to the Dean 17, setting up a 3-yard run by Smith as Husson lead 14-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Eagles extended their lead to 20 with 9:53 left in the second after a 15-play, 80-yard drive that lasted well over six minutes when Smith punched in his second of the game from the Dean 1.
The Bulldogs only score of the first half came when Curry connected on a 17-yard pass to Justin White with 2:31 remaining in the half.
Dean struck first in the second half with a 44-yard field goal by Jordan Colleary making the game, 20-10. The Eagles answered right back with a nine-play, 67-yard drive that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Smith.
After the forcing the Eagles to turnover the ball on downs, Curry completed a 97-yard pass to Shafi Harris from the Dean 3 with 4:32 left in the 3rd before Travis Tetreault made his first career field goal, a 31-yarder four seconds into the 4th quarter giving the Eagles the 30-16 lead.
Dean struck quickly once again when Curry found Harris once again this time for a 49-yard score culminating a one minute and 21 second drive.
The Eagles put the game out of reach on Smith's fourth rushing touchdown of the game when he broke loose for a 13-yard run with 11:13 left in the game. A 10-yard run by Tyler Bassett in the remaining minutes closed out the scoring.
Husson outgained Dean 441 yards to 255.
Brandon connected on 10-of-19 passes for 87-yards with one touchdown, with Andre Miller hauling in two for 25, Wiggins caught one for 15 with a score, DJ Allen finished with a team-high three catches for 14-yards, while Kyle Gaudet and Jon Saban each caught a pass for five and three yards respectively.
Curry completed 9-for-28 pass for 228 yards with three touchdowns and ran for 16-yards on 16 attempts in the defeat.
Harris caught two passes for 146 yards with two touchdowns, while White caught a game-high five for 67.
Ellis Throckmorton had ten tackles (0.5 for loss), a fumble recovery and broke up a pass to the lead the Husson defense who only allowed 37 rushing yards to Dean. Luke Washburn had two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss among his nine tackles, while Jeff Turcotte and Elvin Suazo, Jr. each record a sack in the victory.
The Bulldogs' defense saw a game-high 12 tackles from Hasani Deli, 8 from Trent Waters. Shannon Moxey and Tyler Joseph each had one interception.
Husson will host Alfred State on Saturday, Sept. 24 on Homecoming weekend. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m., while Dean host Army Prep in their home opener at 1:00 p.m.
