By Michael Letendre
EAST HARTFORD – University of Connecticut running back Victor Rosa helped his squad get to the pay window for the first time in 2022 – downing Central Connecticut State University by a 28-3 final on Saturday.
The contest, played from Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, saw 22,442 fans witness the Huskies earn their first victory of the campaign.
The home opener for UCONN saw the former Bristol Central standout score his first collegiate touchdown with 36 seconds left to play, putting a little icing on the cake.
UCONN evened its ledger to 1-1 on the year while it was Central Connecticut’s first game of the season.
The three points UCONN yielded was the fewest allowed in a game since 2015.
The final scoring drive of the day saw UCONN march 88 yards on 14 plays, setting up Rosa for his first touchdown score.
The speedster made an 11-yard dash into the goal as the Huskies went ahead by 25 points.
And it was a move we’ve seen hundreds of time out of Rosa at Bristol Central.
But this time, Rosa was the one taking the handoff.
He scooted left, made a couple lethal spin moves and sprinted into the end zone for his first TD.
Overall, Rosa made two runs for 10 total yards – making his first rushes in a UCONN uniform.
It was the fifth most rushing yards by a Huskies player that afternoon.
Rosa made the final two runs of the scoring drive to sow up the late touchdown.
Three UCONN turnovers didn’t help matters but the Blue Devils were only able to notch a Cristiano Rosa field goal with 11:32 left to play in the second period, giving CCSU an early 3-0 edge, before the home team took over the game.
UCONN ended up scoring the final twenty-eight points to ice the showdown.
On the flip side, former Bristol Eastern football and wrestling stud Trinidad Gonzalez also saw some time on the field for CCSU.
The sophomore linebacker made a tackle to help augment the Blue Devils’ defense.
Rosa and the Huskies are right back at it again on Saturday as UCONN hosts Syracuse in East Hartford.
Coach Mora Speaks
Rosa, making his collegiate debut against CCSU, made the most of his fourth quarter stint and during UCONN’s end of game press conference, head coach Jim Mora said there may be more of those type of showings in the near future.
“I think we will see more and more out of Victor Rosa,” said Mora. “He proved something to us today.”
