Towson rides Thaenrat's 4 TDs to 45-23 win over Maine

ORONO, Maine (AP) — Tom Flacco passed for 232 yards and a score and Yeedee Thaenrat added four short touchdown runs to power Towson to a 45-23 victory over Maine in a Colonial Athletic Association opener on Saturday night.

Kenny Doak kicked two first-quarter field goals to stake Maine to a 6-0 lead, but Thaenrat capped an eight-play, 63-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run to put the Tigers (3-0), ranked eighth in the FCS coaches' poll, up 7-6 at quarter's end. Aidan O'Neill's 26-yard field goal stretched Towson's lead to 10-6, but the Black Bears (1-2) regained the lead when Chris Ferguson connected with Earnest Edwards for a 19-yard score and a 13-10 advantage midway through the second quarter. Thaenrat's 1-yard TD run came with 1:41 left and gave Towson a 17-13 lead at halftime.

Maine pulled within 17-16 on Doak's 44-yard field goal with 4:34 gone in the third quarter, but Thaenrat's third scoring run — this one from 2 yards out — pushed the Tigers' lead to 24-16. Flacco put the Tigers up 31-16 with 1:09 left in the third when he hit Chris Clark for a 9-yard score. Thaenrat's final TD run came from the 1 just 43 seconds into the final quarter and Kobe Young pitched in with a 10-yard scoring run to cap the scoring for the Tigers.

Ferguson completed 28 of 49 passes for 401 yards and a TD for Maine, but he was intercepted four times. Edwards finished with six catches for 116 yards and a score.