There are usually at least a few bumps in the road on the path to a championship game, and that was certainly the case for the Towson football team’s path to the FCS finals in 2013.
The Tigers had to get past quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s Eastern Illinois team in the quarterfinals. And it only took 49 points to do it.
Towson beat Eastern Illinois, 49-39, in Charleston, Ill., though the Tigers struggled to stop Garoppolo, who was 38-for-50 for 321 yards and two touchdowns in snowy conditions. Towson running back Terrance West ran for 354 yards and five touchdowns on 39 carries, while Darius Victor ran for 80 yards and a score on 11 carries.
The quarterfinal was Garoppolo’s final college start before heading to the NFL. Now, Garoppolo is helping lead the San Francisco 49ers into the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs Feb. 2. Rob Ambrose, the Tigers’ head coach since 2009, said he knew what kind of talent Garoppolo was on that December 2013 day against Eastern Illinois.
