PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sophomore Shawn Leonard (Stoughton, Mass.) hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from junior Derek Cassidy (Winter Haven, Fla.) to begin the second overtime and senior Adrian Owen (Jacksonville, Fla.) made a goal line tackle on fourth-and-goal to give the University of Rhode Island football team a 49-42 win in double-overtime over Brown University Saturday afternoon in non-conference action at Brown Stadium. The win keeps the Governor's Cup in Kingston for another year and gives the Rams (1-4) their first win of the season.

"It boiled down to making one more play today," said URI head coach Tim Stowers. "We've lost some close games this season, and our team battled back today. It's a fantastic win and we're happy to bring the Governor's Cup back to Kingston for the second straight year."

Cassidy began the game-winning drive with a 15-yard rush to the Brown 10-yard line. Two plays later, Leonard hauled in his fourth-career touchdown and first of the season to put the Rams in front 49-42. The Bears came right back with a nine-yard run by Buddy Farnham and a 10-yard pass from Michael Dougherty to Bobby Seawall, setting up first and goal from the six-yard line. The Brown got the ball to the two on a four-yard pass from Dougherty to Farnham, but an incompletion and a failed rush left the Bears with fourth-and-goal from the three. Dougherty hit Colin Cloherty with a pass, but Owens stopped him at the one to seal the win for the Rams.

"Al I was thinking was `get him on the ground.'" said Owens, whose tackled preserved the win for Rhode Island. "When I tackled him, the team yelled `WEIGHT ROOM!' That was a tight end. I couldn't have made that play a year ago, but all of the hard work I put in over the summer in the weight room paid off."

URI trailed the Bears (1-2) 35-27 late in the fourth quarter before Cassidy capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run with 1:01 remaining to tie the game at 35. Brown opened the scoring in overtime with a one-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Edwards to take a 42-35 lead. On the ensuring play, URI junior Joe Casey (Syracuse, N.Y.) scampered 25 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 42 and send it into a second overtime.

Brown and Rhode Island were tied at seven at the end of the first quarter and deadlocked at 14 entering halftime. Jonathan Edwards opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run for Brown at 11:50 of the first quarter as Brown went 76 yards in seven plays following the opening kick.

The Rams tied the score at seven just before the end of the opening stanza. Senior Jerell Jones (Yonkers, N.Y.) sparked the Rams with a 16-yard reception and a 15-yard run before capping the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds remaining in the first.

After forcing the Bears to go three-and-out on their next possession, the Rams took a 14-7 lead at 12:02 of the second quarter. Cassidy began the drive with an 18-yard run and finished it with a one-yard run as the Rams ran six plays - all rushes - for 58 yards.

Brown converted on a fourth-and-goal from the one yard line to tie the game at 14 with 50 seconds remaining in the first half. Edwards polished off an eight-play, 47-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to even the score.

On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, junior Jimmy Hughes (Westport, Conn.) broke off a career-high 62 yard run, giving the Rams a first-and-10 from the Brown 11-yard line. After a two-yard rush from Cassidy, Jones plunged in from nine-yards out to give URI a 20-14 lead following a missed PAT.

Brown went three-and-out on its next possession, but the Rams failed to take advantage as freshman Pedro Belinchon (Maspalomas, Canary Islands) missed a 24-yard field goal early in the third. The Bears took over and, three plays later, Dougherty hooked up with Paul Raymond for an 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 21-20 lead with 7:47 remaining in the third.

Not to be outdone, URI sophomore D.J. Stefkovich (Westport, Conn.) stepped in and led the Rams down the field for a go-ahead touchdown. He capped a nine-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run at 5:26 to put the Rams back in front 27-21.

The Bears scored the final points of the third quarter on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Dougherty to Farnham at 3:23, giving Brown a 28-27 lead entering the fourth. The two schools traded possessions before the Bears extended their lead to 35-27 on a seven-yard touchdown run by Edwards with 5:07 remaining in regulation. Following the play, Cassidy returned for the Rams and led them down the field for the tying score, capped off by a two-point conversion from Cassidy to Leonard.

Cassidy led the Rams with 119 rushing yards while Jones notched 117 and Hughes finished with 104. Cassidy also threw for 107 yards and a score while Dougherty racked up 407 yards through the air and two touchdowns. Cloherty and Farnham were each on the receiving end of seven of those passes for the Bears while Leonard finished with four catches for 43 yards and a score for URI. Edwards posted 60 yards on the ground and scored four touchdowns for the Bears. Casey, meanwhile, finished with 94 yards for the Rams.

The double-overtime win was the first for the Rams since 2003, when they upended the University of Delaware 17-14 at Meade Stadium. URI entered the season having never played two overtime games in the same season, and are now 1-1 in overtime in 2007.

The Rams have a bye next week and host James Madison on Saturday, October 13 at 1 p.m.