Lighting up the scoreboard

A lot of officials that called NE-10 games over the weekend might be icing up their shoulders right now. That is because they were raising their arms frequently on Saturday afternoon as NE-10 teams found the end zone early and often.

All four victorious teams this weekend scored at least 40 points and one of the losing teams also put up 40 points. All of the teams put up at least 21 points as defensive coordinators were having nightmares Saturday night as they laid their heads on the pillow.

Southern Connecticut was the leader as they put up 48 points in their victory against AIC. St. Anselm put up 47 in their win at Pace. New Haven also crossed the 40 point mark in their 45-38 victory over Bentley. Merrimack rounded out the 40 plus club this past weekend with a 43 point effort against Stonehill.

AIC was the lone team to score more than 40 and lose the game in the final seconds to Southern Connecticut. Bentley also scored a bunch of points with 38 but it was not enough against New Haven. Stonehill had 30 and Pace put up 21 in their games on Saturday.

Coaches will be looking at extra tape from this past weekend to find a way to slow down some of the offenses in the league. Points are great for fans and help build excitement across the league but tough to swallow for defense coordinators.

Comeback

For the second straight week, Southern Connecticut trailed at half on the road, only to rally in the final 30 minutes to win the game. Two weekends ago, the Owls were behind 17-7 at the half at Bentley before rallying to win the game 31-29.

Last Saturday, they trailed 34-21 to AIC after the opening half before they rallied to win the game. The only difference is that they waited until the final five minutes of the game to beat AIC. They had two drives at the end of the game that totaled 20 plays for 156 yards and two touchdowns to escape Springfield with an improbable win.

After Rashaad Slowley found the end zone four times earlier in the game, it was the duo of Kevin Lynch and Willie Epps that helped the Owls to the win. They had two scoring strikes in the final two minutes of the game to stun the Yellow Jackets.

The most amazing part of the two drives is that the Owls only faced one third down attempt and one fourth down attempt. Lynch threw an incompletion on the third down chance and completed a pass to Epps for a touchdown on fourth down for the first of the two scores. Lynch was 10 for 14 on the drives and spread the ball nicely around to all of his receivers.

In between the two scoring drives, the Southern defense came up big as they held AIC on a fourth and two at the 31 yard line. It was a defense that struggled most of the day to stop the Yellow Jacket running game but stepped up when they needed it the most.

Southern Connecticut has two games left in the season. They stand at 6-1 (6-2 overall) against Division II opponents and will get some consideration for the playoffs if they are able to win out thanks to the big second half efforts the past two weeks.

Rewriting the record book

Southern Connecticut running back Rashaad Slowley is in the middle of a record breaking season after another four touchdown game at AIC on Saturday. He is now the single season touchdown leader in Southern Connecticut history as he now has 26 touchdowns with still two games to play.

Slowley has found the end zone 24 times on the ground and twice through the air. He broke the previous record of 25 held by Rashaan Dumas from the 1998 campaign. Slowley is averaging three times to the end zone per game and even had a six touchdown game at St. Anselm earlier in the season.

He is well within reach of the NE-10 record for total touchdowns and rushing touchdowns in a single season. AIC's Kavin Gailliard holds the record for most touchdowns in a season with 34. He had 32 rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns in the 1998 season. CW Post's Ian Smart holds the record with 33 rushing touchdowns in the 2001 season.

The final two opponents for Southern Connecticut will be Stonehill this weekend at home and at Merrimack on November 12th. If Slowley is able to keep his three touchdowns per game average, he will be on the cusp of rewriting the NE-10 record book.

Making the stop

Another player rewriting the record books is Merrimack linebacker Shawn Loiseau. He is now the all-time leader in Merrimack history for tackles. He broke the record last Friday night in the Warriors' 44-24 loss at Assumption.

Loiseau broke the record of Jimmy Festa who played between 1996 and 1999. Festa had 325 career tackles with Merrimack as the program was in the middle of starting up. Loiseau now has 349 career tackles and still has three games left to add to his record.

This past weekend, he recorded another 11 tackles and now leads the league with 88 tackles including 37 of the solo variety. He has recorded double digit tackles in all but one of the games this season. The only game that he didn't hit double digits was opening night against WPI. He missed double digits by one as he finished with nine tackles on the night.

Loiseau has been a force in the middle of the Merrimack defense for the past three seasons. He saw limited action in his first season with the Warriors before a breakout sophomore season that saw him record 123 tackles. He set the single season record for Merrimack and the NE-10 last year as he was credited with 133 tackles.

He will look to add to his record this weekend as Merrimack entertains league leading New Haven on Saturday.

Kicking

In watching the New Haven/Bentley game online Saturday afternoon, it was good to see the kickers getting a chance to shine when called upon.

New Haven kicker Chris Scifo drilled a 41-yard field goal in the second quarter. Bentley kicker Will Lockwood returned the favor at the end of the first half with a 46 yarder to tie the game at 24. That was the longest of the season for Lockwood and the second longest for Scifo who connected on a 47 yard kick earlier in the season against Stonehill.

Both kickers have been pretty good in field goals attempts this year. Scifo is 9 for 11 this year and Lockwood is 7 for 8. The only other kicker with as many successful kicks this year is Chris Hazelton of Southern Connecticut. He is 8 for 11 this season with a long of 39 yards.

Kicking is a very important part of the game and coaches need to have a reliable kicker if they are going to be successful. It is no coincidence that the better teams have the better kickers. And if teams have title aspirations, they are going to need a dependable kicker down the stretch.

First Win

St. Anselm finally grabbed their first win of the season at Pace last Saturday by the score of 47-21. The Hawks used their explosive offensive attack to grab the win and hopefully some momentum to finish out the season.

Quarterback Michael Pierce had his best game of the season as he threw for 271 yards and two scores. He also used his legs with 125 yards on the ground including an 80 yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Wide receiver Marc Wilson also had a big game with 10 catches for 118 yards and a score to go along with a 71 yard touchdown run. Running back Greg Bell had two first half touchdowns to help St. Anselm grab a lead that they would not relinquish.

The defense also jumped into the scoring sheet as Tyler Crawford picked off a pass and took it 69 yards for a score. He also had seven tackles on the day and forced a fumble.

The Hawks had scored just 50 points in the last four games after pointing over 30 in the first two games. St. Anselm will face one of the better defenses in the league this Saturday when they host Assumption.