Road Warriors

It was a tough weekend to be a home team in the NE-10. All five home teams lost on their own field last weekend. All of the games were dominated by the road team as only one home team lost by less than 10 points.

The closest road game of the weekend was the last minute victory by Bentley at Assumption. The most impressive road victory of the weekend was AIC running wild at Merrimack.

Another Chance

Former Merrimack linebacker Shawn Loiseau is getting another shot to make an NFL roster. He was on the sidelines Saturday afternoon during the Warriors' 49-34 loss to AIC. He was assisting his former teammates in finding a way to slow down the Yellow Jacket offense.

I talked with him after the game and he said that he was flying out to Indianapolis on Tuesday for a tryout with the Colts. He said that the experience in training camp with the Houston Texans was awesome but was caught in a numbers game as his position was already pretty much locked up for the upcoming season.

Record Day

Merrimack quarterback Joe Clancy set a number of school and NE-10 records in their 49-34 loss to AIC Saturday afternoon. He set a record for completions (50), pass attempts (81) and yards (536). The training staff at Merrimack must have worked overtime Saturday night to ice down his arm.

The Warriors also set an NE-10 record for total offense plays in a game (106) and passing first downs (24). Both teams also set a record for the most offensive yards in a game with 1,184 as AIC had 618 and Merrimack had 566.

The final stats for the game were like a video game as both teams marched the ball up and down the field. Both defensive coaching staffs were pulled out their hair the entire game, trying to find a way to slow down the opposing offense.

Running WildUnfamiliar Territory

After jumping out to an early lead Saturday afternoon, Southern Connecticut was unable to hold off Saint Augustine's, dropping their third straight game of the season. This is not very familiar territory for a program that is used to be on the winning side of the scoreboard.

The team is young and experiencing some growing pains early in the season. They were shutout for the first time since 2000 two weekends ago when they traveled to Stonehill. Now they are 0-3 for the first time since 1990. That season saw them start 0-4 before rallying to win five of their final six games to finish the season at .500. Southern Connecticut's last season under .500 was in 1993 when they were 3-7-1.

The road does not get any easier for the Owls as they travel north to take on Merrimack this Saturday. Despite the Warriors' record of 1-2, they are capable of scoring points in bunches and Southern Connecticut will need to ensure that they do not play catch-up the entire game.

Comeback Kids

For the second straight week, Bentley fell behind early in the game only to end up coming back to win the game. This time, they spotted Assumption a 14-0 halftime lead before scoring 21 straight points to stay undefeated on the young season.

Head coach Thom Boerman and his coaching staff has been doing a masterful job at motivating the team at halftime and then implementing adjustments for the Falcons to come storming out of the locker room on fire the past two weeks.

The maturity of quarterback Danny Guadagnoli and his favorite target Jeff Hill has led to one of the top duos in the league. Hill leads the league in touchdown receptions with six including a 70 yard catch with 51 seconds to go at Assumption that was the difference in the game. That followed a three touchdown game at West Virginia Wesleyan in which he was named the offensive player of the week in the NE-10.

The bad news for Bentley is that their bye week is this weekend and would have liked to keep the momentum going this weekend. But they now have an extra week to prepare for a home game against Stonehill when they return to action next on September 28th.

Ol' Bronze Hawk Trophy

It is becoming common place in the Stonehill football offices to see the trophy that is awarded for the annual winner of their game against St. Anselm. The Ol' Bronze Hawk Trophy has resided in Easton, MA for the past seven years and several of the graduating seniors have only known one place for the trophy.

The Skyhawks are the surprise team in the NE-10 after three weeks. They opened the season with a tough loss to then #21 Bloomsburg. But won a lot of praise for their effort in the second half and it has continued in winning their first two league games of the season. They beat Southern Connecticut for the first time in school history two weeks ago and then won last Friday night at St. Anselm.

Stonehill has adopted the usual one game at a time motto for the season and it is working to a charm thus far. They have another challenge this weekend when they host Assumption on Saturday night.

But for the time being, the trophy will reside at Stonehill and some might suggest renaming the trophy to "Ol' Bronze Skyhawk".