National TV

The bright lights of national television cameras descended upon Stonehill last Thursday night and the nation got to see the NE-10 in action during prime time. And they did not disappoint.

New Haven scored with six seconds to go to grab the 45-41 victory over Stonehill in a performance worthy of game of the year consideration. Both teams put on a great show and made the league proud for their performance for the television cameras.

Both teams fought for 60 minutes and not until the final Hail Mary hit the turf with no time left on the clock was the game finally decided. Both coaches were exhausted after the game and praised their opponent for a well played football game. New Haven coach Peter Rossomando even sought out Stonehill quarterback Logan Meyer after the final whistle to tell him that he was very impressed with his performance.

The Stonehill students showed up and were loud the entire game. The New Haven fans also showed up in force and made a lot of noise as well. Both teams saluted the fans after the game for their support.

This game deserved to have two teams win the game and it was tough for one of them to lose. But those are the rules and unfortunately, Stonehill was on the short end of the score.

The Skyhawks proved that they are capable of playing with any team in the league or the nation. They have two home losses this year, both to nationally ranked teams. Coach Rob Talley was very proud of his team's performance but was hoping for a huge upset.

The game showed that the NE-10 has grown over the past couple of seasons. They have a team capable of competing for a national title and the other teams have grown because of it.

The Drive

New Haven Ryan Osiecki missed the previous four and a half games with an injury but you would not have known that with his performance especially in the final 4:47 of the game.

The Chargers found themselves down 41-38 when they took over on the 14 yard line and the possibility of losing their first game of the season. But Osiecki and his fellow offensive teammates had a different idea.

The drive started off on the wrong foot with a false start penalty and now New Haven was 91 yards away from the end zone. Then Osiecki went to work by converting four of five third downs and a fourth down inside the five yard line in the final minute.

That fourth down play showed that New Haven was going to win the game and not settle for overtime with a field goal attempt. Osiecki was stopped on a quarterback keeper on third down and then Victor Jones made the first down with a two yard run. He was hit at the line of scrimmage but kept his legs going for the necessary yardage to keep the drive alive.

Two more incompletions by Osiecki set up another third down play for New Haven. The Chargers had no timeouts left so they had no chance to run the ball and risk having the clock run out on them. Osiecki finished the drive with a perfectly thrown ball in the corner of the end zone where nobody but Jason Thompson had a chance to catch the ball.

The final stats of the drive was 17 plays, 86 yards and 4:41 off the clock and one huge win for New Haven to stay undefeated this year. They had two very competitive games on the road in the span of five days and won both of them.

As a reward, they get their cross-town rival Southern Connecticut this weekend. Despite the Owls being down this year, the game still has bragging rights for the city of New Haven and neither team wants to be on the losing end of this match-up.

81 points

The Merrimack offense rewrote the record books again this past Saturday during their 81-35 victory over St. Anselm. The explosive offense was clicking on all cylinders for the entire 60 minutes and the Hawks' defense had no answer for them.

The Warriors set a record for points in a game, 81, breaking the previous mark of Southern Connecticut with 77. Joe Clancy also threw for 553 yards, eclipsing the record of Marc Eddy during a playoff game in 2004. He also tied the record of Ted Larkin with his seven touchdown passes. He also topped Larkin's record for total offense in one game with 561 yards.

Isaiah Voegeli also topped his receiving yard record that he set a couple of weeks ago at Pace. He finished with 269 receiving yards to go along with four touchdowns. He had touchdown catches of 65, 22, 19 and 77 yards to cement his status as the most explosive receiver in the NE-10.

Merrimack scored 53 points in the first half and tied the record for 11 touchdowns in a game. It was another impressive display for the Warriors' offense as they set a record with 801 yards of total offense.

Complete Game

Assumption did not have a good first trip to New Haven a couple of weeks ago. They lost to New Haven 65-7 and had a week off to fix the issues. So when they returned to the New Haven area last Friday night, they had different plans.

They played their best game of the season and defeated Southern Connecticut 44-0 for their second win of the season. It was also their first win over the Owls in 11 career meetings between the schools.

The Greyhounds capitalized on seven Southern Connecticut fumbles and the defense was solid. They allowed just 83 yards of offense to the Owls and stifled them all game long.

Things looked bleak for Assumption as running back Matt Pedone was injured on his first carry of the game and did not return. But the team responded with their best performance and all of his teammates stepped up to fill his absence.

Assumption welcomes Pace this weekend for their final home game of the season before they hit the road for a match-up with Merrimack and the season finale during the NE-10 championship weekend.

Losing Season

Some of the members of the current Southern Connecticut were in diapers and not eating solid foods the last time that the Owls had a losing record. It is 1993 and the team finished with a 3-7-1 record.

With their loss to Assumption last Friday night, Southern Connecticut will finish the 2012 season with a losing record for the first time in 19 years. It has been a tough season for the Owls as they have a very young team that has made a lot of mistakes on and off the field.

On the field, they have lost to Stonehill and Assumption for the first time in school history. They have had trouble holding onto the ball and moving the ball effectively. They rank eighth in the NE-10 in points per game with 19.2 this season. They have also fumbled the ball 16 times this year and lost 10 of them which is tied with AIC for the most fumbles lost.

Off the field, the Owls have broken team rules and several players have been suspended for their errors in judgment. Vaughn Magee and Jerome Cunningham were some of the prominent names that have received two game suspensions and missed time over the past couple of weeks.

The road does not get any easier for the Owls as they travel to New Haven this weekend and host Bentley the following weekend. They will also travel somewhere during the NE-10 championship weekend to finish out the season.

Comeback Kids Again

Stop me if you have this before. AIC was down in the second half and rallied to win the game. It is now becoming common place for the Yellow Jackets as they seem to fall behind and then right the ship to win the game. The latest victim was Bentley.

The Falcons scored early in the third quarter to grab a 23-14 lead and it seemed that they were in full control of the game. They dominated the first half and seemed ready to win a tough game on the road. But AIC had other ideas.

Two scoring drives and a defense that forced several turnovers down the stretch has been the theme for the Yellow Jackets and helped them to win their sixth straight game. With the victory over Bentley, they clinched a spot in the NE-10 championship game.

New Haven and AIC are the only undefeated teams in the league and will met each other on November 10th for the title. They also will meet the week before as part of the regular season schedule. That game will determine the host of the championship site.

Championship Weekend

We are just two weeks away from the first ever NE-10 championship weekend. Besides the championship game, the top eight in the league will be in action that weekend to close out the season.

Besides the already determined top two teams playing each for the title, three other games will be played. The sixth seed team will play the third seeded team. The seventh seed will play at the fourth seed and the eighth seed will travel to the fifth seed.

Based on the current standings and if the season ended today, here are the potential match-ups:

2. AIC @ 1. New Haven.
6. Assumption @ 3. Bentley
7. Southern Connecticut @ 4. Stonehill
8. St. Anselm @ 5. Merrimack

Right now, there is only one tiebreaker in place. With their win last Friday night, Assumption jumps up to sixth over Southern Connecticut. Stonehill leads Merrimack by a half game and the Skyhawks are off this weekend but hold the advantage if they finished tied by virtue of their win two weeks ago.

AIC and New Haven are slotted into the top two seeds since they have defeated all comers this season. Both will play this weekend for a chance to meet undefeated the following weekend for the pre-championship match-up.