Friday Night Lights600 Yards

Two teams crossed the 600 yard mark for total offense in games on Saturday. The surprising thing is that one team won their game and the other lost their game.

Bentley racked up 626 yards of total offense on the road in their victory over Pace 56-13. The Falcons had 333 yards in the air and 293 on the ground. They averaged an amazing 10.8 yards per play in just 58 offensive plays in the game. Everyone that touched the ball offensively seemed to find holes and move the ball. The only knock against Bentley was that they were just three for nine on third down conversions.

The other team with 600 yards of offense was Merrimack. The Warriors ran 99 offensive plays in their loss to New Haven. Joe Clancy threw the ball 71 times, completing 51 of them for 538 yards. They averaged 6.1 yards per play but that was not as good as their opponent.

New Haven had just 407 yards of offense but ran only 55 plays for an average of 7.4 yards per play. The teams combined for 1,007 yards of total offense to go along with their 89 points on the scoreboard.

Merrimack has the best stats in the NE-10 but has lost two shootouts this year. The first was at AIC in the second week of the season and then last week against New Haven. They are now 1-2 when having over 600 yards of total offense this season.

Resilient

That is the word that comes to mind after Stonehill's 23-21 victory over Southern Connecticut last Saturday. The Skyhawks were on the ropes in the first half before making a comeback.

That is one week after a major beat down at the hands of AIC on their home turf. Stonehill could do no right in the game and were staring right in the faces of consecutive weeks in the Greater New Haven area against quality opponents.

But the Skyhawks kept their title hopes alive with a gritty performance in the second half and remained tied for second place in the league with AIC. They both trail New Haven by one game and Stonehill will get a shot at the Chargers this weekend.

It is a rematch of the epic national TV battle from last year that saw New Haven rally for a 45-41 victory. This year's game is for first place in the league and a major step towards hosting the NE-10 title game in mid-November.

Defense

One week after a wake up call, the AIC defense continued their dominance in pitching their first shutout of the season in a 21-0 victory over LIU Post. The Yellow Jackets allowed some yards in the game but did not allow the Pioneers to visit the end zone.

The Yellow Jacket was clutch when they needed to be. They stopped all three red zone trips for Post and also stopped all three of their fourth down attempts. AIC held the Pioneers to a 33% conversion rate on third down to completely frustrate them the entire afternoon.

The coaches' preseason favorite has a formidable schedule down the stretch but looks to be playing good football right now. First, they travel to Bentley this weekend before an epic match up at New Haven on November 2nd. In between, they have St. Anselm in the ultimate trap game.

Tough Welcome

LIU Post has had a tough go of it in their return to the NE-10. They started the season with impressive wins at Millersville and then at home over Southern Connecticut. A much hyped match up on the road with Bentley saw them take a lead midway through the fourth quarter. That was the beginning of the downfall for the Pioneers.

They allowed 21 straight points and lost at Bentley. They traveled to New Haven and lost by 25 points. Merrimack beat them at home and then a trip to AIC saw them shutout to give them a four game losing streak.

That is not good for a team picked to be in contention for the NE-10 title this year. Right now, they are in eighth place and only have more wins than St. Anselm and Pace. That is not what Post had envisioned for their return to the NE-10.

The schedule was tough for the Pioneers but all of the teams have faced similar stretches in the past. Ones that handle the schedule are successful in the season and other struggle with it. LIU Post was not able to handle the stretch and dropped all of the games. The rest of the season is not as tough but they will have a lot of work to do if they are going to finish over .500 in league play.

Road Warriors

New Haven has played six games this year and only two of them have been on the familiar blue turf of DellaCamera Stadium. That will change in the next four weeks as three of their final four games will be at home.

The Chargers have been from West Chester, Pennsylvania to Manchester, New Hampshire over the past six weeks and are sick of time spent on the bus. They have one regular season road game left and that trip will be less than five miles across town.

New Haven is well prepared for the stretch run of the season. They are starting to play well at the right of the year and are looking to make their third straight postseason appearance. They have a lot of work to do before that happens with tough games still to go.

After Stonehill this weekend, they have the annual battle with crosstown rival Southern Connecticut. They welcome AIC and Bentley in the final two weeks of the season that will go a long way to determine who will be hosting the NE-10 title game.

The Chargers have proved that they are well prepared for the final four weeks of the season and are looking forward to some home cooking.