Championship Game

We have a site for the NE-10 championship game and it will be in Springfield, MA as AIC defeated Southern Connecticut 33-14 to claim home field for the game. Stonehill was also victorious over Merrimack 26-14 but since the Yellow Jackets defeated the Skyhawks back on October 5th, they win the head to head tie breaker.

The coaches were half right in their predictions before the start of the season. They picked AIC to win the league but had Stonehill as number seven. My preseason picks had AIC as number three and Stonehill as number six. So much for preseason predictions from your favorite NE-10 blogger knowing what is going to happen before the season starts.

It is the second time that the NE-10 is holding a championship game to determine the league winner. Last year, New Haven won the inaugural game over AIC.

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 PM on Saturday and more breakdown of the game will happen later in the week.

Defense

Going into last weekend, nobody had slowed down the Merrimack offense. But it has been a season of firsts for Stonehill and they were the first to stymie Joe Clancy and all of his weapons. They held them scoreless in the first half in route to a 26-14 victory.

It was the secondary for the Skyhawks that deserved the game ball. The group of Tim Bennett, Anthony Masucci, Sterry Codrington, James Lanier Aaron Rodgers and Nate Morris were all over the field. They seemed to have a hand in the face of each receiver for Merrimack and not allowing them to find any seams down the field. The defense had eight pass breakups in the game and two interceptions.

It was a crowning achievement for a Stonehill team that has surprised everyone this year with their grit and determination. They have lost key players at times and someone else has stepped in and filled in. Look at their star linebacker Brian Harrington. He was slated for being way down on the depth chart and looks to be the favorite for the defensive player of the year.

Stonehill will enter the championship game with a lot of confidence and be ready to battle AIC for 60 minutes.

Defense Part II

With Stonehill as the second best defense in the league this year, AIC had the best defense in the league this year. They allowed just 21.7 points per game and were solid in their 33-14 victory over Southern Connecticut.

The Yellow Jackets return to the NE-10 championship game for the second consecutive year. Last year, they fell at New Haven but are ready to learn from that experience and hoist the trophy on their home turf.

AIC has won six straight games since they lost to Assumption. Ironically, the winning streak started with a dominating performance at Stonehill on October 5th. They have been unstoppable on both sides of the ball and have allowed just 93 points in the winning streak.

AIC will enter the championship game as the favorite based on their experience and home field advantage.

Perfection

Four teams finished the regular season with perfect records on the road within league play. Of course, they are the top four teams in the league this year.

AIC, New Haven and Stonehill were all 4-0 on the road this year against NE-10 teams. Each of them lost to a PSAC team on the road in the first week of games.

Assumption one-upped them with a 5-0 road record after they defeated LIU Post last Saturday. The Greyhounds were the only team to win at AIC this year and finished a very impressive 2013 regular season. They dropped their only non-league road game at Bryant in the opening weekend.

It shows that if you are going to compete for the league title, you need to take care of business at home and then win on the road in front of hostile fans.

Near Perfection

St. Anselm quarterback Yianni Gavalas had a near perfect performance in the Hawks' 63-33 victory at Pace. What is it about Week 10 and St. Anselm quarterbacks have career games.

Remember last year when Andrew Murphy put up record breaking numbers at Seton Hill. This year, it was Gavalas' turn.

He finished the game 28 for 30, six touchdown passes and 316 yards of passing. He spread the ball around to six different receivers in which three of them found the end zone. Nine of the 13 drives for the Hawks resulted in touchdowns as Gavalas was flawless in the game.

Gavalas had his two incompletions in the first half in which he led the team to a school record 35 points in the half. He was perfect in passing in the second half as he had three touchdowns passes in each half.

It was a homecoming for Gavalas as he grew up about 45 minutes north of the Pace campus. It was the first win of the season for St. Anselm and they will travel to Bentley this weekend to close out the season.

Third Down

Third down efficiency is usually a great barometer for a team winning and losing. Last Saturday, Pace was 80% of third down as they converted 12 of their 15 opportunities. They still lost the game to St. Anselm 63-33.

The reason for the loss was turnovers as the Setters were intercepted seven times in the game. Despite the success on third down, no team can ever overcome seven turnovers in a game.

Pace has now lost 27 consecutive games. Their last victory was over Stonehill in overtime in September 2011. The game winning field goal was kicked by current Assumption kicker Ali Mourtada.

Running Game

New Haven ran all over Bentley last Saturday by the score of 54-10. The Chargers amassed 351 yards on the ground led by Mike DeCaro. He had 151 yards for his third best rushing yard performance of the season.

It is only topped by his 205 yards at St. Anselm and 153 yards against Stonehill. In the victory over Bentley, he also had 62 yards in kickoff returns and another 75 yards in a punt return that he took back for a touchdown.

The Chargers averaged 10.6 yards each time they rushed the ball. Yes, that is first down each time that touched the ball. Anthony Tillman also crossed the 100-yard mark for the Chargers.

In contrast, Bentley was held to just 34 yards on 30 attempts. DeCaro, Tillman and Ronnie Nelson had at least one run that was longer than all of the yards that the Falcons accounted for on the ground.

New Haven will host Assumption in the 3/4 game next weekend.