AIC Injuries

American International might have won the game at Assumption last Thursday night but lost the injury battle. The biggest question will be the health of starting quarterback Kevin Arduino. He was injured in the third quarter when he was rolling out of the pocket. His left knee buckled and he went down. Arduino appeared to be injured late in the first half and that probably led to this injury.

He said after the game that it might be an MCL issue with his knee. He was on crutches and heavily taped on his left knee on the way to the team bus. The team will be taking a long look at his knee this week and probably not playing him against Stony Brook. With some time to heal, he might be ready for the home opener against Stonehill.

AIC also lost running back Terrell Williams during the game. He had only one carry but spending the rest of the night on the sideline for the Yellow Jackets. That is a concern as he missed the last eight games of last year with an injury. Head coach Art Wilkins said after the game that his team was dinged up a little bit and was hoping to get better soon.

AIC fought the injury bug last year en route to their NE-10 championship. They have some depth at certain positions and are able to overcome the knicks and dings of a football season. But can they win the league again with a backup quarterback?

New Coaches

Four new head coaches had their debuts this weekend and only one of them walked away with a victory. Bentley head coach Bill Kavanaugh won his first game as the Falcons defeated Mercyhurst 27-21. He is the first former Bentley player to become head coach at his alma mater and the early results are very favorable.

Pace head coach Andy Rondeau saw his team have some early success but it wasn't enough as the Setters dropped their home opener to Alderson Broaddus 57-37. Pace took an early 16-9 lead but A-B was able to control the tempo of the game and eventually grinded out the victory.

New Haven head coach Chris Pincince also pulled off the biggest win of the weekend but New Haven fell to #11 West Chester 35-30. The Chargers were standing toe to toe with last year's national semi-finalist but a lightning delay with 21 seconds left in the third quarter sapped the momentum from both teams.

The only coach of the four to open on the road was new Southern Connecticut head coach Tom Godek and his squad fell at Gannon 23-7. The Owls had four turnovers in the game and that is not going to lead to too many victories. He will get another shot as Southern Connecticut returns home on Saturday to host St. Anselm.

New Quarterbacks

Besides head coaches, we also saw a number of new quarterbacks whom also had mixed success in their opening games. Last Thursday night, Assumption started Trevor Vasey as their quarterback. Listed at 6'6' in the game program, he possessed a strong arm and the ability to throw the ball well. He finished the night 20-37 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. But made a couple of bad decisions that led to interceptions. Coach Bob Chesney was pleased with his play and is hoping that Vasey will continue to improve.

New Haven started senior quarterback Joey Bradley on Saturday. He saw limited action last year but the North Dakota transfer is eager to see time for the Chargers. He finished the game 32-48 for 311 yards and a touchdown pass. But he also had two picks including one that he overthrew the receiver that was tipped into the defender's hands. Bradley ran the new up tempo New Haven offense well.

Stonehill had two quarterbacks split time under center. Senior Joe Della Vacchia and junior Moe Regan had mixed results in Stonehill's 24-7 loss to Bloomsburg. Regan led the Skyhawks on their only scoring drive when he connected with Colin Smith on a 48 yard touchdown. Both quarterbacks tossed an interception.

Merrimack started senior quarterback Luke Bakanowsky against Bryant. The senior struggled against the D1 FCS team as he finished 12-28 for only 90 yards and one interception. He was relieved by freshman Joe Capobianco in the second half who had better results. He threw for 181 yards and also had a one yard touchdown run.

Despite the new quarterbacks struggling, they all have potential to lead their teams to victory next week now that they have the first game jitters out of their system.

Out of Conference

The key to success for any Division II conference is out of conference victories and the NE-10 has struggled in that department over the years. The first couple of weekends are filled with tough losses and bragging rights for other conferences.

The NE-10 finished with a disappointing 2-6 record on Saturday out of conference. They were 1-4 against the PSAC, 1-0 against the CIAA and 0-1 against D1 FCS teams. The reason for the disappointment is that the league could have easily been 3-2 against the PSAC.

New Haven and LIU Post had chances to knock off the top ranked teams in the PSAC East but were not able to grab those victories. Stonehill also was neck and neck with another PSAC East team but was not able to find the end zone enough.

But let's look at the positive. The NE-10 continues to make strides and several years ago, those three games would have been blowouts. Now, the NE-10 is competitive in those games but again, the only thing that matters at the end of the day are victories.

Undefeated

That is not a term that can be used when you discuss St. Anselm football over the past 15 years. But it is a term that can be used for the next seven days. The Hawks rallied from 15 points down to defeat Bowie State 23-22.

St. Anselm has not won their season opener since 2005 when they defeated Division III member Plymouth State 40-14. You would need to go back to 1999 to see when they defeated a Division II member to open the season. That year, they defeated UMass-Lowell 46-18 to open the season in style.

St. Anselm was down 22-7 late in the third quarter before they mounted three scoring drives to win the game. They first answered a Bowie State touchdown with an eight play, 77 yard drive capped off with an Elad Covaliu three yard touchdown run.

The Hawks were pinned on their one yard line but marched the entire field in just 3:21. Ahkeen Williams scored on a 19 yard pass from Yianni Gavalas to get St. Anselm within two at 22-20 early in the fourth.

The winning drive was capped off by St. Anselm kicker Shane Grayson when he drilled a 38 yard field goal with 3:26 to go for the winning point. The Hawks defense did the rest as they didn't allow Bowie State on the scoreboard.

St. Anselm hopes to keep the momentum going when they are on the road again at Southern Connecticut Saturday for their NE-10 opener.