Standings

One week is left in the regular season and we have three teams left in the hunt for the NE-10 Championship game. American International, LIU Post and New Haven are the three teams with a shot to hoist the trophy on November 15th.

The front runner is first place AIC. The Yellow Jackets took care of business on the road with a 24-21 victory over Merrimack last Saturday. They control their fate to host the championship game if they are able to beat Pace this coming weekend.

LIU Post also controls their own fate with a victory over Bentley this Saturday. The Pioneers need to win to secure their slot in the championship game. They hold the tie breaker over New Haven since they defeated them way back in Week 2.

New Haven has been the hottest team in the league but needs the most help to secure a spot in the championship game. They will need to beat St. Anselm at home and then hopes that Bentley can beat Post on the road.

The Chargers still have a shot at hosting the championship game but will need both AIC and Post to lose this weekend. If that happens, they would host AIC in New Haven for the title by virtue of their victory in Springfield in Week 7.

If all three teams finish with a 7-2 record in the league, AIC and Post would square off for the championship with AIC hosting the game because of their head to head win in Week 8. The loss to Assumption by New Haven would be the difference in the tie breaker.

So nothing is clinched right now for the championship game as there are still several scenarios to be played out in Week 10.

Championship Weekend

The NE-10 changed up the championship weekend a little bit this year. Teams that finish next to each other in the standings will face off on November 15th.

The number three seed will host the number four seed. The number five seed will host the sixth seed. The seventh seed will host the eighth and the ninth seeded team will host the tenth seeded team.

If the season ended last Saturday, here are the match ups:

# 2 LIU Post at # 1 AIC
# 4 Assumption at # 3 New Haven
# 6 St. Anselm at # 5 Stonehill
# 8 Bentley at # 7 Merrimack
# 10 Pace at # 9 Southern Connecticut

Pace is the only team that is locked into their seed right now. St. Anselm also will not fall below the sixth seed since they defeated Bentley and Merrimack already this season.

Several games this weekend will determine the final seeding as teams that are close to each other in the standings are squaring off and could vault their opponent with a victory.

Receiving Records

Stonehill wide receiver Nate Robitaille continues to etch his name in the Skyhawk record book with each catch he makes. Last Saturday in the 23-16 victory at St. Anselm, Robitaille hauled in seven catches to pass former teammate John Gomes for the all-time leader in receptions with 179 in school history.

He also set the record for receiving yards as he now has 2,543 for his career. He already holds the record for touchdown receptions with 25. He is also within distance of second all-time in career touchdowns and all-purposes yards.

Robitaille is also a solid punt returner as he took a punt back in the victory over Merrimack in Week 3 that was the difference late in a tie game.

Stonehill closes out the regular season against Assumption and Robitaille will look to add to his record breaking career.

Billerica's Finest

When Merrimack starting quarterback Joe Capobianco was forced out of the game with a concussion on Saturday against AIC, backup Nick LaSpada entered the game and nearly pulled off an improbable comeback.

LaSpada is from my hometown Billerica and has had an incredible journey to get to Merrimack as he was getting attention from top football programs throughout the country. He was the Massachusetts Player of the Year during his sophomore year of high school as he led Billerica to the playoffs.

But a knee injury during the semifinal game ended his season. He fought injuries his junior year and then was forced to quit football his senior year because of a hole in his heart that caused fatigue and was banned from contact for six months.

He fought through all of those injuries to battle back and play a year of prep football before playing last year for Division III Bates College in Maine. He saw limited action before transferring during the summer to Merrimack.

Fast forward to Saturday as LaSpada entered the game. He scrambled 12 yards late in the third quarter to get Merrimack on the board. He then threw a touchdown pass after the Merrimack defense picked off a pass to cut the lead again. Another scoring drive in the fourth quarter as LaSpada had his second TD pass of the game got the Warriors within three points.

An on-sides kick recovery by Merrimack gave them hope by the drive stalled at midfield. LaSpada finished the game with 156 passing yards and 45 yards on the ground. He accounted for 201 of the 221 yards of total offense for Merrimack. The Warriors' offense accounted for just two total yards in the first half against AIC.

Not bad for a guy that was not supposed to play football after 2012.

Overtime

We have now seen three overtime games in the NE-10 this year. Last Saturday, Bentley and Assumption played two overtimes before the Falcons won the game 30-24.

St. Anselm defeated Southern Connecticut in Week 2 in overtime as well as New Haven outlasting Stonehill 23-17 in Week 5. The road teams are now a perfect 3-0 in overtime games this year in the league.

The home team usually has the edge because of the crowd but road teams are proving that they know how to win in those tough conditions.

Streaks

It has been a season of streaks in the league. Teams are playing well for weeks on end after struggling for weeks. Two teams that meet this weekend are perfect examples.

New Haven dropped their first three games of the season but have won the last six in row. The Chargers looked to be out of the running for the championship before their latest winning streak that started with a last second victory at Bentley. They now have a shot at playing for the championship in two weeks based on the scenarios described earlier.

St. Anselm is on the wrong side of the streak. They opened the season with five consecutive wins before they dropped their last four straight games. The Hawks were in first place in early October but their latest struggles have dropped them into the middle of the pack in the NE-10.

Bentley is also riding a three game winning streak after seeing a five game losing streak in the middle of the season. The Falcons are playing spoilers in the NE-10 championship hunt as they knocked out Assumption last weekend and travel to LIU Post this Saturday.

It is true that momentum is the greatest thing in sports as teams either play with confidence week to week or are on the opposite side of momentum, expecting something bad to happen each week.

We will see which teams are able to keep their streaks alive in the final weekend of the regular season.