Missed Opportunities

LIU Post had their chances in their 28-17 loss at Virginia State last Saturday. The Pioneers were just not able to execute at certain times of the game and that is the difference in winning and losing a playoff game.

Example one came on the first Virginia State touchdown. Post stopped them on fourth down and appeared to take over on downs. But a penalty flag was thrown for illegal hands to the head on the Pioneers and the drive for Virginia State continued. The Trojans got into the end zone on the next play and took an early lead.

Example two occurred in the second quarter when the Pioneers were driving. Steve Laurino threw a pick six on a short pass that allowed the Virginia State defense to come back to life. The Post offense was slicing through the Trojan defense but a bad throw allowed them seven points. All 14 of the first half points were handed to Virginia State but Post still had the lead at halftime.

Example three occurred late in the third quarter. David Sumter recovered a fumble and stumbled on his way to a touchdown. Post had the ball on the six yard line but was not to get any points out of it. They were called for a chop block and moved the ball back after the penalty. The Pioneers missed the field goal and that seemed to seal the fate for the team in the game.

Those are just a couple of the missed opportunities for a team that seemed unstoppable in the second quarter but struggled in the other three quarters. The Pioneers deserved a better outcome in the game but that is not how it worked. Virginia State capitalized on those mistakes and that is why they moved on to play at Bloomsburg next weekend.

Struggles

LIU quarterback Steve Laurino was a big reason why the Pioneers were playing in a playoff game last Saturday but he struggled most of the afternoon.

He finished the game 29 for 58 for 260 yards and a touchdown. But he made a couple of bad throws that resulted in interceptions. His first interception was on a screen pass that ended up in the hands of Andre Rawls who took it 83 yards for a touchdown. The Pioneers were driving late in the second quarter when the pick six occurred.

Laurino then marched his offense right back down the field to tie the game at 14 but definitely would have liked to have that throw back. He capped that drive off with a touchdown run and finished the season with at least one touchdown run and touchdown pass in each game.

But he was not able to get the Post offense into the end zone in the second half. They had their chances but they were not able to score to stay in the game. Laurino throw interceptions in the fourth quarter and was not able to bring the offensive magic that he brought in the previous 11 games.

Laurino will end his career with a loss but that does not dampen the career that he had with the Pioneers. He dominated the PSAC in two years then and then the NE-10 in his final two years. He will go down as one of the top signal callers in LIU Post history.

Punting

Not often does the punter gets recognition unless it is for mistake but Post punter Tyler Feely had a huge game against Virginia State last Saturday. He punted the ball eight times in the game for a 35 yard per punt average.

But it was not the average that gained the recognition. It was the timing and angles of the punts that pinned Virginia State deep on several occasions. He was credited with three punts that landed inside the 20 yard line. He also had a long of 48 yards in the game.

He also kept all-CIAA returner Dion Futch from changing field position as he had just one return in the game for five yards. Feely was able to aid the Post defense by getting the ball into the right place at the right time.

Dominant

One player that saw his stock rise yesterday was Post defensive end David Sumter. He was consistently in the backfield of Virginia State and the Trojan left tackle seemed like a revolving door all game long.

Sumter finished with four tackles, two and half tackles for a loss and two fumble recoveries. He was applying pressure the entire day and along with Kenny Scotland were two of the bright spots for Post in the loss.

Sumter was not 100% during the NE-10 championship game but seemed to be back to his usual self that garnered Defensive Lineman of the Year in the NE-10 for 2014.

Playoff History

The NE-10 has been in the playoffs for four straight years. But the last three have been one and done. Not since the 2011 New Haven team has a NE-10 team won in the playoffs.

In 2011, New Haven was the second seed in the region and defeated Kutztown in the second round. They then fell to Winston Salem in the regional championship game. The next year, they were second again but fell to IUP at home in the second round.

Last year, AIC was blown out by West Chester on their way to the regional championship. And this year, Post falls at Virginia State in the first round of the playoffs.

Three of the last four regional champions have defeated the NE-10 representative on their way to the national semifinals. But that does not help the case for the league.

They need to win playoff games and make deep runs into December. Despite all of the strides over the past couple of years, the league is still behind the other three conferences in the region in terms of playoff success.

With the addition of the CIAA, they have now won consistently in the postseason along with the Mountain East and PSAC. It is now the turn for the NE-10 to win year in and year out in the playoffs.

2015 Season