Two weeks in the books for the NE-10.

Excitement

If you have followed the NE-10 football teams, the past two seasons have featured a lot more nail biters than in the past. Teams are much more balanced and any team can win any game. There are still the top teams and the lower level teams but that gap is closing.

Both games last Friday night were not decided until the final whistle was blown. New Haven kicked a field goal in the final seconds to win the game and Stonehill rallied from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter to win on the road. And there was quite the game in New York as LIU Post and Assumption might have played the game of the year in Week 2.

This all bodes well for another solid season in the NE-10. There are several teams capable of playing in the championship game in November and that is a great thing for the league. It builds excitement each week and no game is meaningless over the course of the season.

Record Day

Assumption place kicker Cole Tracy had quite the game in his team's 40-31 loss on the road at LIU Post. He drilled six field goals and did everything possible for his team to win the game. He evenly split those field goals in the game between the first and second half.

He set a league record with those six field goals, besting the previous record of four that was held by a couple of former kickers. He also broke the record for points by a kicker with 19 as he also had an extra point in the game.

He tied a league record at the end of the first half when he drilled a 52 yard field goal. Yes, 52 yards. That is professional football distance and not usually seen at the Division II level. Tracy also tied a record for field goal attempts in a game with six and also have a perfect mark with 100% of his kicks.

The league record for field goals in a season is 15. Tracy is well on his way to taking that record as well and he is just two games into the season.

Flipping the Field

Another sign that the NE-10 is improving is the quality of kickers and punters that the league has right now. Kickers get a lot of attention as they see plenty of opportunities in the game. But punters are just as vital to the success of the team.

Bentley punter Tyler Ford did his job beautifully on Friday night. The offense stalled at the 24 yard line with just over two minutes to play. Ford entered the game for the fourth down punt. He connected on a solid kick that went over the New Haven returner's head and kept rolling.

It was finally downed at the eight yard line and the punt measured 68 yards, tying a school record. But more importantly, he helped to flip the field for the Falcons. Unfortunately, New Haven was able to drive the field for the winning field goal but Ford did his job well.

St. Anselm punter Shane Grayson had a similar experience against Pace. Ironically, the Hawks also stalled their drive on the 24 yard line and he was called upon to punt. He drilled a monster punt that went over the head of the Pace returner and rolled all the way down to the one yard line. Grayson was credited with a 75 yard punt and set a school record. It was one yard short of a league record which has occurred twice, most recently in 2001.

The quality of punting has vastly improved within the league. A punter used to be an afterthought for coaches but it is now helping them win games by pinning the opposing offense deep in their own territory.

Deja Vu

Part of the excitement of the weekend was last second heroics and it started Friday night in Waltham. New Haven drove the field in the final two minutes and Danny Stock drilled a 34 yard field goal to beat Bentley 22-21. Flashback to 2014 on the same field and New Haven scored in the final seconds to beat Bentley 38-35.

"It is a statement of how hard our kids played," New Haven head coach Chris Pincince said. "It could have gone either way there with a couple of plays in the fourth quarter but our kids believed."

The other development from the Chargers win is that they might have found their starting quarterback. Junior Ajee Patterson led them on two late scoring drives in the fourth quarter and looks to be the front runner for the job next week against American International.

"He has some ability and talent," Pincince said of Patterson. "We are fortunate to have three guys that can play quarterback. It is my job to get settle on one of them to get them some experience. I was doing them no favors by splitting the reps."

Patterson finished the game with 191 yards in the air including 161 in the second half. He threw the ball with confidence including completing a key fourth down throw to Ty Headen.

Game of the Year Nominee

Most people thought it was going to be a good football game but it exceeded expectations on Long Island Saturday afternoon. LIU Post defeated Assumption 40-31 in a game that was much closer than the final score. The game was back and forth the entire afternoon and a late pick six was the difference.

Just when Post looked like they were in control, Assumption closed the gap and kept the game interesting. The final several minutes were a back and forth slug fest that left both sidelines grasping for air.

It all started with 2:48 left on the clock. Post held a 26-25 lead and Assumption just received a punt at their 19 yard line. Cole Tracy already had six field goals and had a range of about 50 yards. So the Greyhounds need to get the ball around the 35 yard line for a chance to win the game.

But the Post defense stepped up. They pressured backup quarterback Quinn Fleeting and sacked him several times. The final one on fourth down created a fumble that Post recovered at the four yard line. They scored on the next play to extend the lead to 33-25. Game over, think again.

With 1:11 on the clock, Assumption started at their 27 yard line. Now third string quarterback Marc Monks is in the game for the Greyhounds and all is lost. Wait a second. He completes a pass to Alex Shain and then runs for a first down to get the ball to the Post 36 yard line. The next pass is a 36 yard completion to Deonte Harris for a touchdown and the score is 33-31. Two point conversion upcoming.

Assumption decided to hand the ball to Shain for the two point conversion. He leaps but is met by the Post defenders and held out of the end zone. So Assumption trails by 2 with 37 seconds left. Enter the hands team and an onside kick.

Assumption recovers the onside kick but is flagged for being offsides. They are backed up five yards and forced to re-kick. So they do it again and they recover the onside kick the second time as well. Jarrod Casey emerges with the ball and the comeback is alive with 34 seconds and the ball at the 42 yard line.

But the magic ended there for the Greyhounds as Monks was intercepted by Wayne Harris a couple of plays later who took it back for the touchdown and the game. Post wins their league and home opener and all of the fans get their money's worth.

Banned

You might have seen the reports of Pace captain Tyler Owens and the controversial picture of him that was given to the Pace Chronicle last week. Owens has been suspended by the football team and stripped of his captaincy. He is still taking classes at the university per reports.

Pace has been under such media scrutiny that they decided to ban all media members from the game last Saturday. I was one such member that was not allowed to attend the game. I had put in my credential request before all of the news became a top story in the area.

I had never been to the Pace campus and wanted to see all of the improvements that they had made with the facilities and the new field installed during the offseason. I was going for football reasons but became aware of the story during the middle of last week.

I am sure that the Pace media relations department was probably overwhelmed with requests by local media to get comments from head coach Andy Rondeau and players on the team. It probably has been a media circus on campus and very distracting to the other fall sports that had nothing to do with this.

It is up to debate whether Pace made the right call to ban media from the game.