Bright Lights

When the national television crews come to Easton, MA, they have not left disappointed. For the second time in four years, New Haven and Stonehill played an instant classic for the country to see.

Stonehill was the recipient of a late drive to win the game this time 21-17. In 2012, it was New Haven that scored with six seconds to play to win the game 45-41.

The Skyhawks put together an impressive drive that started on the 14-yard line with 6:40 to go. It all started with their defense that forced New Haven to turn it over on downs. The Chargers were unable to convert on fourth down, passing up a potential field goal try.

Matt Foltz was magnificent as he moved the offense down the field with ease. He finished the drive seven for eight for 67 yards and also had an eight-yard run. He found his favorite target Andrew Jamiel in the corner of the end zone for a beautiful driving catch for the winning margin.

It was a 10-yard touchdown pass that turned out to be Jamiel's 18th catch of the night. And of course, Jamiel wears # 18. He fell one catch short of the NE-10 record of 19 held by Merrimack's Jeremiah Watts.

Jamiel now leads all of Division II with 73 receptions and is well on his way to potentially breaking the all-time record for reception by a freshman in a season. The current record is held by Jarett Vito of Emporia State who amassed 94 catches in his freshman season back in 1995.

It was an incredible ending to another memorable game played on a national stage.

Bright Lights, Part Two

Assumption continued their complete domination of Friday nights as they defeated St. Anselm 39-13. The Greyhounds improve to 6-1 overall, 5-1 in the NE-10 and 4-0 under the lights on Fridays.

The most impressive part of the story is the first quarter. Assumption has outscored their opponents 86-0 in the opening quarter of their Friday night games. They come flying out of the locker room and the opposing team doesn't know what hit them. They have a double digit lead before everyone is comfortably in their seats and the rest of the night is the more of the same.

To add insult to injury, they have outscored all of their opponents 196-61 in the first half this season. They have trailed just once at halftime and they dropped that game to LIU Post. If you don't slow down the Greyhounds in the opening 30 minutes, it is going to be a long night for you.

Assumption will look to continue their hot start when they travel to New Haven this Saturday.

Kicking

I have made a point to highlight all facets of the game here and kicking played a huge role in victories again this weekend. Cole Tracy of Assumption was a big part of the Assumption victory last Friday night.

He drilled six field goals tying his own record and also was perfect on point after tries. He drilled field goals from 21, 47, 22, 42, 25 and 45 yards away. He is now one of three kickers in Division II history with six field goals in one game and this is the second time in two seasons that Tracy tied the record. He also kicked six field goals against LIU Post last year.

He has not been his usual dependable self this year with field goals but showed why he is still one of the top kickers at the Division 2 level.

Kicking, Part Two

Tyler Ford entered the week leading the NE-10 in punting average and his foot was a large reason why Bentley walked away with a 5-3 victory over American International last Saturday.

He was called upon 12 times to punt in the game and averaged 44.9 yards for each kick. He pinned American International four times inside the 20 yard. He also boomed a 73-yard punt to help flip the field for the Falcons as field possession was the name of the game in the defensive struggle.

The record for punts in a NE-10 game is 14 held by Baron Albury of Merrimack back in 2001.

During halftime of the Merrimack game, I noticed that Ford was consistently kicking the ball 60 yards in the air while he was warming up. Most people never want to see the punter but when Bentley head coach Bill Kavanaugh calls Ford to field, he knows that he is in good hands or shall I say right foot.

Kicking Part Three

One kicker in the NE-10 has yet to miss a kick this season and that is New Haven kicker Danny Stock. The junior kicker is perfect in field goals (8-8) and PATs (32-32). The perfection continued last Saturday night as he kicked the field goal off of the top of the upright but it bounced in between for the field goal.

Stock also is the punter for New Haven and is currently averaging 43 yards per punt. He also has 20 touchbacks in 47 kickoffs this year to prove that he is the best all-around kicker in the league.

He is one of only two kickers at the Division II level to be perfect in field goals this year when the kicker has attempted at least one field goal in each of their games. Will Brazil of California is the other kicker that is perfect in field goals this year to qualify in the NCAA stats.

Stock has been a dependable member of the New Haven team and a big reason why they have had a lot of success the past couple of seasons.

DefenseEke Out

Southern Connecticut dashed the dreams of Stonehill last year for an undefeated season. And last Saturday, they almost did the same for LIU Post.

The Pioneers rallied in the fourth quarter to get a 30-23 victory over the Owls and remain undefeated at 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the NE-10. They scored 16 points in the final 15 minutes to overcome six turnovers in the game. That is not like the usually effective Post offense.

It was again Jeff Kidd that rallied the team. He found Shane Hubbard and Kyle Ward for touchdowns in the final quarter. He had three touchdowns through the air, one on the ground but had to overcome two interceptions. Post also lost four fumbles on the afternoon.

Southern Connecticut is no stranger to turning the ball over six times and winning. They did the exact same thing against American International and rallied for the win in Week 4.

Post will look to stay on top of the NE-10 standings when they host American International next weekend.

Perfect

Merrimack won their second game of the season with a 35-21 victory at Pace. It stopped a five game losing streak for the Warriors and extended their winning streak over the Setters. They have won all 16 games between the two schools.

It was the rushing game and defense that helped Merrimack win the game. They grinded out 263 yards in the win and scored 35 consecutive points in the middle of the game. The defense also played well by holding Pace to just 94 yards of rushing and just 21 points on the scoreboard.

Derrick Villard, Shamik Perry and Brenton Martin all shared in the rushing success that helped to gain 16 first downs via the run.

Merrimack is back home next weekend to face Southern Connecticut.

NE-10 Contenders

With three weeks to go in the regular season, the participants for the NE-10 championship game are started to weed themselves out. It looks like we are down to three contenders right now that are highly probable of playing each other on November 12th.

The clear front runner is LIU Post. They are undefeated and hold the tie breaker over most teams right now. They are at home against American International and Pace the next two weeks before ending the season at Merrimack. If they win two of their final three games, they will clinch home field for the championship game.

The race for second place will get a lot clearer next weekend. Assumption and New Haven face off and the winner will have the inside track for a potential trip to Long Island to play for some hardware. Despite New Haven losing at Stonehill, they can win three straight and play for the title as they would hold the tie breaker over Assumption.

If Assumption wins next Saturday, it is almost a certain lock that they would make the trek to Post. But both New Haven and Assumption have American International left on the schedule so nothing is etched in stone for the winner of next week's game.

Bentley is also 4-2 in the league and needs some help to get to the championship game. First, they need New Haven to beat Assumption besides winning out the rest of the way including a final weekend match up in New Haven. Right now, they lose tiebreakers to both Post and Assumption as they fell to them earlier in the season. They have Stonehill and Southern Connecticut to get through before the New Haven game.

The three teams at 3-3 in the league have some sort of chance but it is very long at this point. We will figure them out if the top of the league stumbles over the next several weeks.

As always, stay tuned as the end of the season seems to be on course for a memorable one.