New Stadium

Merrimack unveiled their new Warrior Stadium on Saturday and used the excitement of the day to defeat Pace 44-10. The Warriors jumped out early and never looked back in their second victory of the season.

"We played 60 minutes today," Merrimack head coach Dan Curran said. "When we do that, we can play with anyone in this league. We need to continue to develop and we can make some noise at the end of the season."

The announced crowd for the game was 7,091 but it seemed like that there were way more people there. All the seats in the stands were packed and they have another area on the opposite side behind the visitor bench that was wall to wall people. People lined up at the surrounding fence outside of the stadium with a crowd that was hyped all day long.

"It is a culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people," Curran said of the new stadium. "I think that the alumni are just as excited about this day as some of the players. We are very excited about what we have moving forward."

The game lived up to the hype for the home team as it was also homecoming weekend for the school. Most people were there to celebrate the stadium and see all the improvements with the gem being the new stadium.

For those that paid attention to the game, they saw a dominant rushing attack from Merrimack. They rushed for 344 yards in the game as Derrick Villard and Rodney Samson did most of the heavy lifting. Backup quarterback Cam Hayes also showed that the future is bright for the Warriors as he rushed for two scores and brought a new wrinkle to the offense.

"They are both great teammates," Curran said of his quarterback duo. "They are very supportive of each other and that is a big reason why we had success. Both executed very well and both did a great job of being leaders."

Merrimack hits the road next week as they travel to Southern Connecticut.

Cardiac Kids

It is OK if you show up for the final five minutes of a New Haven home game. That is because that is when all the excitement occurs. For the third straight home game, it came down to the final series before the game was decided.

New Haven picked off Matt Foltz with 26 seconds left to preserve a 23-22 victory over Stonehill. The Chargers scored their winning points a little over a minute earlier when Ajee Patterson hit Damon Rodgers over the middle of the field and he outsprinted the secondary for a 48-yard touchdown. That came on the heels of a Stonehill interception and one yard score by Brian Kearns, Jr.

This game is the third of a series of late game nail biters on the blue turf this year. It started Week 2 when they had a chance to knock off LIU Post late. They drove the field but missed a field goal that would have won the game. Two weeks later, the shoe was on the other foot. Pace drove the field but missed a field goal that would have won the game.

The Chargers are now 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the league. The young team is maturing quickly with these late game situations and now face Assumption on the road this week for the top spot in the NE-10.

Brickwall

Bentley scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to defeat rival American International 28-10. The Falcons used short fields and a pick six to rally for their fourth win of the season.

But the story of the game was the lack of running space for any of the running backs. There were 77 rushing attempts in the game and that totaled just 123 yards. That is a mere 1.6 yards per rushing attempt. That is some good defensive line play by both teams.

The longest rush of the day was turned in by Bentley's Austin Triglia when he found some daylight and broke off a 19-yard run in the first quarter that led to an Andrew Brazicki touchdown for the first points of the game.

Both teams combined for 15 tackles for a loss in the game for a loss of 54 yards. It was a tough day for running backs but both teams feature two of the better defenses in the league.

Bentley is on the road at Stonehill next weekend as American International hosts LIU Post.

Back to Usual

LIU Post found their offensive groove last Saturday as they put up plenty of points in their 52-35 victory over Southern Connecticut. The Pioneers also committed just one turnover as that were a turnover machine in their previous two losses before the bye.

Yianni Gavalas was once again the catalyst for an offense that accumulated 631 yards of total offense. He threw for 375 yards and three scores. Malik Pierre was unstoppable as he had 169 yards on the ground, 22 yards receiving and 102 return yards including a 91 yard kickoff return for a score.

Post generated a total of 833 yards as they had 631 in offense plays and then another 202 yards in the return game. That is the typical style of Post as they are explosive and can move the ball with ease.

Post has a very favorable schedule down the stretch despite three games on the road. The only team right now with a winning record left on their schedule is Pace. They hope to continue their run this weekend at American International.

Top Quarterback

There was a debate on the message board the other day about the top quarterbacks in the league. Everyone had their opinion but one name most people including myself overlook is Marc Monks from Assumption. He might be the best quarterback in the league that nobody is talking about.

Monks is quietly ascending in the Assumption record book. He is now the all-time leader in touchdown passes in school history with 49 after adding four to his resume in the victory over St. Anselm last Saturday.

He is also second all-time in passing yards with 5,142. He will become second later in the season in completions as he has 388 for his career. But there is one thing that sets him apart from the rest of the league, winning.

He has been part of a team that has been selected to two consecutive playoffs berth and they are well on their way to a third. He has a NE-10 championship on his resume but he steps on the field and the team just wins games.

He is a very confident leader and well-liked by his teammates. He has a ton of talent around him that makes his job look so easy. That is probably why most people overlook him in the discussion of top quarterbacks. The many weapons that he has at his disposal is enormous. His third receiver choice on a pass route is the equivalent of most top receivers in the league.

Monks needs to be discussed more often in terms of top players in the NE-10. He has quietly earned that reputation and he might enjoy that people don't think of him like that. Either way, he just wins games and that is what his coaching staff admires the most every Saturday.

Monks and the rest of the Assumption team take on New Haven this Saturday in a battle for first place in the league.