Excitement

It is not often over the past ten years that you could use the words excitement and Pace in the same sentence. But in 2018, they seem to go together. The latest example of their excitement was during their 51-30 victory over Stonehill.

They are 3-2, 2-2 NE-10 for the second straight year but this year feels different. They are scoring points and have the second-best rushing attack in the league and fourth overall in offensive yards gained per game.

They had a quarterback in Carlton Aiken who is playing very well at the moment. In the victory over Stonehill, he threw four touchdowns passes including one to himself. Yes, he had a pass blocked at the four-yard line, stepped in to catch the ball and found his way to the end zone.

He is also a threat with his legs as he is capable of breaking off a long run each time his receivers are covered down the field. He had a career high two weeks in the loss to Assumption when he rushed for 159 yards and a score.

Once Stonehill fought back to take a 24-23 lead, Aiken found Andrew Rybaltowski twice in the course of two minutes for touchdown hookups of 55 and 59 yards to take the lead and the momentum away from the Skyhawks.

This is not your father's Pace football team. They can move the ball on offense and have shut down defenders. Their only two losses this year are to undefeated league members, Assumption and New Haven. Despite the final score in both games, it was a lot closer as the Setters made too many mistakes to win those games.

Pace will enjoy the bye week and travel up to Bentley in two weeks.

Career Day

Many people were questioning the decision for Cody Williams to start over Marc Monks after the success that Monks helped Assumption to over the past several years. But Williams is silencing those doubters as he had his best statistical day.

The Greyhounds defeated American International 54-9 and Williams tossed a career high five touchdown passes. Three of those touchdown passes went to Tighe Beck and the other two to Deonte Harris.

Williams finished with 378 yards through the air and added another 23 yards and a score with his legs. He now is tied for the league with 12 touchdown passes with Ajee Patterson.

Last year, Williams was used in short yardage situations to complement his dual threat ability. It was a different look for the defense and then needed to adjust on the fly.

Assumption has now won four straight games and has scored at least 49 points in those victories. Williams has been a big part of the offensive explosion.

The Greyhounds will host Southern Connecticut in two weeks.

Running Wild

The Southern Connecticut offense has scored at least 35 points in their three victories and just 20 points in their two losses. The offense was on display again as they jumped out early and defeated St. Anselm 43-7 last Saturday.

Eli Parks and Vochan Fowler were once again the benefactors of the rushing game as they combine for 164 yards and three scores. The duo has been slicing up defenses and a big part of the two game winning streak.

Matt Sapere also has filled in nicely at quarterback and helped to guide the offense up and down the field with ease. He played mistake free again while tossing two touchdowns.

The defense for the Owls allowed nothing for the Hawks and kept their quick play ability in check for 60 minutes.

Southern Connecticut will face a huge challenge when they travel north to Assumption in two weeks.

Blue Turf Drama

Last year, New Haven played way too many one-point games for head coach Chris Pincince to feel comfortable. And last Saturday, it looked like a 2017 game.

New Haven made a huge stop down the stretch and defeated Bentley 31-27. The Falcons were driving with under a minute to play before the Charger defense stepped up on third and fourth down to seal their fourth straight victory.

New Haven was without Ju'An Williams most of the game, but the rushing attack of the Chargers stepped up. Both Ryan McCarthy and Chris Liggio went over 100 yards in the victory and Patterson used his legs for a couple of touchdowns.
As a team, the Chargers had 277 yards on the ground and the offensive line was dominating in the trenches. They also scored all four of their touchdowns on the ground.

But it was the defense that stepped up when it was necessary. Bentley moved the ball towards midfield when Mcprecia Remy sacked Stephen Sturm on third down and a short pass was easily sniffed out by CJ Fitzpatrick and Jordan Francklin to turn the ball over on downs.

New Haven is undefeated in the league and in good position to make a run in the second half. They struggled last year after the bye week and need to find a way to harness their streak deep into the month of November.

New Haven will enjoy the bye week before making the trip up Route 91 to face American International.

Perfect

The last remaining team with an overall undefeated record is the LIU Post Pioneers. They make the four-hour trek to Merrimack and defeated the Warriors 37-20. The Pioneers are now 4-0 overall and 4-0 in the NE-10.

They jumped out to a 27-0 lead and never looked back. Chris Laviano was once again a big part of the offense. He threw for 326 yards and three scores. He also called his own number for the first score of the game for Post.

The defense held the undermanned Merrimack offense in check for most of the game but allowed a couple of late touchdowns to double the number of points this year. They entered the game only yielding 18 points in three games, but it doubled with Merrimack's 20 in the game.

The usual playmakers of Malik Pierre, Michael Richardson and Deon Mash did the damage for the offense as they sliced through the Merrimack defense with ease. The Pioneers had 482 yards of total offense.

Nazir Streater and Jake Carlock led the defense in tackles and Kevin Petit-Frere was credited with three sacks for Post.

Post will travel to Shippensburg this weekend for an out of conference game.

Bye Week

For the second consecutive season, the NE-10 will take the first weekend in October off and give the players and coaches a chance to relax. They have been working long hours since early August and have spent a lot of time together in practice, the film room and on the bus.

The bye week seemed to help and hurt teams a year ago. Teams like Assumption and Post used the week to reload and make their pushes in 2017. Teams like Pace and New Haven lost some of their momentum after strong first halves and then stumbled down the stretch.

Most coaches I spoke to last season were in favor of the bye week to get away from the game for a couple of days and recharge those batteries. The only coach that did not want the bye week was LIU Post head coach Bryan Collins.

Part of his issue might have been a two-game losing streak going into the off week last year and wanting to fix the mistakes on the field. But this year, the Pioneers found a dance partner to skip the bye week in the middle of the season.

They will travel to Shippensburg for their out of conference game as the PSAC East has an unbalanced schedule this year due to Cheyney dropping their football program. The Red Raiders also had the week off and will rekindle a former PSAC East rivalry when Post was in the PSAC.