Overtime

It might be the defining moment of the season for the Pace Setters. They were moving the ball up and down the field but trailed Bentley 20-0 in the second half. And then it happened. They matured right there on the field.

They scored the next 23 straight points to win their fourth game of the season and are in lone position of fourth place in the NE-10, right behind the three-way tie for first place. They are over .500 this late in the season for the first time since most of the team was in diapers.

Brandon Simmons was back under center and it did not look good early on with a bunch of turnovers. But he hung in there and then rallied the troops for the 23 straight points. He kept handing the ball off to Jhalen Bien-Aime and good things started to happened.

Bien-Aime had 224 yards on the ground and two scores. He becomes the all-time leader in rushing yards in school history and now is in the middle of the resurgence of the football program.

Interceptions were the Achilles Heel of the Setters in the first half. One set up a short field for Bentley to extend their lead in the second quarter and then the other one was a major backbreaker.

Simmons was trying to avoid the pressure and through the ball to the end zone. Derek Perkins stepped in front of the pass and saw nothing but open field ahead of him. His 100-yard pick six made it 20-0 Falcons before Pace was able to right the ship.

An 81-yard drive got the Setters on the board late in the third quarter before Bien-Aime scored twice in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime.

Pace had the ball first and Austin Stefano drilled a 40-yard field goal to give Pace their first lead of the game. The Setter defense stopped Bentley on third straight plays and then blocked the game tying field attempt to win set off the celebration and a happy bus ride home.

Pace will stay in New York this weekend when they travel to LIU Post for the final time.

Overtime, Part II

Assumption was known for their offense coming into the game, but it was their defense that won the game. With a first and goal at the four-yard line in overtime and all of the momentum on the Southern Connecticut side, it was the Greyhound defense that stepped up.

They stopped the Owls on three consecutive plays and then a field goal attempt hit the left upright to keep the game tied at 20 for the offense to win the game.

Two plays later, a beautiful play fake as Cody Williams found a wide-open Kyle Sonnie and the celebration was on for the Greyhounds. It was a 26-20 final and Assumption stays undefeated in the league at 5-0 and 5-1 overall.

It seemed like Assumption was going to win the game in regulation but a comeback by Southern Connecticut saw the teams play some extra football.

Taking over at the 35-yard line, the Owls faced a due or die fourth and nine. Matt Sanzaro was pressured and scrambled to his right. He found Julian Chang along the sideline for a 27-yard reception.

He then found Chang again over the middle to get the ball to the three-yard line. Sanzaro capped the drive off with a two-yard rushing touchdown and then converted the two-point conversion to tie the game to set up the overtime drama.

The Owls once again had plenty of yards on the ground but were not able to punch the ball into the end zone when they were inside the red zone. Credit the Assumption defense for struggling outside the 20's and then tightening up when it mattered the most.

Williams finished the game with three touchdown passes but was also picked off three times. The Greyhound offense was very balanced as they had 180 yards through the air and 179 on the ground.

Assumption makes the trip south to take on New Haven this weekend.

Gritty Road Win

New Haven was not at their best last Saturday but did enough to defeat American International 33-13 on the road. The Chargers are now 5-1, 5-0 NE-10 and go back home for a huge matchup this week.

The offense of New Haven was not as crisp as they had been in the first half of the season. Midway through the third quarter, it was a 13-10 game and the Yellow Jackets had more yards. But a long touchdown pass from Ajee Patterson to AJ Greene extended the lead to 20-10.

It was the second long touchdown of the day for Patterson as he had hooked up with former American International star Ju'An Williams for a 41-yard score. In total, Patterson had four passes into the end zone for touchdowns and a late Mark Clements pick six stretched the score more than the game actually was.

The Chargers finished with only 263 yards of total offense and their running game was bottled up much of the afternoon. Ryan McCarthy had a long run of 10 yards and that is not typical for the rushing attack of New Haven.

But their defense stepped up when they needed them and did not allow the Yellow Jackets to find the end zone frequently. Along with the late pick six, the Chargers did their part to win a tough road game.

New Haven will host Assumption this weekend in the marquee matchup of the schedule.

Home Strength

The only overall perfect team in the NE-10 stays that way on Saturday as LIU Post easily cruised to a 37-6 victory over St. Anselm. The Pioneers are 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the league.

Chris Laviano had four touchdown passes in the victory and continues to make it look easy from the quarterback position. Three of the touchdown strikes went to Michael Richardson and he was his favorite target of the afternoon with eight total catches.

Laviano was also the leading rusher for the Pioneers with 56 yards on the ground.

The defense for Post continues to be solid as they only allowed two field goals and just 270 yards of total offense by St. Anselm. Nazir Streater was again a big part of the defensive side of the ball. He was credited with three picks, two pass breakups and two tackles.

The Pioneers will face Pace this weekend.

Under the Lights

They might have had the toughest schedule ever to open a season in the history of the league and they also had a young team that had injuries pile up quicker than anticipated. But they put together a solid performance to gain some confidence.

The Warriors opened the second half of the season with a 38-24 victory over Stonehill last Saturday night. Christian Carter played beyond his years with 430 yards of passing and five touchdown strikes. He also carried the ball for 112 yards and a long of 51.

He found Cody Demers and Johnny Rosario each twice for touchdowns. Demers had a 90 yard score and Rosario had one for 78 yards. And let's not forgot about Marquis Spence who had 10 receptions and a score.

It was the type of performance that the Merrimack coaching staff saw coming and hoped that it could occur for a full 60 minutes week in and week out.

Not to be upstaged, Stonehill running back Brian Kearns, Jr. had 235 yards on the ground and two scores. But it was not enough to overcome the explosiveness of the Merrimack offense.

They had 547 yards of total offense and Carter accounted for 542 of them in the game. Merrimack is now 2-4 on the season and 2-3 in the NE-10.

Merrimack travels north to St. Anselm this weekend.

Defections

The NE-10 will have a different look next year. LIU Post is the second team to leave the league for next season as they announced their plans this past week.

They are merging their Brooklyn and Brookville athletic programs together and moving all of them to Division 1. LIU-Brooklyn was already there so it is the Post campus that will be getting the upgrade.
It makes sense financially for the schools to merge the programs and eliminate redundant costs to save the LIU system money. Plus they are able to use that money for facility upgrades and travel costs in the future.

Merrimack announced earlier in the year that they are moving all of their athletic programs to the Division I level to join their hockey program.

Coincidentally, both programs will be part of the Northeast Conference next season. LIU Brooklyn is already in the conference for all sports except football. They also join former NE-10 member Bryant in the league.

With Franklin Pierce entering the league next year with a football program, that will leave the league with nine programs on the gridiron. It will create a bye week each weekend for the league and the need to find an additional out of conference game to get to at least ten games in 2019.

We will see what the coaches decide after the season for bringing back the championship game to get teams that much needed 10th game of the season for the top two teams.

Huge Matchup, Part 1

With three undefeated teams in the league, it is time for something to give. And the first case of that will be this weekend.

Assumption travels to New Haven and one of those teams will get their first league loss of the season. Both are 5-0 in the league and barely got there with tightly contested games this past weekend.

The teams always play a close, competitive game and this game will be well worth the price of admission. Assumption is one of the few teams that owns a winning record over New Haven and always plays the Chargers tough.

Expect a big crowd to watch the game on the Blue Turf this Saturday.