October 14th, 2019 3:00am
Party like 2008
Pace head coach Andy Rondeau was walking around with a football after the game last Saturday greeting his family and alumni of the program. He had a large smile on his face and enjoying every second of it.
His Setters had just emerged from a back and forth battle to defeat Assumption 35-32 to win their fourth game of the season. It was the first time since 2008 that Pace defeated Assumption and one of the biggest victories in recent memory.
“It was a big victory,” Rondeau said. “It was an opponent that has haunted us for a long time. We have struggled to compete with them over the years.”
Carlton Aiken, Jr. was the offensive catalyst once again for the Setters. The senior quarterback had a career-high 180 yards on the ground in the victory, but it was his arm that fueled the victory.
After Assumption took the lead with 1:39 to play, Aiken found Trey Hodge for a 48-yard hookup that put Pace in position for the winning score.
“If you talk about scripting it on first down to get the big play, it puts you back in a spot to make it all manageable,” Rondeau said. “We didn’t see a lot of ball movement like that down the field through the air on first down. It was good to see.”
A couple of short completions to Jhalen Bien-Aime and Darnell McCray along with Aiken scamper for a first down set up the winning score. Aiken threw a quick slant pass to Darius Jones from three yards out to seal the victory.
In total, Pace amassed 381 yards on the ground. Bien-Aime had 135 yards and a score. Jones had a 50-yard rushing touchdown to open the scoring in the first half.
The game featured a lot of back and forth. Pace scored the first 14 points of the game. Assumption answered with 12 straight points. Pace then opened the second half with another 14 straight points before the Greyhounds scored 20 points in a row to grab their lone lead of the game.
Pace is off this weekend.
Family Affair
The football universe is very small. Here is another example.
Pace head coach Andy Rondeau started his coaching career at Northeastern University in 1991 after he graduated from Syracuse. He was an assistant defensive backs coach from 1991-1993 for the Huskies.
During the 1992 season, one of the captains for Northeastern was Carlton Aiken. His son, Carlton Aiken, Jr is the current quarterback for Rondeau at Pace after he transferred to Pleasantville a couple of years ago.
Rondeau has coached both father and son during his career. He took the fifth on which Aiken was the biggest troublemaker in the locker room, but I think that he is very happy to have the younger Aiken on his team right now and the older one cheering him on each week.
Record-Breaking
Stonehill made their first trip to Franklin Pierce and walked away with a convincing 52-0 victory to improve to 4-1, 3-0 NE10. The Skyhawks are the lone team that remains undefeated in league play.
Justin Felder scored three times for the third straight game. Two of his three touchdowns in the game came in the first quarter as Stonehill has dominated the opening stanza this year.
They have outscored opponents 70-14 in their five games this year and that is a big reason for their solid start to the season. They are playing with the lead and that helps with their confidence for the rest of the game.
Andrew Jamiel went over the 3,000-yard mark for his career, becoming just the eighth receiver in NE10 history to do that. Matt Haite also rewrote the Stonehill record book as he kicked the 34th field goal of his career. He is also closing in on the program record for total points and extra points made.
Felder ended his afternoon with 166 yards on the ground. Anton Stoneking tossed for 286 yards and three scores as he is looking more comfortable each week for the Skyhawks.
The defense held Franklin Peirce to a mere 125 yards of total offense and pitched their first shutout since 2014.
Stonehill will host Bentley this weekend.
Aerial attack
For the second straight week, it was the passing game that sparked a victory for Southern Connecticut. Jackson Ostrowsky threw for 405 yards and four scores in their 31-17 victory over Bentley. The Owls improve to 2-4, 2-2 NE10 on the season.
Brandon Swain-Price and Julian Chang were his favorite targets as they each hauled in 10 passes apiece. Swain-Price had 201 yards and two scores. Chung finished with 129 yards in the victory.
In all, the Owls amassed 460 yards of total offense and might have found their quarterback of the future. Ostrowsky is the fourth Owl to throw for 400 yards in a game and is the first freshman in program history to do that.
No picks for the second straight week for Ostrowsky and he seems to have a command of the offense in just three games this season.
The Owl defense also caused three turnovers to put the offense in short field possessions.
Southern Connecticut welcomes New Haven this weekend.
Saturday Night Fun
St. Anselm has hosted several Saturday Night games that were memorable but most of them have the Hawks on the wrong side of the final score. That changed this past Saturday night.
Eric Fairweather scored twice in the final three and a half minutes to rally the Hawks to a 37-31 victory over New Haven. The senior quarterback amassed 438 yards of total offense and was responsible for four scores.
His favorite target was Franklin Holgate as the duo hooked up seven times for 103 yards. Shawn Donovan caught both of Fairweather’s touchdown throws and was just short of 100 yards in the game.
Anthony Brown was the unsung hero for the Hawks. He returned a 94-yard kickoff for a score to open the second quarter and then returned another kickoff 62 yards to set up a short field for the first of Fairweather’s rushing scores.
St. Anselm has beaten New Haven twice in the past but both were on the blue turf on the road. This was their first home victory over the Chargers.
For the Chargers, they have had enough of road night games. Last month, they lost to Bentley under the lights and now to St. Anselm. They will welcome early starts for the rest of the season.
Both teams play in-state rivals this weekend. St. Anselm goes to Franklin Pierce while New Haven is at Southern Connecticut.