September 20th, 2021 4:00am
Friday Night
Southern Connecticut is going to petition the NE10 to play all their games on Friday night in the state of Connecticut. They are now 2-0 on Friday nights as they defeated St. Anselm 34-31 on a last-second field goal.
Their Friday night success started two weeks ago when they knocked off Division I FCS in-state rival Central Connecticut 28-21. And now with the victory over St. Anselm last Friday, they are perfect under the lights in the state of Connecticut.
The hero of the night was kicker Szymon Gawlick. He drilled the 27-yard field goal that set off the celebration that almost didn’t happen. The Owls couldn't handle the snap on the first attempt, and it looked like the game was going to overtime. But St. Anselm was called for leaping and Southern Connecticut had a second chance. Gawlick drilled the winner and sprinted the length of the field before his teammates were able to corral him and celebrate.
The unlikely hero is a transfer from Johnson & Wales where he played soccer. He was a soccer star for Newton South High School and was never looking to play football. The “other” football was his game but after the winning kick last Friday night, it looks like he made the right choice to play American football.
Southern Connecticut jumped out early behind the arm of Jackson Ostrowsky. He threw for three scores in the opening half before he was sacked and left the game. Joe Bernard entered and led the Owls on several scoring drives including the game-winner.
Southern Connecticut makes the cross-town trip next weekend to battle for the Elm City Trophy against New Haven.
Top of the Pack
A lot of people thought that Bentley was the team to beat in the NE10 this year. After three weeks, they are living up to those expectations. The latest example was a 24-14 victory over Stonehill last Saturday that made them 3-0, 1-0 NE10 on the season.
It was Stonehill that had the early momentum. After a Bentley field goal, the Skyhawks responded with a solid drive that was capped off by a six-yard Justin Felder touchdown. The Stonehill defense stopped Bentley on the next drive but then the momentum shifted quickly.
Anton Stoneking and his receiver were not on the same page and Bentley defensive back Matt Severance picked off the easy interception and took it to the house for a 10-7 Bentley lead. It seemed that the Skyhawks never recovered from that play.
“It definitely was a big play for them,” Stonehill coach Eli Gardner said.
The Bentley offense was not at their best but did enough to win the game. Noah Neville made his second straight game of a highlight touchdown catch as he hauled in a 36-yard pass. Nathaniel Larkins finished the scoring for the Falcons as he found the end zone early in the fourth quarter.
“It was just two good football teams,” Bentley coach Bill Kavanaugh said. “It was good football out there. It was hard to run on both sides of the ball.”
But the real story of the game was the Bentley defense. They had the pick-six and were consistently applying pressure to Stoneking. He never seemed comfortable in the pocket as the front four of Bentley was in his face the entire game.
“When we got them into three and long, we were able to get to him,” Kavanaugh said. “That is huge.”
“That is a good defense,” Gardner said of Bentley. When you game plan, you need to find a way to stop the run. Hats off to Bentley as they had a good game plan and executed it.”
Stonehill had a late touchdown to make the final score closer in the final box score, but they were just not able to make enough plays to win a game on the road in front of a large crowd.
“I told the team afterward that we faced adversity today that we had not faced in the first two weeks,” Gardner said. “We learned a lot about ourselves. We have a lot to grow and improve upon whether it is performance or mindset.”
“It is a huge win for the campus,” Kavanaugh said. “It is just one win, and the team will be reminded of that. One game at a time, one play at a time.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for Bentley as they will travel to fellow undefeated American International this coming Saturday. Stonehill is back home against Assumption Saturday night.
A Win is a Win
It was a tough couple of weeks for the Assumption football team. They lost at Kutztown and then were not able to slow down the offense of Bentley. They were in the unfamiliar place of being 0-2 to start the season.
Assumption defeated Pace 32-21 last Saturday to grab their first win of the season. It was a complete team victory for the Greyhounds as they had players on both sides of the ball contribute.
Khaleed Exum-Strong was the workhorse for Assumption. He gained 189 yards in the game including two trips to the end zone. Brevin Easton also visited the end zone twice and hauled in touchdown passes from two different quarterbacks.
After a Peyton Ausfeld interception in the end zone, Jordan McAfee threw a perfect slant pass to Easton, and he went 80 yards to cement the victory for the Greyhounds.
The Assumption offense accounted for 536 yards against the Pace defense including 375 yards on the ground.
Assumption will look to extend their winning streak on the road against Stonehill next Saturday night. Pace has a bye week.
Buzz
Three weeks, three road games, and three victories. American International capped off a beautiful road trip with a 38-19 victory over Franklin Pierce. The Yellow Jackets continued their torrid start of 2021 and are still the biggest surprise in the NE10.
It was the arm of Jayson DeMild that carried the AIC offense once again. He spread his four touchdowns around to four different receivers and then handed the ball off to his backs, watching them do their work.
When a team goes 72% on third-down conversions and 100% on fourth-down tries, they are not going to lose a lot of games. The Yellow Jackets are playing solid football on both sides of the ball and each win gains confidence.
They will face their biggest test of the season this weekend when fellow undefeated Bentley makes the trip to Springfield.
On the Road
I mentioned last week about Franklin Pierce running back EJ Burgess and his track from Texas to Rindge, NH. But in going through the roster for St. Anselm last week, they deserve a lot of credit for recruiting in Texas.
St. Anselm has 11 players listed on their roster from the state of Texas. In contrast, they only have 10 members of their roster hailing from the state of New Hampshire. That is certainly a departure from usual recruiting trends as programs tend to recruit heavily in their own backyard.
The recruiting trail is long and never-ending but the Hawks’ coaching staff has done a good job hitting the road and getting several key players to make the trek from Texas to Manchester, NH.