Saint Anselm upsets New Haven
WEST HAVEN, Conn. -- Saint Anselm scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to jump out to a 21-10 lead and held off first-place New Haven for a thrilling 35-26 upset win at DellaCamera Stadium.
The loss ends New Haven's chances at the outright Northeast-10 title and likely ends their NCAA Tournament hopes as well.
After a scoreless first quarter, Saint Anselm struck first as freshman wide receiver Eric Feehan pulled in a lofted pass in the back left corner of the end zone for the 7-0 lead with 11:10 left in the second period. Freshman Tyrae Woodson-Samuels rolled out to his left and found a wide-open Feehan for the 19-yard score, his first career touchdown reception.
On the ensuing drive, the Chargers got into the red zone after a 37-yard pass from Ronnie Nelson to Demetrius Washington-Ellison and a 15-yard personal-foul penalty on the Hawks. New Haven took advantage of the big play as Ryan Osiecki scored on a quarterback keeper from 1 yard to tie the game at 7-7.
New Haven took the 10-7 lead with 4:26 left in the first half as Chris Scifo booted a 20-yard field goal. The Hawk defense held the Chargers to three points after it was first and goal for New Haven from the 3-yard line.
Saint Anselm had an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead late in the second quarter, but the Charger defense made a red-zone stand to keep the game at 10-7 heading into the half. The Hawks got into the red zone on a 46-yard completion to freshman Keith Charles up the near sideline. Woodson-Samuels was under pressure in the backfield and found Charles on a screen pass, which Charles took up the sideline to the 13-yard line.
The Hawks received the opening kickoff of the second half and quickly found the end zone as Charles pulled in a pass from Woodson-Samuels around the 10-yard line and blasted thru the Charger defense for the 16-yard score. On the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Hawks' Trevor Jessie to set Saint Anselm up at the New Haven 49-yard line. Less than two minutes later, the Hawks extended the lead to double digits as Woodson-Samuels found Bouie in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
The rest of the third quarter was all New Haven however, as Osiecki scored on a 2-yard QB sneak and Scifo kicked a 30-yard field goal for a 21-20 Hawk lead after three quarters of play.
To start the fourth, the Hawks marched into the red zone and had a first-and-goal situation from the 13-yard line, but were unable to score and the Chargers took over on downs. Saint Anselm's defense stood strong though as senior Mark Colantonio picked off New Haven on the next play and returned the ball 27 yards for a touchdown to get the lead back to 28-20. New Haven made it a two-point game with 8:57 left on a 19-yard scoring reception by Washington, but failed on the two-point-conversion attempt for the 28-26 margin.
Saint Anselm got the ball back with 4:42 left and on the first play of the drive, sophomore Michael Pierce, who came in at quarterback late in the game, found Bouie on a shovel pass up the middle. Dodging tacklers thru the line of scrimmage, Bouie took the ball straight up the middle and outran the defense for a 64-yard touchdown to seal the win..
Saint Anselm piled up 483 yards of total offense on 78 offensive plays, led by 374 yards passing and four passing scores. Woodson-Samuels was 21 for 28 with three touchdowns, while Pierce completed 8 of 13 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. The Hawks also had three players reach 100 receiving yards in the same game for the first time in the program's history, led by a 14-catch, 129-yard outing by freshman Justin Bernard. Bouie had eight catches for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Charles pulled down four receptions for exactly 100 yards receiving.
The leading freshman rusher in the league, Charles also led the ground attack with 68 yards and finished the game with a team-best 168 all-purpose yards. Bernard, Bouie and Colantonio also surpassed the 100-yard all-purpose yard mark in the win. On defense, Brendan Timmons had a team-best 10 tackles, including seven assisted stops.
For New Haven, Osiecki passed for 252 yards and one touchdown. He completed 18 of 42 pass attempts with two interceptions. Washington was the leading receiver with seven catches for 113 yards and one score.
With the win, Saint Anselm improves to 2-7 overall and 2-5 in Northeast-10 play, while New Haven is now 8-2 overall and 6-2 in the league. Saint Anselm concludes the 2010 regular season on Saturday, when the Hawks return to Connecticut for a 1 p.m. meeting with Southern Connecticut at Jess Dow Field.
