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‘Cats are back at it

DURHAM – The last time the University of New Hampshire football team ventured into the Southland Conference for an NCAA Division I FCS tournament game, it came away with a win over Southeastern Louisiana and advanced to the playoff semifinals.

Four years later, the Wildcats are headed south and west and will look to match that success when they take on Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark. on “The Stripes” of Estes Field – the field alternates colors between purple and gray every 5 yards – in a second-round game in the tournament Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN3.

The challenge is formidable.

The Bears lost their opening game of the season at Kansas State and have not lost since. They rolled through the Southland with a 9-0 record and are 10-1 overall and ranked No. 3 in the country. They are the No. seed in the tournament, which means they get to play another game at home if they win Saturday.

The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the quarterfinals and a game against either Northern Iowa or South Dakota.

“We are going to have to go above and beyond what we’ve been playing in order to move on in this tournament,” said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. “The good thing is, we’re capable. It’s a tough challenge for this football program, but we’re looking forward to it.”

The Wildcat defense has cranked things up in the second half of the season.

The offense of late has had trouble at times moving the ball and scoring points consistently.

Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Matt Mascia liked the improvement the offensive line made in last week’s 14-0 first-round playoff win over Central Connecticut in Durham.

“I felt the last game was a big step,” Mascia said. “Coming together, definitely cut down on the quarterback pressures, quarterback sacks. Still there were a couple and we’d like to go a game without getting any. That’s the main goal, to keep our quarterback clean and have no color on the back of his jersey. But I think it was a big step.”

The offense needs to lend a hand to the defense, Mascia said.

“If we can control the ball and take time off the clock, I think we’re all very confident in our defense and what they can do,” he said. “If we can give them time where they can come back on the field re-juiced, that’s going to be a big part of this game.”

The defense is going up against a team that scores 37.6 points a game and piles up 207.8 yards on the ground and 260.4 passing for a total of 468.2 yards per game. Central Arkansas has turned the ball over only 10 times all season.

Bear running backs Kierre Crossley, a 5-foot-8 and 168-pound redshirt freshman, and Carlos Blackman, a 6-foot-1 and 235-pound sophomore, have gone for 770 and 702 yards rushing respectively. Crossley has four rushing touchdowns and Blackman has nine.

Quarterback Hayden Hildebrand, a 6-foot-3 and 196-pound senior, is among the country’s leaders in several categories, including touchdown passes (27), yards passing (2,768) and completion percentage (66.9 percent).

“The defense is going to be challenged and right now that’s probably the strength of our team – playing defense and stopping the run,” McDonnell said. “If we can hang in there and do that, then we’ll give ourselves a shot on Saturday.”

Linebackers Quinlen Dean, a sophomore, and Jared Kuehl, a junior, have teamed with the guys up front – senior defensive tackle Rick Holt, junior defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak, junior defensive end Jae’Wuan Horton and redshirt freshman defensive end Brian Carter – to set the pace on defense.

“They’re living off our defensive front, filling their gaps and taking care of ’em, and both those kids are playing very effective football for us,” McDonnell said. “They run to the ball, they tackle very well and our scheme helps them. It’s designed to get our linebackers free to make plays.”

Dean leads the team with 113 tackles. Kuehl, who missed four games due to injury, is fourth in tackles with 53 and leads in tackles for loss with 12 and has four sacks. Holt and Horton lead the team with 6.5 sacks each.

As usual, the defense’s first objective is to stop the run and get the Bears throwing the ball around.

“We feel like if we stop the run they’ll have to come out and pass.” Dean said. “And we believe that our secondary is very prepared for this game and I think we can win that way.”

*****

The Wildcats rallied late to win that 2013 game against Southeastern Louisiana. Quarterback Sean Goldrich drove the team down the field and scored on a 2-yard run with 47 seconds left for the winning TD in a 20-17 triumph. . . . UNH also posted a 49-13 win at McNeese State in another tournament game against a Southland team in 2009. . . . Junior quarterback Trevor Knight and junior receiver Neil O’Connor lead the UNH offense and have put up a couple of the best seasons in team history. . . . O’Connor has 91 catches for 1,341 yards and 10 touchdowns. The receptions are the third-best total for a season and the yards are the fourth-best. R.J. Harris had 100 catches in 2014 and David Ball had 93 in 2006. Ball (2005) and Harris (2014) share the yardage lead with 1,551 and Ball had 1,504 in 2004. . . . Knight has completed 265 passes for 3,150 yards for 24 touchdowns with four interceptions. Only Ricky Santos has completed more passes in a season. He did it in 2004 with 272, in 2005 with 301 and 2006 with 293. Knight’s yardage total is the fourth-best single season total. Kevin Decker passed for 3,272 in 2011 and Santos for 3,318 in 2004 and 3,797 in 2005. . . . Sophomore Evan Gray leads UNH rushers with 141 carries for 505 yards and has seven of UNH’s 11 rushing scores. . . . Sophomore Malik Love has 61 catches for 637 yards and two scores. . . . Redshirt freshman Nick Lorden has 10 catches for 125 yards and six TDs. . . . The Wildcats are in the FCS playoffs for the 14th straight season, which is by far the longest streak in the nation. The next closest run of consecutive appearances is the eight of North Dakota State.

 

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