Saint Anselm remains winless

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College football team remained winless following a 42-21 loss to Pace University on Saturday.

Box Score

Saint Anselm quarterback Eric Fairweather, a senior, finished the game with 196 passing yards, giving him 4,132 for his career. He became the fifth quarterback in program history to crack 4,000 passing yards in a career. He finished the day 21-for-45 through the air, but was intercepted four times.

Saint Anselm (0-4, 0-2 Northeast-10) pushed across the first points of the afternoon with a 2-yard rushing score by senior Nicholas Fiorillo (Westford, Mass.) with just over five minutes elapsed in the first quarter. Pace responded with the game’s next five scores, building a 35-7 lead through three quarters thanks for five touchdowns, four receiving and one rushing.

The Hawks scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, shrinking the hosts lead to 35-21 with a 13-yard reception by junior Charles Elliott (Memphis, Tenn.) and a 2-yard sprint by Fairweather with 2:23 to go in regulation.

With just over 90 seconds left, Pace (3-1, 2-0 NE-10) scored on a Brandon Simmons pass to Ramir Tann-Davis to account for the 42-21 score.

The first drive of the day was successful for Saint Anselm, which used 14 plays to move the ball 88 yards with Fiorillo’s touchdown and the Joey Cody (Cinnaminson, N.J.) point-after creating a 7-0 lead. With each team punting on their next possession, Pace tied the game, 7-7, on a 33-yard reception by Darius Jones.

Pace forced the Hawks to punt on their possession after the Jones score and used two plays and less than 40 seconds to double up their lead, 14-7, thanks to a one-yard rushing score by Kashmier Jackson.

Down by one score to begin the second half, the Hawks defense stood tall and forced Pace to punt. On the ensuing punt return, the Hawks fumbled the ball and set up Pace’s third score of the afternoon, a 13-yard touchdown reception by Adrian Rybaltowski with 7:23 to go in the third quarter.

On the Hawks second play of the next drive, Fairweather  threw an interception that ultimately yielded yet another touchdown reception for Jones less than two minutes after their previous score. After a three-and-out by Saint Anselm, the Pace offense continued to click, scoring on their next possession to create the 35-7 bulge with 1:18 left in the quarter.

The Hawks scored twice in the final quarter, gaining eight fourth-quarter first downs and posting nearly 100 yards of offense in the final 15 minutes alone, but it was too late. Tann-Davis’ insurance score late in the contest created the final 42-21 score.

Fiorillo finished with eight catches for 64 yards with senior Shawn Donovan (Abington, Mass.) catching five passes for 45 yards. Sophomore Christian Matthews-Byrd (Saddle Brook, N.J.) had 18 carries for 49 yards and sophomore Brian Gomez (Lawrence, Mass.) had four punt returns for 71 yards, including a career-high return of 43 yards in the contest which stands as the eighth-longest in team history.

Senior CJ Miller (Clinton, Md.) and junior Ryan Sullivan (Stoughton, Mass.) each had eight tackles with Miller posting two for a combined loss of 23 yards. Senior Jerome Seglah (Lowell, Mass.) forced a fumble while sophomore Jamal Peterson (Pasadena, Md.) recovered a fumble, the first of his career.

Pace’s Carlton Aiken ran the ball 13 times for 89 yards. He also was 15-for-22 through the air for 207 yards and four touchdowns. Jones caught six passes for 90 yards with two touchdowns. Harrison Moran-Fernandez led student-athletes from both teams with nine tackles.

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