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AIC picks off Saint Anselm

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College football team was toppled by the host Yellow Jackets from American International College on Saturday by a 39-19 margin.

Box Score

The Hawks dropped to 3-7 overall and to 3-4 against Northeast-10 Conference foes. American International moved to 4-5 overall and to 3-4 against the conference. Saint Anselm will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday prior to its 1 p.m. showdown with Assumption.

The Saint Anselm defense forced a season-high three fumbles in the game and recovered all three of them, but American International picked off four Hawks passes. The Yellow Jackets scored touchdowns on drives after two of those picks and had possession for just about 34 minutes of the 60-minute affair.

Senior Malik Allen (West Orange, N.J.) had a career-best two touchdown game, reeling in two passes from Saint Anselm signal-caller Eric Fairweather (Londonderry, N.H.). The Hawks quarterback finished the day with 25 completions and 273 yards through the air. Freshman Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas) had nine catches for 111 yards with senior Nicholas Fiorillo (Westford, Mass.) reeling in six catches for 93 yards.

Senior CJ Miller (Clinton, Md.) had 12 total tackles on the day, logging half a sack for 4 yards. Junior Ryan Sullivan (Stoughton, Mass.) had 11 total tackles and two individual Hawks forced fumbles, including sophomores Seth Kourtesis (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Jason Hope (Bergenfield, N.J.). Junior Torrian Bradley-McSwain (Macon, Ga.) and Hope each recovered fumbles for Saint Anselm.

The Yellow Jackets opened up a 14-0 lead with rushing touchdowns from Chase Speller and Samad Davila, the latter of which created the advantage with 8:18 left in the first half. Hawks freshman Cam Schaefer (Shrewsbury, Mass.) put the Hawks on the board with 5:20 to go in the first half, returning a punt 30 yards for the score.

Ahead by a 14-6 margin after the failed point-after by the Hawks, AIC tacked on another score with a 37-yard touchdown reception by Kequan Jamison. The Hawks responded with a late touchdown reception by Allen, capping a five-play drive that went 67 yards down the field. Saint Anselm trailed by a 21-13 margin at the break.

Allen’s second touchdown reception of the afternoon opened the second half with a bang, shrinking the American International lead to 21-19. In total, the Hawks scored touchdowns on three consecutive offensive drives near the midpoint of the contest.

The Yellow Jackets scored the game’s last three touchdowns, putting the game out of reach. The Saint Anselm offense sputtered down the stretch as, on its final six drives, threw three interceptions, punted twice and had a missed field goal.

Jayson Demild was 13-for-18 under center for American International, throwing for 224 yards with two touchdowns. The Yellow Jackets churned out 300 rushing yards, led by Speller and Davila who each posted 100 each.

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