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St. Anselm 21, SCSU 14

MANCHESTER – The Saint Anselm College football team rallied from a 14-3 deficit at halftime, scoring 18 unanswered points to capture a thrilling 21-14 victory over visiting Southern Connecticut State University.

Winning six of its last seven games dating back to last season, Saint Anselm improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2014 campaign with the team’s second consecutive Northeast-10 Conference victory. The Hawks have also won nine of their last 10 games played at Grappone Stadium. Southern Connecticut State fell to 0-4 on the year and to 0-2 versus the league.

GAME STATISTICS

In a slow-developing game that saw the teams combine for eight interceptions and 17 penalties, it was Saint Anselm that righted the ship in the second half by scoring on three of its final four possessions on the way to the victory. The Hawks defense also kept the team in the game, registering three interceptions and breaking up five passes in total.

The teams were tied at 14 with under three minutes to go. With the visitors marching down field and well positioned at the Saint Anselm 9-yard line, SCSU quarterback Joe Bernard, a native of Nashua, N.H., threw what would be a game-changing interception at the two that was hauled in by Devin Wood (Merrimack, N.H.) for Saint Anselm.

With 2:23 left in regulation time, Hawks quarterback Drew Willoughby (Austin, Texas) stepped up and engineered a seven-play, 87-yard drive that culminated in a 35-yard game-winning touchdown pass to senior Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas) with 43 seconds left on the clock. Saint Anselm ended the drive with five consecutive first downs and each of the completed pass plays was for at least eight yards.

Forced to throw down by seven points with under 45 seconds left, the Owls threw their third interception of the afternoon as sophomore Brandon Potts (Bowie, Md.) picked off a pass near midfield to end the game. After taking an 11-point lead into halftime, the Owls offense finished with three interceptions, a missed field goal and two punts in the second half.

Willoughby registered 32 pass completions for 371 yards, throwing two touchdowns in the victory. Sophomore Carson Goda (Bradenton, Fla.) and Brown racked up over 100 receiving yards in the win and each reeled in a touchdown pass from Willoughby. In total, nine student-athletes on the Saint Anselm roster caught at least one pass.

Defensively, junior Ahmad Brown (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) led the way with nine tackles (six solo) with seniors Devin Williams (Cliffwood, N.J.) and Liam Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) logging eight takedowns each. The Hawks saw interceptions from Wood, Potts and senior Taylor Pawelkoski (Bradenton, Fla.) in the winning effort, stealing momentum from SCSU on what were several promising offensive drives.

Saint Anselm scored first in the game as sophomore Patrick Carroll (Stafford, Va.) recorded his third 40-plus yard field goal in two games, this time sending one home from 41 to put the Hawks ahead by a 3-0 margin with 4:32 left in the opening quarter. Carroll became the second Saint Anselm kicker to have three or more field goals of over 40 yards (Michael Garcarz ’05, Daniel Parisi ’19).

On their next offensive possession, the Owls used a clutch 40-yard pass by Bernard that sparked the team’s first score of the afternoon. Just four plays after the big gain, Jordan Davis rushed home a two-yard touchdown to cap a 57-yard drive with 1:41 left in the first quarter to create a 7-3 advantage following the point-after attempt.

Neither team could generate much offense in the second quarter before Bernard brought his team down the field in the final minute. Jevon Jones hooked up with Bernard with seven seconds left in the first half as the Hawks committed three penalties in the drive – one of the penalties negated a Hawks pick-six with 2:42 left in the first half.

Down 14-3 at the half, Saint Anselm received the second half kickoff and marched down the field with back-to-back catches of 17 and 28 yards, respectively. Looking for a quick 28-yard touchdown, the Hawks went deep and were picked off at the seven-yard line just four plays into the third quarter.

SCSU made its way down the field but the Hawks defense was able to make the Owls settle for a field goal attempt from 41 yards out. The special teams play of Saint Anselm kept the hosts in the game as graduate student Mac Barry (Malvern, Pa.) blocked the lengthy attempt, bringing the Hawks offense back out onto the field.

Later in the third quarter, a 61-yard touchdown reception by Goda brought a charge back into the Saint Anselm crowd and shrunk the team’s deficit. A two-point conversion, also thrown by Willoughby to Goda, reduced the Southern Connecticut State lead to three points, 14-11, with 1:09 remaining in the third.

Saint Anselm tied the game early in the fourth quarter as Carroll sent home a 22-yard field goal with 7:49 left, evening the score at 14. A huge pickup of 24 yards by senior Vincent Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.) on fourth down was key in extending the drive to nine plays and 46 yards.

Bernard finished the game with 135 passing yards, completing 17-of-30 passes, while throwing three picks. Diante Wilson racked up 151 rushing yards off 24 carries and Joe DiGello had eight tackles with three quarterback hurries. Ben Eichman had two of his team’s five interceptions.

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