New Hampshire Football Report

Advance: UNH/Stonehill


By Allen Lessels


Last season, the University of New Hampshire football team struggled to close out close games and as a result had a 2-3 record before September was over and by the end of the year needed to rally to record a 6-5 mark overall.

The Wildcats hope Saturday’s 21-20 win at Holy Cross – a program that had given them all kinds of problems the last two times the team played — was a harbinger of better things to come.


UNH STATISTICS | STONEHILL STATISTICS


UNH (1-1, 0-0 CAA) begins a two-game homestand with its home opener against Stonehill on Saturday in Wildcat Stadium at 6 p.m. The Wildcats then face Coastal Athletic Association newcomer Bryant in their first league game on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 3 p.m.

Stonehill (0-1, 0-0 NEC) lost its opener at Stony Brook, 37-10, on Saturday. Bryant is 1-1 going into a game at home against Holy Cross on Saturday.

Senior defensive end and captain Josiah Silver was excited his unit was called on to seal the win against the Crusaders.

“If this was last year, we would have somehow found a way to lose this game,” he said after the victory. “Everyone on our defense is confident in our ability and I’m just happy we had the chance to win the game at the end.”

Holy Cross hit a couple of big pass plays early in the third quarter and pulled ahead 20-14 with just under 10 minutes to play in the period.

The Wildcats clamped down the defense from there.

The Crusaders managed one first down total on their next four possessions and each ended with a punt.

By then UNH had taken a 21-20 lead on an Isaac Seide 1-yard run with 9:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Later, a 68-yard Sean Lehane punt (he averaged 54.5 yards on four kicks) barely made it into the end zone, giving Holy Cross a final possession from its own 20-yard line with 1:39 to play.

Holy Cross crossed the 50-yard for the first time since taking its lead with a big pass play to the UNH 43. The Crusaders got no closer.

A false start, a personal foul, an illegal formation and a sack by UNH senior defensive end Flex Ruiz left Holy Cross with a third down and 43 yards to go for a first.

Senior safety Brendan Tighe intercepted a pass to end the game.

“The defense was lights out,” UNH head coach Rick Santos said. “Obviously we made some mistakes, but in particular on the defensive side of the ball we applied the pressure the entire day. For us to force that many penalties on the last drive to whatever it ended up being for a first down, I thought that just showed our ability to dictate the terms of engagement today. I’m so proud of them.”

Senior transfer quarterback Seth Morgan completed 17 of his 22 passes for 158 yards with a pair of touchdowns to grad student Logan Tomlinson and senior Isaac Seide had a career day with 18 carries for 168 yards and the winning score.

Seide added his kudos to the offensive line where junior Mason Davis moved over to right tackle to replace Beau Riley, who is out for the season after suffering a knee injury against Central Florida. Junior Dylan Maciulewicz stepped in at right guard in the Davis spot. Senior center Dylan Poirier, sophomore left guard Luke Swaine and senior transfer Tolu Olajide at left tackle complete the line.

“Just trusting in my brothers, trusting in the big dogs up front,” Seide said. “It was phenomenal. We were dominating up front the entire game.”

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Stonehill is in its second season as an FCS program. It was formerly a Division II program that competed in the Northeast-10.

“I guess it’s a challenge to see how mature of a football team we are,” Santos said. “It’s really us versus us. That’s the message. I want to see us take strides in the right direction, so offensively can we play a clean game where we don’t turn it over? We’re 0-for-2 in the first two weeks doing it that way. Defensively, can we play a clean game where we don’t have missed assignments in the back end that lead to easy touchdowns.

“We’re making this about ourselves in the process and not as much about Stonehill. We feel like if we play our game, if we play clean, that we should handle these guys.”

Saturday’s night’s game will be the second meeting between UNH and Stonehill. The Wildcats earned a 51-17 victory at Stonehill last season.

Stonehill quarterback Ashur Carraha completed 18-of-36 passes for 236 yards in the loss to Stony Brook. He also rushed for 70 yards on 10 carries.

Kevin Sheridan, who helped Bedford High School win the last two NHIAA Division I championships, is in his freshman season at Stonehill. He played tight end and defensive end at Bedford, and is listed as a tight end on the Stonehill roster.

UNH defensive end Josiah Silver said he’s not worried about UNH taking Stonehill lightly. He called this a momentum week.

“If we play how we should play and we’re dominant in all three phases this should build momentum for us to carry to the weeks advancing after this one,” he said. “If we’re able to hopefully beat these guys by more than a couple touchdowns, that should build momentum for the rest of the season. I don’t look at it as a letdown week or anything like that.

“They’re a good team. We’re not looking at them like they’re lesser than us. We just looking at it like we need to do what we need to do to win the football game because winning at this level is hard.” 

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— UNH has a 27-13 record in Wildcat Stadium, including a 21-5 record against non-conference opponents.

— The Wildcats have a 12-game regular season schedule for the first time since 2003, when the program played in the Atlantic-10.

— Senior linebacker Ryan Toscano leads UNH with 230 career tackles. He’s been the team’s leading tackler for the last two seasons.

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