Saint Anselm Cannot Recover Against AIC
Hawks Lose 37-26 to Yellow Jackets
Keith Comeau completed a career-high 34 passes
as the Hawks controlled the clock. |
Springfield, Mass. (September 21, 2002) -- The American International
College defensive unit and special teams came up with two scores
to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 37-26 victory over Saint Anselm
College this afternoon in a Northeast-10 football contest. With
the win, AIC improves to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the league, while
the Hawks remain winless at 0-3 overall and in the NE-10. The win
marked the 14th straight at John Homer Miller Field dating back
to the 1999 season.
The defensive unit spent most of the afternoon on the field as the
Hawks offense spent just under 42 minutes on the field. The Yellow
Jackets' offense had the ball for just under eight minutes in the
first quarter in building a 21-0 lead but would only see it for
10 more minutes the rest of the game.
The Yellow Jackets scored three times in a 3:30 minute span highlighted
by Marcus Louison's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 30-yard interception return
for a touchdown. It marked the second straight game against the
Hawks, the Yellow Jackets have returned a pick for a score off a
quarterback Keith Comeau (Marblehead, Mass./ Marblehead).
Last season, Royston Jordan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) returned a 70-yard
pick for his first career touchdown.
Derek DiMartino averaged 7.4 yards per carry
and accumulated 159 all purpose yards. |
Tory Brown (Lindenwald, N.J.) opened the scoring for AIC at 6:33
when he capped a five-play 59-yard drive from one yard out. He added
his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon three minutes later
from five yards out giving AIC a 14-0 cushion.
Trailing 21-0, the Hawks finally jumped on the board at 11:41 of
the second quarter when Comeau completed a nine-yard scoring pass
to Jason Case (Attleboro, Mass./ Salisbury School). Saint
Anselm would cut the lead to seven with 0:32 seconds remaining in
the half on a Derek DiMartino (Amherst, N.H./ UMass Amherst)
one-yard run.
AIC tried to score on their final possession of the first half as
Guy connected with Keith Lessner (Revere, Mass.) for 47-yards to
the Hawk 18-yard line. After a Yellow Jacket timeout, AIC was penalized
on three consecutive 15-yard penalties to erase the threat.
Leading 21-14 at the break, AIC scored on their first possession
of the second half. Guy and Lessner connected twice on the series,
once from 59-yards and the other from 12 to set up a Guy one-yard
touchdown run. The Yellow Jackets added the two point conversion
taking a 29-14 lead.
AIC would add their final tally of the afternoon to open the fourth
quarter as Lee Mauricette (Miami, FL) blocked Erol Senel's
(S. Euclid, Ohio/ Benedictine) 45-yard field goal attempt when he
came up the middle untouched. Eddy Denis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) picked
up the block and raced 65-yards for his first career touchdown.
The two-point conversion was successful again to give the home team
a 37-14 lead.
Saint Anselm would not go away easily, scoring two times in the
final eight minutes. DiMartino added his second rushing touchdown
of the afternoon at 7:50 to cut the lead to 17 after the two-point
conversion attempt failed. Kevin Ridgley (Amesbury, Mass./
Amesbury) added a one-yard touchdown run with just over a minute
to play to close the scoring on the afternoon.
The offensive unit for AIC, which played just 18 minutes, was led
by Guy who completed 13-of-16 for 275 yards. Lessner recorded his
third straight 100-yard receiving game in as many games, pulling
in five catches for 112 yards. Brown was the lead rusher for the
Yellow Jackets gaining 70 yards on 10 touches, while catching four
passes for 72 yards.
Defensively, Matt Natle (Shutesbury, Mass.) recorded 12 tackles
(seven unassisted) to lead AIC. Senior Pat Tudryn (Springfield,
Mass.) added nine, while Jordan finished with eight including a
12-yard sack.
For the Hawks, Comeau completed a career-high 34 passes in 45 attempts
for 252 yards and a touchdown against his first interception of
the season. DiMartino corralled a team-best eight receptions, tying
a school for catches in a game while compiling 159 all purpose yards,
and Travis Pelletier (Deerfield, Mass./ Central) made five
receptions to become the school's all-time leader with 71.
Shane Dinagen completed his first collegiate
pass in the game. |
On defense, Michael DeMasi (New Canaan, Conn./ New Canaan)
made seven stops, while Lance Flagg (Simsbury, Conn./ Bridgeton
Acad.) added a 16-yard sack and Rhett Darak (Londenderry,
N.H./ Londondery) intercepted a pass.
On the game, the Hawks ran 46 more plays than the Yellow Jackets
(85-to-39) and converted on 4-of-5 fourth downs but outgained the
Yellow Jackets by only 54 yards despite the 23 minute possession
advantage.
In the waning minutes of the game, highly-touted freshman quarterback
Shane Dinagen (Harrisville, R.I./ Burrillville) saw his first
action, completed his first collegiate pass and guided the Hawks
to their final score of the game.
AIC returns to action next weekend when they host Bentley College
with kickoff slated for 1:00, and Saint Anselm will host defending
NE-10 champion C.W. Post also at 1:00 in its Homecoming game.
| Score By Period |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
| Saint Anselm |
0 |
14 |
0 |
12 |
26 |
| American International |
21 |
0 |
8 |
8 |
37 |
Box Score