MANCHESTER, NH (Oct. 27) --- It will be a bit of a different experience for New Hampshire college football fans Saturday. There will be more than just two Division I teams playing and they won't be playing in Hanover or Durham.

The Hawks will get a taste of Division I-AA football when they host Siena College at Grappone Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m.

The game is being broadcast by WVCR-FM of Albany, NY. A live web broadcast can be heard at www.webradio.com/wvcr.

"I'm excited at the opportunity to have a Division I-AA program on our schedule and especially to have them on our own field," said Hawks Head Coach Geoff Harlan. "I expect this to be a good test for our program at this point in the season since we have showed some improvement of late."

Harlan referred to the recent string of success with his program. Saint Anselm looks for their first three game win streak after a 19-14 win over Merrimack last week and a 28-20 road win at Bryant two weeks ago. In fact, the team seems to have turned a corner over the past weeks. After a very difficult 0-3 start, the team has clearly shown signs of developing confidence and are now 3-1 over their last four.

"We've worked hard to establish a better runnin attack and that's been the biggest difference in our play over the last few weeks," said Harlan. "We're controlling the clock and sustaining dirve with greater consistency and results. Our defense has also performer better against the run."

The Saint Anselm offense, which struggled to click at all over their first three games, has improved greatly, evidenced by last week's game in which the team piled up a season best 449 yards of total offense.

A large part of that remains the Hawks vastly improving running game. After averaging just over 60 yards on the ground over their first three games, the Hawks have averaged over 150 over their last four, keyed by some exceptional play from junior tailback Jon Turner.

Turner, who was placed on the EFC Weekly Honor Roll for the third time in four weeks, has hit the century mark four straight games. Last week's 20 carry, 167 yard effort was by far his best.

But despite Turner's performance, the fact that Turner did not score a touchdown shows that the Hawks air attack is also improving.

Quarterback Keith Comeau has been spreading the ball all over the field. Two weeks ago, he distributed 19 passes to nine different players. Last week, he replicated the feat, handing out 18 passes to 10 different receivers. In two straight wins, no player has caught more than four passes in a game.

That type of ball movement has also played right into Harlan's scheme of effective ball control. In both victories, the Hawks finished with solid advantages on time of possession.

That change for the better has meant changes for the opposition according to Harlan.

"At the beginning of the year, teams were able to focus on stopping our passing attack as we weren't able to establish a solid ground attack," said Harlan. "Now defenses must be more balanced in how they prepare for and defend our offense."

Comeau now stands 127-239 on the season for 1,184 yards and 11 touchdowns and is third in the EFC in yards per game.

Turner, meanwhile, is moving in on 700 yards for the year. He stands at 630 on 129 carries, upping his average to an even 90.0 yards per game average and 4.9 yards per rush.

Kevin Ridgley has also provided reliable relief for Turner, carrying 18 times for 67 yards last week and stands at 42-135 on the year.

Wideout Jeff Farragher remains an important offensive piece to the puzzle. His 24 receptions for 206 yards is a team high while his 652 all purpose yard is just behind Turner's 681. Farragher's 20.5 yards per kickoff return has put him ninth in the nation this week.

Deerfield and Central High product Travis Pelletier has added 16 catches for 196 yards and a team high four touchdowns.

Defensively, Saint Anselm is also showing signs of the play that helped them achieve a .500 mark in the conference last season. Wolfeboro's Shaun St. Onge enjoyed a stellar outing against Merrimack with two interceptions including one with under six minute left that set up the Hawks winning score. St. Onge leads the team in total tackles with 48 (19 solo), while Lance Flagg has added 46 (19 solo) with 13 for losses.

Geoff Raby has come on very strong over the past three games and stands at 44 tackles (28 solo) with Zak Lord close behind with 43 (16 solo).

The quartet of Flagg, Raby, Lord and Matt Savino has accounted for 18 quarterback sacks.

Harlan noted that a trend of early consistency and avoiding big yardage has been another key to success.

"In each of the last five weeks we've played very well in the first half," said Harlan. "We've allowed only two offensive touchdowns in those five games in the first half. Our run defense has also tightended and we've allowed fewer big plays. Our five takeaways last week was also a great help."

The visiting Saints are members of the Division I-AA Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and despite struggling to a 1-5 record, they should not be taken lightly as they possess talent.

The Saints earned their first win of the season last week, tipping Canisius 19-14.

On offense, Don Record has been the quarterback of choice of late. Record stands 39-68 for 567 yards for five touchdowns but has picked off seven times. Chris Karolus is 19-50 for 260 yards with a touchdown.

Siena's top receivers include Joe Plasdik with 14 catches for 215 yards, Bill Hisgen with 16 catches for 147 yards and Luis Gonzalez with 10 grabs for 184 yards.
Gonzalez, being the Saints top kick returner, leads the team in all purpose yardage at 95.7 yards per game thanks in large part to 323 yards on 20 returns (16.2 average). Brian Galvin has made the most of his eight catches (118 yards), snaring three for touchdowns.

Siena has relied on the run a bit more than the passing game.

Julian Brown leads the team with 435 yards on 105 carries, a 4.1 ypc average and is notching over 72 yards per game and has scored six touchdowns.

Joe Izzo has added 176 yards on 42 carries while Karolus has added 134 yards on 48 carries.

Defensively, Adam Orr and Justin Ferris lead the team in total tackles with 38 each and Brian Gehm has added 35.

Players to watch also include Joe DeMarco who has notched two and a half sacks and Chris Trumbull, who has 12 tackles for losses and five sacks.

Siena Head Coach Jay Bateman, in his first season in Albany, respects the Hawks program and expects a close game.

"They're young," said Bateman. "They're in a real tough Division II league that they've done well in since the day they started. They're a lot like us, a 4-3 defense, an I-formation offense. We're pretty evenly matched so it's going to come down to who executes better."