Manchester, NH (Oct. 7) -- The Saint Anselm football team came within a whisker of a dramatic game winning comeback, but fell just short, as Pace University escaped with an 18-12 Eastern Football Conference victory this afternoon before 1,078 at Grappone Stadium.

The Setters snapped a four game losing streak as they improved to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in EFC play, while Saint Anselm, in it's second season after a 58 year hiatus, dropped to 1-4 and 1-3 in the EFC.

Saint Anselm finished the day with 314 yards of offense, while Pace finished with 238. Both teams were almost dead even in rushing as Pace ran 39 times for 147 yards, while Saint Anselm was 34-148.

Robert Nugent led Pace with 64 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 32 yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Pace a 11-5 lead. Larry Piediscalzo, who ran nine times for 63 yards and added a 37 yard scamper soon after Nugent's to break the game open.

Jamie Reed finished 9-21 for 91 yards for Pace.

Jon Turner enjoyed a fantastic day out of the Saint Anselm backfield, rushing for 128 yards on 21 carries, while Keith Comeau was 20-43 for 166 yards, but was intercepted three times by the Pace secondary.

Both offenses struggled in the first half and Saint Anselm led just 2-0 thanks to a Ryan Gazzola safety midway through the second quarter.

Pace went ahead 3-2 on a 27 yard Richard White field goal early in the third, but Saint Anselm's Erol Senel knocked in a 37 yarder with 3:08 to go in the third to put Saint Anselm back in front 5-3 after three.

After Nugent's score, Pace's Ryan Kiely picked off Comeau at the Hawks 32 and Piediscalzo made it 18-5 on the next play from scrimmage.

The Hawks defense responded midway through the fourth to tighten the game.

Justin Peledge picked off Reed at the Pace 29 and returned the ball to the Setter's 14. Turner followed with a 14 yard score for an 18-12 game with 6:47 to play.
Saint Anselm had two golden opportunities to pull back ahead, but their second to last drive stalled at the Pace 41, but things got hairy in the closing moments.

The Hawks defense held Pace to three and out and took over at the Pace 41 with 1:41 to play.

Comeau directed the Hawks down to the Pace 11, working the sidelines very effectively with out passes to Turner (22 yards to the Pace 26) and two to Farragher (eight yards to the Pace 18, seven yards to the 11).

-288 The clock was against Saint Anselm however, as the Hawks had a first down with 20 seconds to play. Comeau took two snaps towards the end zone with his final, heading to the back right corner towards Kevin L'Ecuyer, being knocked away with no time on the clock.

Defensively, Mike Siljanoski led Pace with nine tackles. Shaun St. Onge added nine tackles for Saint Anselm, which travels to Bryant College next Saturday.