EASTON, Mass.-- Junior quarterback
Keith Comeau (Marblehead) completed 20-of-26 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns to lead Saint Anselm to a 32-22 Eastern Football Conference victory over Stonehill Saturday afternoon at Chieftain Stadium.
Comeau struck for his first score just 3:12 into the contest, as he tossed a 46-yard scoring pass to sophomore
Michael Veronneau (Waterbury, Conn.) after the Hawks (5-4, 4-3 EFC) took advantage of a turnover at midfield. Junior
Kevin L'Ecuyer's (Fitchburg) two-point conversion reception gave the visitors a quick 8-0 edge, but the Chieftains (2-7, 2-7 EFC) tied things at 8-8 on their next possession, as junior quarterback Paul O'Keefe (Braintree) found senior Chad Dwyer (Wakefield) on a 29-yard touchdown pass and freshman Rob Olivar (Reading) added a two-point conversion rush with 8:11 remaining in the opening stanza. That play was set-up by a fake punt and 10-yard run by senior George Rodriguez (Londonderry, N.H.), as O'Keefe found Dwyer on the very next play.
Comeau struck again on Saint Anselm's next possession, firing a 59-yard screen pass to junior
Jon Turner (Foxboro) with five minutes remaining in the opening quarter to give the Hawks a 15-8 lead, and L'Ecuyer snared an eight-yard Comeau pass 4:18 into the second quarter for a 22-8 Saint Anselm advantage.
Senior Tyrone Jefferson (Rockland) sliced Stonehill's deficit to 22-14 with a nine-yard touchdown run that came with 2:54 to play in the half, and the score stayed that way until early in the fourth quarter when junior
Erol Senel (South Euclid, Ohio) kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Hawks a 25-14 lead. Olivar's 28-yard touchdown run and O'Keefe's two-point conversion rush with 10:06 to play cut the Chieftain deficit to 25-22, and Stonehill forced a turnover on Saint Anselm's very next possession, gaining a first down on the Hawk 20.
But the visitors' defense stiffened, forcing four straight losses totaling 19 yards and Saint Anselm took over on their own 39 yard line with 7:24 to play. Comeau capped the scoring on the afternoon by finding Turner on a 13-yard scoring pass with 4:06 remaining, and the Hawks held on downs at their own 44 yard line to run out the clock.
Turner finished the day with 162 all-purpose yards, including a team-high 85 yards on 17 carries, for Saint Anselm, while freshman Kevin Ridgely (Amesbury) added 83 yards on 12 carries. Jefferson became the second Stonehill player in school history to top the 1,000 yard mark for the season with 85 yards on 19 carries, as he now has 1,079 yards to date and enters his final game 28 yards shy of setting the single-season rushing record that is currently held by Mike McSharry of 1,106 yards set in 1995. Olivar added a team-best 89 yards on the ground on 13 carries for the Chieftains, while O'Keefe finished the day by going 8-of-10 for 110 yards, including three receptions by Dwyer for 57 yards and a score. The two teams combined for nearly 900 yards of total offense on the afternoon.
Stonehill closes out the 2000 season next Saturday afternoon by heading to Waltham to battle Bentley in the renewal of their rivalry at 1:00 p.m. in an Eastern Football Conference match-up, while Saint Anselm looks for its fifth straight victory by hosting Southern Connecticut in its EFC and season finale next Saturday afternoon at Grappone Stadium in Manchester, N.H. beginning at Noon.
