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.
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.
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.
