Manchester, N.H. (September 7, 2002)- Bentley College spoiled the first Saint Anselm home opener in three years with a 28-0 shutout of the Hawks in a Northeast-10 Conference football game at Grappone Stadium in front of 2,839 fans.
Bentley's (1-0, 1-0 NE-10) defense swarmed Saint Anselm (0-1, 0-1 NE-10) all day, wracking up a total of 10 sacks and holding the home team to just 153 yards of total offense.
Bentley's defensive line duo of Bill Kavanagh (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Ted Krautman (Keene, N.H.) led the way with Kavanagh totaling 3.5 sacks and Krautman contributing three of his own.
As the Saint Anselm offense sputtered throughout the game, Bentley methodically wore down the Hawk defense to the tune of 368 yards. The sophomore combination of Marc Eddy (Southboro, Mass.) and Dallas Mall (Northboro, Mass.) hooked up for seven of Eddy's 11 completions on the day, 171 yards and three touchdowns. The last two scoring plays covered 51 and 52 yards, respectively to open up a close 14-0 game.
After a scoreless first quarter, Bentley running back Andy Breda (Hanover, Mass.) capped a five-play, 30-yard drive with a three-yard plunge to put the visitors ahead. The Falcons had taken position on the Saint Anselm 30-yardline after a 27-yard punt return by Jesse Campanaro (San Diego, Calif.).
Saint Anselm entered Bentley territory six times on the day but could not muster any kind of offense. Despite being harassed all day, quarterback Keith Comeau (Marblehead, Mass./ Marblehead) did manage to complete 12 of 24 passes for 116 yards. The team's leading playmaker was sophomore transfer Derek DiMartino (Amherst, N.H./ UMass Amherst), who gained 38 yards on 10 carries and caught five passes for 15 more yards.
Shining on defense for the Hawks were senior DE Lance Flagg (Simsbury, Conn./ Bridgton Acad.) and sophomore cornerback Mike DeMasi (New Canaan, Conn./ New Canaan). Flagg, one year removed from a back injury, recorded a pair of sacks and two hurries while DeMasi had eight tackles, one interception and a blocked punt. Another sophomore transfer, Aaron Jeanson (Acton, Mass./ URI), led the team with 10 tackles (five solo) and punter Jeff Dandurand (W. Hartford, Conn./ Kingswood-Oxford) averaged 39.1 yards on nine punts.
Saint Anselm will return to action next Saturday when the Hawks travel to Lowell, Mass. to take on the River Hawks of UMass Lowell in a 4:00 PM start.
