Waltham, Mass. (October 22, 2005) – Freshman quarterback John White (Kingston, Mass.) accounted for three touchdowns, and junior corner Sean Smith (Andover, Mass.) had three of his team's five takeaways, as the Bentley Falcons celebrated Homecoming with a 49-7 win over Saint Anselm College in Northeast-10 football action Saturday afternoon.
The conference-leading Falcons improved to 7-2 overall and will take a 7-1 NE-10 record into next Saturday's regular season finale at Bryant.
Bentley used the big gain against the Hawks (1-7, 0-7 NE-10), with four scoring plays of at least 40 yards, doing so in four different ways. Senior Denayr Gant (Middletown, Conn.) returned an interception 50 yards for a score in the first quarter, senior Kristopher Lake (Dudley, Mass.) caught a 43-yard bomb from White in the second, sophomore J.J. Sullivan (Tyngsboro, Mass.) ran for a 69-yard touchdown in the third, and sophomore Paul Tetzel (Millbury, Mass.) had a 65-yard punt return for a TD in the fourth.
After Smith recovered a fumbled punt on the Hawks 15, a four-yard pass from White to Lake gave Bentley the lead six minutes into the game. Two-and-a-half minutes later, with 6:41 left in the first, Gant made his first interception of the season and returned it all the way for his first career touchdown.
Saint Anselm scored its only touchdown of the day with 2:26 left in the first, a 48-yard pass from freshman Dan Cohen (Wilbraham, Mass.) to junior Pat Turner (North Andover, Mass.) finishing an eight-play, 78-yard drive.
White led the Falcons on two scoring drives in the second quarter as Bentley extended the lead to 21, 28-7. His 43-yard pass to Lake capped a 96-yard drive that encompassed eight plays, and he later ran 10 yards for a score. White, in three quarters of action, completed 17 of 29 for 166 yards, and also ran for 50 yards on ten attempts. Lake saw his streak of consecutive 100-yard games halted at five as he finished with five receptions for 80 yards.
Sullivan scored the only touchdown of the third quarter on the Falcons' first play of the second half, breaking through the line for the longest run of his career. He finished the contest with exactly 100 yards on nine carries.
In the fourth, Tetzel broke the longest punt return of his career and senior Tom McSharry (Abington , Mass. ) caught an eight-yard pass from sophomore Kelley Rowe (Toledo , Ohio ) to wrap up the scoring. For each, it was the first career trip to the end zone.
Bentley, which scored at least 28 points for the 27th straight conference game, amassed 421 yards of total offense, including 221 on the ground, and 21 first downs. Meanwhile, the Falcon defense limited the Hawks to 251, including minus-13 net rushing yards.
Senior Gerardo Perjuste (Lynn , Mass. ) paced Bentley with seven tackles, while Smith had his first two interceptions of the season in addition to the fumble recovery. Junior Amit Nagdev (Syosset , N.Y. ) thwarted a final minute Saint Anselm scoring drive, making his first career interception in the end zone.
Turner led the Saint Anselm offense, finishing with eight receptions for 106 yards. Cohen went the distance at QB for the Hawks, completing 27 of 47 for 264 yards, one TD and four interceptions.
Senior LB Anthony Barese (Braintree , Mass. ) led the defense for the Hawks, tallying 10 tackles (two solo). Senior LB Mike Bombardier (Kingston , Mass. ) added eight tackles, including three for a loss of five yards.
Saint Anselm hosts Southern Connecticut State University as part of its Homecoming weekend Saturday at 1 p.m.
