Springfield, Mass. (November 5, 2005) – Freshman Shane Murphy (Bogota, N.J.) was 26-42 passing for 308 yards and four touchdowns as American International College posted a 51-28 win over Saint Anselm College in a Northeast-10 football game at John Homer Miller Field. With the win AIC finishes the season 5-4 overall and in the league, while the Hawks close out the campaign 1-9 overall and 0-9 in the league.
AIC jumped out to a 27-0 lead with 11:26 remaining in the second quarter when Murphy found Travis Poole ( Brooklyn , N.Y. ) for a 35-yard TD strike for Murphy's second scoring toss of the day. The Hawks inserted Shane Dinagen (Harrisville , R.I. ) as their third quarterback of the day with 4:12 left in the first half and he promptly threw two touchdown passes, finding Corey Williams (Billerica , Mass. ) on a 38-yard completion with 3:32 on the clock and on a three-yard pass to the end zone as time expired to make it 27-14 at the break.
The Yellow Jackets would score on their second possession of the second half as Murphy found Jason Laudano ( Northford , Conn. ) from 12 yards out with 12:20 to play in the third. The Hawks would respond 54 seconds later when Dinagen completed a 34-yard pass to Michael Garcarz ( New Britain , Conn. ) to make it 35-21, and the guests cut the lead to 35-28 at the 7:34 mark when Dinagen threw his fourth touchdown of the afternoon, a 10-yard completion to Pat Turner ( North Andover , Mass. ).
The fourth quarter was all AIC as it scored 16 unanswered points. Tyler Scaccia ( Webster , N.Y. ) scored his third touchdown of the day four seconds into the quarter when he took a four-yard pass from Murphy. Brian DiCristoforo ( Hope , R.I. ) would boot a 25-yard field goal with 7:20 to play and Travis Briggins ( Rosedale , N.Y. ) would close out the scoring with 4:25 to go when he picked Dinagen at the AIC 6-yard line and returned it 94 yards for the score.
Murphy threw just one interception and was sacked once. Scaccia caught seven balls for 52 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a nine-yard score 30 seconds into the second quarter. Luke Legendre ( Uxbridge , Mass. ) also caught seven balls for 98 yards. Marlon Beckles ( Brooklyn , N.Y. ) rushed for 97 yards on 29 carries and had a four-yard touchdown run 3:17 into the game. Dinagen finished 24-40 for 309 yards and four scores, with Turner catching eight balls for 117 yards and Garcarz making seven grabs for 105 yards.
Defensively AIC was led by David Ihedigbo ( Amherst , Mass. ) who made nine tackles (six solo) and also recorded his fourth interception of the season while forcing a fumble. Dominic Meattey ( Fitzwilliam , N.H. ) had AIC's other interception, while Mike Szawlowski ( Leeds , Mass. ) made five solo tackles. Joe Imparato ( Natick , Mass. ) had 10 solo tackles (15 total) and an interception while Brian Sundell ( North Easton , Mass. ) made 10 total tackles.
