The Game: Saturday's game matches Saint Anselm against the Sky Hawks of Stonehill College in the Northeast-10 Conference Game of the Week at W.B. Mason Stadium in Easton, Mass. The game can be heard live on the internet by logging onto the NE-10 website at http://www.northeast10.org.
Saint Anselm is coming into the game on the heels of three straight losses following a resounding opening week victory. The latest setback came last Saturday at high-powered C.W. Post.
Stonehill enters the game at 2-2 overall following a 16-7 setback against Division I-AA member Iona at home last week. IN the game, Stonehill jumped on top early but saw the Gails score the final 16 points of the game.
Series History: Saint Anselm leads the all-time series by a count of 5-1. This will mark the third meeting between the schools in Easton, Mass. and first since the 2002 season. In that game, the Hawks controlled play from the opening kick in defeating the then-Chieftains by a count of 33-14.
Saint Anselm has never lost at Stonehill with the Hawks posting their other victory in 2000 by a score of 32-22.
In last season's 19-10 Saint Anselm victory, a dominant Hawk defense paved the way by holding Stonehill to 44 rushing yards on 47 carries. The Hawks also recorded seven sacks including 2.5 by All-American David Heiner. Heiner's day culminated in a game-high 15 total tackles (11 solo), 6.5 tackles for a loss of 29 yards and a key forced fumble late in the game.
Saint Anselm: Against C.W. Post, the Hawks went to work quickly as freshman QB Dan Cohen found sophomore transfer Corey Williams for an 80-yard catch and run on the Hawks' first play from scrimmage. The play marked the second longest pass play from scrimmage in the team's six-year modern history.
A 40-yard field goal by Michael Garcarz also made the score close at 14-10 CWP in the second quarter before the Pioneers went to work by overpowing the Hawks' defense.
Freshman RB/ KR Drew Lyons set single game records for kickoff returns (10), kickoff return yards (202), and all-purpose yards (246) in the game. He also made his first career start at running back and had 49 yards on 14 carries (3.5 ypc) against the Pioneers' tough run defense.
Senior QB Shane Dinagen came at in QB in the second quarter long enough to throw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Garcarz. It marked his eighth scoring strike of the season, expanding his previous career high of five reached in each of the previous two seasons. He has also thrown a TD pass in five straight games dating back to last season, the longest stretch of his career.
The Hawks will look to improve its team defense this week. The team enters the game as the 10th-ranked defensive club in the NE-10 by allowing nearly 420 yards of offense per game despite still leading the league in quarterback sacks with 20.
The Hawks have been tough in the red zone on defense, where opposing teams are recording points on just 73-percent of their possessions. That mark is good enough for second best in the league behind Bryant which is holding teams to a 70-percent success rate.
Stonehill: The Sky Hawks (formerly called the Chieftains) have been just better than Saint Anselm on defense and are allowing nearly 414 yards per game. The team opened its season with close wins over Assumption and Pace before dropping its last two.
Cliff Mason and Ryan Griffith share the running duties with each averaging roughly three yards per carry. Greg Borsari has completed 29 of 61 pass attempts with Mike Plichta emerging as the main target down field with 16 catches for 254 yards and three TDS.
Vincent Delaney leads the defense with 27 tackles, 20 of them coming as solo efforts.
