Manchester, N.H. (September 2, 2006) -- At Grappone Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Saint Anselm football team opened the 2006 season with a 34-10 loss to American International.
The Yellow Jackets got on the board with 9:31 left in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Shane Murphy hit Tyler Scaccia with a 55-yard touchdown pass for the 7-0 lead. Scaccia made the over-the-shoulder catch just across midfield and broke in for the first score of the game down the near sideline.
On AIC's next drive, the Yellow Jackets went 33 yards in six plays and found the end zone on a seven-yard TD pass from Murphy to freshman Kertis Hussey for the 14-0 lead. The Hawks bounced back and moved the ball down the field and inside the red zone before the Hawks were undone on an AIC interception on a pass from Saint Anselm quarterback Geoff Stevens (Andover, Mass.). The pass was picked off by AIC's Brian Kelly.
The Hawks got on the board at 7:19 of the second quarter as sophomore Ryan Drago (Plymouth, Mass.) scored on a 10-yard rush up the middle to pull the Hawks within a touchdown. The drive was set up by a Saint Anselm interception from sophomore safety Brian Tormollan (Waterville, Maine). AIC scored just 45 seconds later on a two-play drive that was highlighted by a 58-yard rushing touchdown from standout Marlon Beckles. On that run, Beckles moved into third place on the AIC all-time rushing list. The game went into the half at 21-7 in favor of AIC.
Saint Anselm closed to within 21-10 early in the second half on a 34-yard field goal from senior Mike Garcarz (New Britain, Conn.). AIC found the endzone again in the third quarter on a five-yard TD rush from junior Marcus Cameron and expanded the lead back to 28-10 with 5:30 left in the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets added their third rushing TD of the game on a seven-yard scamper by sophomore Jonathan Thorpe. The extra point was no good, making the score 34-10 with 7:53 remaining in the fourth quarter and that would turn out to be the final.
For the Hawks, senior All-America candidate Casey Larson (Pascoag, R.I.) moved into second place on the school's all-time sack list with 23 sacks and now trails the all-time leader, Dave Heiner, by just a half a sack. Senior receiver Pat Turner (No. Andover, Mass.) hauled in five passes for 32 yards and has now tied a school record with a reception in 16 straight games. Drago finished with 58 yards on the ground for the Hawks as the team rushed for 90 total yards. Stevens finished with 111 passing yards on 13-of-33 pass attempts. Sophomore Conor O'Brien (Scituate, Mass.) made 16 tackles in the loss for the Hawks. For AIC, Beckles finished with a game-high 189 yards on 24 rushes and Murphy finished with 198 yards passing with one interception and two touchdowns.
With the loss, the Hawks fall to 0-1 overall and in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets are now 1-0 overall and in league play. The Hawks are back in action on Saturday, September 9th as the team travels to Edinboro for a non-league contest beginning at 1 p.m.
