North Andover, Mass. (October
10) - Led by a Saint Anselm single-game record 241 yards
by junior back Luke St. Marie (Mill Creek, Wash.),
the Saint Anselm football team defeated Merrimack by a 48-42 final
at Warrior Field on Friday night. The win is the first collegiate
victory for Saint Anselm first-year head coach Patrick
Murphy. The team's 48 points is also the Saint Anselm
single-game record.
Merrimack got on the board first 3:42 into the first quarter as
freshman quarterback J.R. Suozzo (Everett, Mass.)
capped off a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a three-yard keeper
through the right side of the Saint Anselm defensive line. Saint
Anselm answered with a 66-yard drive, keyed by a 33-yard run by St.
Marie. Sophomore running back Joe Tran (Quincy,
Mass.) found the end zone on the drive as he bounced off
the referee and in from 10 yards out to even the score at 7-7.
Just 1:32 into the second quarter, the Warriors jumped back out
in front as Richard Johnson (Brockton, Mass.)
rumbled in from 10 yards out for his fourth touchdown of the
season. An earlier 17-yard rush by Johnson in the drive helped give
Merrimack solid field position to set up the score. On the ensuing
possession, the Hawks were forced to punt, but the punt was fumbled
by Merrimack's Andrew Jackson (New Britain, Conn.)
and the Hawks took the ball back with 12:34 left in the period.
Saint Anselm capitalized with a 10-yard touchdown reception from
Marc Wilson (Farmington, Conn.) to Marcel
Bouie (Stone Mountain, Ga.) to even things at 14-14 with
8:35 left in the first half.
With 6:14 left, Merrimack came roaring back with a quick
six-play, 57-yard drive that was capped by a 25-yard scoring run by
freshman Anthony Smalls (Natick, Mass.). The
scoring play was set up by a hard-fought 10-yard rush by Johnson to
set up the first down at the 25 yard line. Saint Anselm answered
back almost immediately and on fourth down, Wilson broke to the
left sideline and took it in from 17 yards out to knot the game at
21-21 with 2:57 left in the first half. The TD run was the third
rushing score of the year for Wilson. The Hawks weren't done though
as he engineered another scoring drive that took just 1:34 and was
capped by a diving touchdown leap by Wilson for the 28-21 halftime
edge.
Saint Anselm picked up right where they left off as St. Marie
busted off a career-long 65 yard run for his third touchdown of the
season. The extra-point try was no good and the Hawks held a 34-21
lead just 34 seconds into the third quarter. The Hawks took
advantage of another Merrimack turnover on the following possession
and after marching to the 20-yard line, Wilson found Bouie in the
back left corner of the end zone to put the Hawks up by a 40-21
margin after the PAT was blocked.
Merrimack took the ball on the next possession and drove deep
into Saint Anselm territory before running into a fourth down and
one at the five yard line. Suozzo ran into the line and was stopped
just inches short as the Hawks squashed the Warrior drive deep in
Saint Anselm territory. The Warriors did find the end zone though
in the third quarter as Suozzo fired a 24-yard scoring strike
across the middle to sophomore Patrick Easley (Tulsa,
Okla.) to cut the lead down to 40-28 with under a minute
left in the period.
With 12:25 left in the fourth, it was Saint Anselm going for it
on fourth and short deep in Merrimack territory, but the Warriors'
J.D. Wild (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) easily
stopped Wilson on the keeper to take over. The Hawks nearly stopped
the Warrior drive in its tracks, but on a fourth down and 21,
Jeremiah Watts (Clovis, Calif.) caught a 51-yard
pass to get the Warriors down to the 10 yard line. From there,
Suozzo took it in on the keeper to cut the lead down to 40-35 with
11:05 left in the fourth quarter.
Saint Anselm answered back though just two plays later as St.
Marie busted through the Merrimack defense for a 45-yard touchdown
run. The two-point conversion was also good to make the score 48-35
Hawks with 10:41 left.
Merrimack was not going away quietly though as Suozzo scored his
third rushing touchdown of the game with 3:57 left to pull the
Warriors to within six at 48-42. The Hawks recovered the onside
kick though and ran out the clock for their first victory of the
season.
Saint Anselm set a number of single-game records as a team,
including most team rushing yards in a game (439), most yards of
total offense (553), total offensive plays (98), most team rushing
attempts (69) and most points in a game (48).
St. Marie and Wilson both surpassed the 100-yard marks with 241
and 181 yards, respectively. The two teams combined for an
incredible 1,200 yards of total offense.
Defensively, Dan Bohenek (Bridgewater, Mass.)
led the Hawks with 14 tackles, including nine solo stops.
With the win, Saint Anselm improves to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in
Northeast-10 play, while Merrimack drops to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in
the league. Saint Anselm returns to action on Saturday, October
18th as the Hawks travel to Southern Connecticut for a 1 p.m.
start.
