Manchester, N.H. (October 25) -- Matt
Welch scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead
Bentley to a 30-12 rally past Saint Anselm on Saturday afternoon in
Northeast-10 action. The Falcons regained the lead for good with
just 10 minutes left in the fourth on a nine-yard TD pass from
John White to John Studley.
The Falcons scored on the final play of the first quarter as
Luis Cotto rumbled in from one yard out for the
7-0 lead. Bentley took the 7-0 lead into the half before Saint
Anselm answered as freshman quarterback Marc Wilson
(Farmington, Conn.) scampered down the near sideline after
breaking a number of tackles and 47 yards later the score was 7-6
Bentley. The Hawks missed the extra point attempt on the score.
Bentley answered 2:53 later on a 24-yard field goal by
Tyler McNamara to extend the lead to 10-6, but the
Hawks quickly took the lead for the first time with 13:59 remaining
in the game. On a fourth down and 15 from the 22-yard line, Wilson
found Bryant Lane in the left corner of the end
zone in traffic to take a 12-10 lead. The two-point converstion
attempt failed on the play.
After Studley capped off a nine-play, 55-yard drive to give the
Falcons the lead for good at 16-12, Welch scored on nine and
11-yard runs to account for the 30-12 final.
Offensively, Wilson went over the 100-yard mark for the fifth
time this season with a 113-yard effort. He is now within 87 yards
of the Saint Anselm single-season rushing record of 951 yards. With
216 carries this season, Wilson broke the single-season rushing
attempts mark of 192 in the process. Wilson also threw for 125
yards on 16 completions and one touchdown. For the Falcons, Cotto
finished with 61 yards and one touchdown, while Welch had 35 yards
and two scores. Henry Morris got the start at QB
and had 155 yards passing, while White came in in the second half
and put up 146 yards on 11-of-19 passing with one touchdown.
Studley led the receivers for Bentley with nine catches for 147
yards.
On defense, the Hawks were led by senior Rob Paradis
(Bristol, Conn.) with five tackles, two
interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Conor O'Brien (Scituate, Mass.) finished with
eight tackles, including 3.5 for loss, and two forced fumbles.
Saint Anselm falls to 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the Northeast-10,
while Bentley is 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the league. The Hawks are
back in action on Saturday, November 1st as the team hosts
Stonehill for a Noon start at Grappone Stadium.
