Pleasantville, N.Y. (November 8) - Led by a
single-game school-record 285-yard performance by freshman
quarterback Marc Wilson (Farmington, Conn.), the
Saint Anselm football team defeated Pace by a 28-14 final at a
rainy Setter Field on Saturday afternoon in NE-10 play. Led by
Wilson's record-setting day, the Hawks finished with 448 team
rushing yards, also a single-game school record.
Pace jumped out to a 7-0 lead on just the second play of the
game as junior Nathaniel Ford (Queens, N.Y.)
rumbled in from 57 yards out with just 23 seconds gone off the
clock. On the ensuing possession, the Hawks put together a 13-play,
56-yard drive that was capped by a seven-yard score by Luke
St. Marie (Mill Creek, Wash.) inside the near pylon to cut
the lead to 7-6. St. Marie broke two tackles on the play, followed
by a missed extra point attempt by the Hawks. Saint Anselm took the
lead for the first time on a 67-yard touchdown run straight up the
middle by Wilson with 6:02 left in the first quarter. On the play,
Wilson became the first 1000-yard single-season rusher in Saint
Anselm history.
The lone scoring in the second quarter came on a fumble recovery
for a touchdown by Justin Polanis (Port Jervis,
N.Y.) as he picked up the ball and took it in from 25
yards out to make the score 14-12 in favor of the Setters.
Saint Anselm regained the lead with 6:53 remaining in the third
quarter as Wilson found wide receiver Marcel Bouie (Stone
Mountain, Ga.) on a screen pass and Bouie got into the end
zone for the 18-14 lead. The Hawks added the two-point conversion
as Wilson found Geoff Stevens (Andover, Mass.) in
traffic to make it 20-14 in favor of the visitors.
On the next Pace possession, the Setters were set to punt on
fourth down, but the ball was fumbled and recovered by Dan
Bohenek (Bridgewater, Mass.) on the five yard line. Wilson
nearly gave the Hawks a 26-14 lead, but fumbled the ball at the one
yard line and out of the end zone for a touchback. The Hawks did
get the next TD though as St. Marie scored from 19 yards out early
in the 4th and added the two-point conversion for the 28-14 lead
with 14:37 left in the game.
Wilson finished the game with 285 yards and finishes his
freshman season with the highest single-season rushing total in
Saint Anselm history with 1,214 yards. He also has set the
single-season mark for rushing attempts with 270 rushes and has
helped the Hawks set over 20 offensive records in 2008. St. Marie
also went over the 100-yard mark with a 144-yard, two-touchdown
effort in the victory.
Defensively, the Hawks forced five turnovers on the day, led by
a tremendous effort by senior linebacker Brian Tormollan
(Waterville, Maine). Tormollan finished his final career
game with eight tackles, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and
a solid day on special teams. Bohenek had a team-high nine tackles
and one fumble recovery.
With the win, the Hawks complete the season at 2-8 overall
and 1-6 in the Northeast-10 under first-year head
coach Patrick Murphy. Pace completes the season at 4-6
overall and 3-4 in league play.
