MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College football team racked up over 450 yards of total offense on Saturday, locking down a 42-7 victory over the visiting Ravens from Franklin Pierce University at Grappone Stadium.
Saint Anselm improves to 1-2 on the season, evening its Northeast-10 Conference record at 1-1. Franklin Pierce falls to 0-4 and to 0-2 against league opponents. Saturday's game was the home opener for Saint Anselm and was part of the College's Homecoming Weekend festivities.
Junior Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas) had an all-around solid game for the Hawks, scoring a 68-yard receiving touchdown and adding a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown (second-longest in team history) within the third quarter's final six minutes. He finished with five catches for 181 yards and two punt returns for 63 yards (fifth-most in single-game history).
Sophomore Drew Willoughby (Austin, Texas) completed 23 of his 40 passes on the afternoon, throwing for 370 yards with three touchdowns. Willoughby also sprinted home with a one-yard touchdown score of his own, joining Vincent Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.) on the scoresheet with a rushing touchdown. Wagner was the team's leading rusher with seven carries for 38 yards – he also had one catch for 18 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, 13 student-athletes had at least a hand in a combined 12 tackles for a cumulative loss of 34 yards. Senior Ryan Sullivan (Stoughton, Mass.) led the way with 13 total tackles, logging a sack for three yards, and was joined in double-digit tackles by senior Aziyah Lora (Clifton, N.J.). Junior Devin Williams (Cliffwood, N.J.) posted his first career interception in the game, bringing it back 20 yards.
Saint Anselm defenders combined for seven sacks, the most in a single game for the Hawks since the 2005 season. The Hawks also conceded just seven points in the game, just the sixth time in modern-day program history that Saint Anselm has allowed seven or fewer points in any game. Sullivan also cracked the team's top-10 list for career tackles, logging 219 since joining Saint Anselm in 2017.
For the fourth consecutive game, Saint Anselm got on the scoreboard first, using a three-play, 52-yard drive to open the game that ended with a 50-yard passing touchdown to junior Blaine Burkhalter (Burnet, Texas) with just 56 seconds elapsed in the contest – last time out against Southern Connecticut State, the Hawks scored only 53 seconds into regulation time.
The Hawks forced a quick three-and-out before striking once again with just under four minutes elapsed in the first quarter. From 13 yards out, Wagner raced home for his first collegiate rushing touchdown after Willoughby hooked up with freshman Carson Goda (Bradenton, Fla.) just two plays earlier, gaining 34-yards on the catch.
Saint Anselm kept Franklin Pierce off the scoreboard until late in the third quarter as the defense forced the visitors into six punts, two turnovers on downs and Williams' interception in the second quarter. On the other hand, Franklin Pierce forced a turnover on downs of its own and back-to-back Hawks punts before halftime.
With the score set at 14-0 entering halftime, Saint Anselm came out of the locker room with four consecutive touchdown drives to increase the lead to 42-0 heading into the fourth quarter.
As part of that huge 28-point third quarter, Willoughby's one-yard rush and Brown's 68-yard touchdown score upped the advantage to 35-0 near the midpoint of the stanza. Freshman Cade Horton (Scottsdale, Ariz.) reeled in his first collegiate touchdown with 1:54 to go in the third and Brown's 62-yard punt return came immediately after Saint Anselm's defense produced a three-and-out.
Franklin Pierce got on the board early in the fourth quarter, completing an 11-play, 53-yard drive with a three-yard rushing score by Michael Joyce with 11:22 to go. The Ravens finished the day with 276 yards of offense as the Hawks limited Franklin Pierce to a season-low seven points.
The Hawks host Bentley on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m.
