MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College football team opened its 2021 season with a 55-23 loss to NCAA Division I Merrimack College on Saturday at Warrior Stadium.
The Hawks returned to action for the first time since Nov. 16, 2019, a 61-23 victory over Assumption, and fall to 0-1 on the young season. Saint Anselm will enjoy a week-two bye before taking the field at Southern Connecticut State University on Friday, Sept. 17 under the lights.
Merrimack, a former member of the Northeast-10 Conference, is in its third season of play in the NCAA Division I Football Championship (FCS) Subdivision. The Warriors, who played in three games this past spring, move to 1-0 on the year.
Saint Anselm opened the game with nine straight points, using a field goal by freshman Patrick Carroll (Stafford, Va.) and a pick-six by fifth-year senior Ryan Sullivan (Stoughton, Mass.). Saint Anselm forced a punt, two turnovers on downs, a fumble and an interception on Merrimack's first five offensive drives as it hung around early in the contest.
Thanks to the Hawks defense, Merrimack led by just five points at halftime, 14-9. However, in total, Merrimack scored touchdowns on its final seven drives before the game's conclusion. In total, the Warriors racked up 577 yards of offense, generating an average of 7.6 yards per play, and threw for five touchdowns.
Saint Anselm found its way to 20 first downs, but Merrimack was able to control the game with nearly double the time of possession (37:44-to-22:16) and wear down the Hawks defensive unit.
Senior Liam Flynn (Hanover, Mass.) led Saint Anselm with nine tackles, including eight of the solo variety. Senior Damien Williams (Oxon Hill, Md.) notched eight tackles, broke up a pass and had two sacks for a combined loss of 16 yards, leading the Hawks with a solid all-around performance. Senior Chance Clency (High Point, N.C.) had two pass break-ups for Saint Anselm, the team's leader in that metric.
Freshman Carson Goda (Bradenton, Fla.) hauled in five passes for 54 yards, including a game-high reception of 20 yards. Junior Vincent Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the way with seven catches for 46 yards, collecting seven passes from Saint Anselm quarterback Drew Willoughby (Austin, Texas). Making his first start under center for the Hawks, Willoughby had 22 completions on 52 pass attempts, racking up 172 yards and throwing for a touchdown.
Wagner was his team's leading rusher, getting five carries for 32 yards. Junior JC King (Fall River, Mass.) had four rushes for 31 yards and a score.
The teams played a scoreless first quarter, despite the overwhelming edge in time of possession to Merrimack. The Hawks forced a punt and a turnover on downs, but Merrimack was able to force the Hawks into punting on each of its first two offensive possessions.
Saint Anselm was driving to begin the second quarter and was in the midst of a 10-play, 45-yard drive, but the Hawks fumbled on the Merrimack 11-yard line. The Hawks were able to get the ball right back as the tandem of Damien Williams and Jamal Peterson (Pasadena, Md.) forced a fumble by the Merrimack signal-caller, flipping the field for Saint Anselm.
The Hawks took advantage of the forced fumble, using a 10-yard field goal by Carroll with 8:38 to go in the first half to put Saint Anselm ahead by a 3-0 margin. After the kick-off, Merrimack threw a pick-six on their third play that Sullivan carried 65 yards to the house to create a 0-0 margin with 7:08 left in the second quarter.
Merrimack threw up back-to-back touchdowns down the stretch, turning a 9-0 lead for the Hawks into a 14-9 deficit at halftime. Back-to-back touchdown throws by Merrimack quarterback Westin Elliott, a transfer from Louisiana Tech, in just under 2:30 quickly turned the game around for the hosts.
Receiving the ball coming out of the locker room, the first Saint Anselm drive ended with an interception. Elliott needed just five plays from that point forward to put up another seven points for the Warriors as a 76-yard drive was capped by a 26-yard rushing touchdown by Matt Brehon.
King racked up 31 yards on back-to-back carries on the next Hawks possession, using a two-yard sprint to the end zone to shrink the Merrimack lead to 21-16. On that drive, Willoughby picked up 27 yards through the air and Merrimack committed one of its 10 penalties on the afternoon to give the Hawks another 15 yards.
Midway through the third quarter, Merrimack started to push away from Saint Anselm, this time using a four-play, 69-yard drive to score yet another touchdown off an Elliott pass. A turnover on downs by Saint Anselm gave the Warriors another crack at the end zone and they converted, this time using a seven-yard pass by Elliott to create a 35-16 lead shortly into the fourth quarter.
A pick-six thrown by Willoughby further created distance between the Hawks and Warriors, moving the hosts ahead by a 41-16 score with 14:09 to go in regulation. Saint Anselm went for it once again with nothing to lose, but a turnover on downs resulted yet again as a fourth-and-six attempt would not go.
The biggest lead of the game for Merrimack occurred on the next drive. Needing only four plays to score, the Warriors punished the Hawks with a 44-yard throw by Elliott to Anthony Norcia, producing a game-high lead of 48-16.
Willoughby hooked up with junior Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas) on the team's last offensive possession of the day, threading the needle with a 21-yard pass that was hauled in near the left sideline. The Warriors committed two additional pass interference penalties on the drive, gaining a combined 28 yards through the miscues.
Merrimack tacked on another score in the game's final minute, capping a nine-play, 90-yard drive that featured all rushing attempts. A last desperate pass attempt for the Hawks was intercepted in the game's final 100 seconds and two kneel-downs ended the game for the victorious Merrimack team.
Elliot finished the game with a 29-for-35 performance, throwing four touchdowns and totaling 374 yards through the air. Victor Dawson had nine carries for 69 yards and the leading receiver for Merrimack was Johnny Rosario, collecting 104 yards on five catches. Norcia finished the day with two touchdown catches.
