PREVIEW: Football to face Franklin Pierce on the road

9/17/2022 9:00:00 AM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – For the first time since the 2014 season, Saint Anselm is 2-0 on the football gridiron. The Hawks look to make it three in a row, hitting the road for a 6 p.m. showdown with Franklin Pierce under the lights at Sodexo Field.

Saint Anselm racked up eight touchdowns (six receiving, two rushing) on Saturday, Sept. 10, easing past American International College by a 56-7 margin at Grappone Stadium. The Hawks held a 28-0 advantage just 14:38 into the game and scored the third-most points in a single game in team history.

The Hawks exited the busy football Saturday as the only team in the Northeast-10 Conference with an undefeated record. The Hawks have allowed 10 or fewer points in back-to-back wins for the first time since late in the 2003 campaign.

Franklin Pierce is in its third season of sponsoring NCAA football, debuting in the 2019 season. The team opened the year with a narrow 10-7 loss to Edinboro before falling on the road at Carson-Newman, 27-6.

NOTABLES

DANGEROUS DREW: Junior quarterback Drew Willoughby (Austin, Texas) was named the NE10's Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week on Monday. He completed 21-of-31 passes, firing six touchdowns (single-game home record for Saint Anselm) while racking up 246 aerial yards in Saturday's 56-7 victory over American International. In total, 10 receivers caught a pass from Willoughby, including three first-quarter touchdown passes to senior Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas), who posted three catches for 38 yards. The Hawks signal-caller finished with four first-quarter TD passes as the Hawks led by a 42-0 margin at one point. Willoughby now has 31 career passing touchdowns and 3,403 passing yards for Saint Anselm in just 11 career games played.
HIS NAME IS RIO: Sophomore Rio Ferguson (Northborough, Mass.) earned the league's Special Teams Player of the Week accolade on Monday. Against the Yellow Jackets, Ferguson led the Hawks with 52 rushing yards and was a standout on special teams, becoming the second in team history to block two punts in a single game. Through his team's first two games, he now has two punt blocks and a fumble recovery on a punt attempt to his credit.
THAT'S RANK: Entering the team's Week 3 showdown with Franklin Pierce, the Hawks find themselves statistically in elite company on a national scale. The following are NCAA Division II national rankings: 1st in winning percentage (47 undefeated teams in the country); 5th in turnover margin (3.00); 6th in turnovers gained (8); 7th in fumbles recovered (4); 7th in completion percentage (70.3%); 9th in team sacks (4.5).
TOP 10 STANDOUTS: Individually, Saint Anselm has several student-athletes ranked within the top-10 nationally in several statistical categories, including: Drew Willoughby - First in passing touchdowns (9), first in points responsible for (54), first in points responsible for per game (27.0), seventh in completions per game (25.5), ninth in passing yardage (600), ninth in completion percentage (69.9%), 10th in passing efficiency (176.8); Anthony Brown - Second in receiving touchdowns (4), sixth in total touchdowns (4), seventh in total points scored (24), ninth in scoring (12.0); Rio Ferguson - Second in blocked kicks (2), 10th in fumbles recovered (1); Zach Martin - 10th in fumbles recovered (1); Devin Williams - Second in fumbles recovered (2); Taylor Pawelkoski - 6th in sacks (1.5)
HOME IS WHERE IT HAPPENS: Saint Anselm has now won eight of its last nine games played at Grappone Stadium since the start of the 2019 season. The one loss in that span came at the hands of nationally-ranked Bentley, an NCAA postseason team that finished with a 9-2 overall record in 2021. The longest home winning streak in program history was 15 games, spanning from Oct. 19, 1935 and running through Oct. 2, 1940.
LEADERS OF THE PACK: As a team, Saint Anselm ranked at the top of the NE10 in 2021 in several statistical categories, including passing offense (314.7 - 9th overall in NCAA Division II), team tackles for a loss per game (7.7), and fumbles lost (three). The well-rounded Hawks ranked second in the conference in punt return yardage (12.15), sacks allowed (1.11), tackles for a loss allowed (4.11) and total offensive yards per game (380.9).
WELCOME TO THE HILLTOP: The Hawks celebrated a successful National Signing Day in late March as Head Coach Joe Adam welcomed over 31 student-athletes to the Hilltop just one year after introducing 41 to the Anselmian community. Saint Anselm has also retained student-athletes at a higher rate, meaning that the roster heading into Thursday's tilt will strike a balance of youth and experience.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: The Hawks open the season with over 120 student-athletes on the roster, the largest roster in College history. To accommodate the large group, a brand-new locker room was constructed along with new team spaces for women's soccer and women's lacrosse.
REPLACING THE CARPET: Saint Anselm replaced the original artificial turf playing surface, first installed in 2011, this past summer. The new field features the athletics logo at midfield for the first time in College history and the end zones sport the "HAWKS" wordmark with a full navy backdrop.
ONE LAST LOOK BACK: The Hawks season ended prematurely last season with a 3-6 overall record and a 3-5 mark against NE10 opponents. After the team's narrow 44-35 loss at Assumption on Nov. 6, Saint Anselm was set to face Bluefield State on the road in the regular-season finale but the contest was canceled.
LET'S LOOK FORWARD: Saint Anselm will face 11 programs across 11 weeks without a bye, starting with the home opener and ending the regular season at American International on Saturday, Nov. 12. In addition to the team's regular Northeast-10 Conference schedule, the Hawks also have scheduled a non-league fixture against Post University on Saturday, Oct. 22.

MILESTONE WATCH

Senior Vincent Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.) enters the game against Franklin Pierce with 692 carer rushing yards. To crack the top-10 list in team history, he needs 24 rushing yards against the Ravens. He enters the game with 4.09 yards per rush in his career, ranking eighth all-time (min. 100 attempts).
Senior wideout Anthony Brown enters the game on Saturday with 1,538 receiving yards in his career, ranking seventh all-time, and needs just 81 yards to jump all the way up to fifth in team history in that statistic. Brown also sits in a three-way tie for fifth all-time with 14 career touchdown receptions.
Brown also has caught a pass in each of his 22 career games at Saint Anselm, the longest streak by a Hawks student-athlete since Zach Bartak '17 had 23 consecutive games with a reception from Nov. 8, 2014 through Nov. 12, 2016.

NE10 PRESEASON POLL

Saint Anselm was projected to finish fifth out of eight teams in the Northeast-10 Conference's annual Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Saint Anselm earned 23 points, ranking fifth behind preseason favorite New Haven, the recipient of the maximum amount of first-place votes. Assumption is slotted to finish second and received the outlying first place vote. Bentley and Pace rounded out the top half of the standings.
After Saint Anselm, Southern Connecticut State, American International and Franklin Pierce rounded out the poll.
According to D2Football.com and Paul Falewicz, the NE10 correspondent, the Hawks are predicted to finish second in the league behind New Haven. Assumption, Bentley and Southern Connecticut State round out Falewicz' top five.

THE LEADERSHIP GROUP

Anthony Brown (Belton, Texas), Liam Flynn (Hanover, Mass.), Bobby Long (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Vincent Wagner (Staten Island, N.Y.) will provide on-the-field leadership for the Hawks in 2022.
A First Team All-Conference performer in 2021, Brown became a two-time team captain for the Hawks. Last season, Brown reeled in 56 passes for 812 yards with nine touchdowns, leading the NE10 outright in receiving yards per game (90.2) while tying for the league lead with nine receiving touchdowns.
Additionally, Brown's 6.2 receptions per game and 90.2 receiving yards per game ranked him within the top-25 in NCAA Division II in both statistics. He also served as the team's primary kick and punt returner, ranking 15th in NCAA Division II with 12.2 yards per punt return.
Flynn debuted for Saint Anselm in 2019 with 12 tackles before exploding for 57 takedowns in 2021, registering nine-and-a-half for a combined loss of 35 yards. Logging his first career interception against American Int'l on Oct. 30, he produced two double-digit tackle games (Sept. 17 at Southern Conn. St.; Oct. 16 at Stonehill) and posted one-and-a-half sacks.
Long, the first Bridgewater, Mass. native to serve as a team captain since Dan Bohenek '09, has seen action in 27 games for the Hawks, scoring seven touchdowns as a wide receiver. Last season, he appeared in nine games and hauled in five scores, logging one in four out of five games played in the month of October.
One of just two student-athletes from New York State to be selected as a team captain (Yianni Gavalas '16), Wagner trailed only Brown with 787 all-purpose yards on the season. Logging over 100-plus all-purpose yards in four games on the year, he logged 483 rushing and 304 receiving yards to help Saint Anselm as a dual threat.

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS

Willoughby was named NE10 Rookie of the Year to end last season while Brown was named First Team on offense. Ryan Sullivan '22 was a Second Team pick on defense while then-freshman Carson Goda (Bradenton, Fla.) joined Willoughby on the conference's All-Rookie Team.
The league leader in passing yards per game (311.4), Willoughby tied for the league lead with 22 touchdowns in 2021 and finished his first season on the Hilltop with 2,803 passing yards, the second most by any Saint Anselm quarterback in single-season team history. He threw for over 200 yards in all but two games and completed more than 60% of his passes on five occasions.
The team's first Rookie of the Year selection since 2012, Willoughby ranks second in NCAA Division II in completions per game (27.89), seventh in the country in passing yards per game (311.4) and 12th in total offense (313.0).
Brown played in all nine games for Saint Anselm, reeling in 56 passes for 812 yards with nine touchdowns, leading the NE10 outright in receiving yards per game (90.2) while tying for the league lead with nine receiving touchdowns. His 6.2 receptions per game and 90.2 receiving yards per game ranked him within the top-25 in NCAA Division II in both statistics.
He also served as the team's primary kick and punt returner, ranking 15th in NCAA Division II with 12.2 yards per punt return. Brown was one of 75 student-athletes in NCAA Division II to return a punt this season, doing so in his team's home opener against Franklin Pierce on Sept. 25.
Entering his fourth season on the Hilltop in 2022, his 13.71 yards per catch is the second-best figure in team annals and his 5.3 catches per game across 20 career contests for Saint Anselm is fourth. He also ranks as the top kick returner in team history (24.18/return) and the third-best punt returner (11.05/return).
Goda had a stellar debut for Saint Anselm in 2021, posting 24 catches for 296 yards with three receiving touchdowns. Averaging 12.3 yards per catch, he posted at least two receptions in all but two games and had a career game against Stonehill on Oct. 16, reeling in five passes for 16 yards with a touchdown that went for 75 yards.

"CHECK"ING ALL THE BOXES

Jordan Softcheck, the Offensive Coordinator, was a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association's Assistant Coach of the Year award to end the 2021 campaign.
The Assistant Coach of the Year award was first presented in 1997 and was created to honor assistant coaches who excel in community service, commitment to the student-athlete, on-field coaching success and AFCA professional organization involvement.
One of 50 nominees from across the NCAA and NAIA landscape, Softcheck recently completed his fourth season as the team's Offensive Coordinator in 2021 under Adam. His offensive units hold two of the top five single-season records in team history for total offense (377.5, 2019; 380.9, 2021).
Under his guidance in 2021, the Hawks offense finished as the ninth-ranked unit in NCAA Division II, averaging 314.7 passing yards – furthermore, Saint Anselm was ranked second in the Northeast-10 Conference in total offense (380.9).
In the 2021 season, Softcheck mentored the league's Rookie of the Year in Willoughby, a First Team wide receiver in Brown, and an All-Rookie Team pick in Goda.

Print Friendly Version