Montclair holds off Buffalo to stay in hunt
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“He opens up the play-action pass,” John DiGirolamo said in The Star Ledger. “He plays with heart and you can't teach that. He may not be the fastest guy, but he gets the job done.”
DiGirolamo threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns as the Red Hawks (6-1) stopped the Bengals at the 1-yard line on the final play to preserve their sixth consecutive win. Curtis Hathcock ran for 141 yards and a touchdown for the Bengals (1-6), who rallied from 34-10 down in the final period, but fell short and now trail the series with MSU, 3-2.
“We didn't finish,” Montclair defensive back Shaun Murray, who had two interceptions, told the paper. “In the second half we thought we won the game. It wasn't over yet. We had them, but we didn't finish them.”
Down 24 points midway through the final period, the Buffalo State quickly closed the gap as Marc Hoppy hauled in a 55-yard touchdown pass from Mike Mikolaichik and Hathcock ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 34-18. MSU recovered the Bengals’ on-side kick attempt, but could not move the ball and punted giving Buffalo State the ball at its own 20. The Bengals then drove to the MSU 44, but Mikolaichik was intercepted by Shaun Murray at the MSU 17. However, MSU was again stymied and forced to punt from its own end zone. Bill Christopher's kick was then blocked and recovered by John Lesure for a touchdown. Mikolaichik then hit T.J. Cottrell for the two-point conversion cutting the deficit to 34-26 with 1:31 to play.
Things then got worse for Montclair State as BSC's John Hostuttler recovered the on-side kick giving the Bengals, who were out of timeouts, a last opportunity at its own 43. After a sack and incompletion, Mikolaichik hit HT Williams on a 48-yard pass down to the MSU 14. Hoppy then hauled in an 11-yard pass to the three with 22 seconds left. Hathcock then ran off left tackle to the one. Then with the clock ticking Mikolaichik tried to sneak over for the touchdown, but was met by Montclair's Ray Meyer who made the tackle ending the Buffalo State comeback attempt.
Century win mark for RPI Coach
Senior quarterback Dan Cole threw three touchdown passes to lead RPI to a 52-7 victory against Hartwick on Saturday at All-Weather Field.
The Engineers (6-0, 2-0 UCAA) gave 15th-year head coach Joe King the 100th victory of his career at RPI. King, who has a 100-36-2 record, has led the Engineers to two NCAA Playoff appearances (1999, 2001), five victories in Eastern College Athletic Conference Bowl Games (1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2002) and four UCAA Championships (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001) during his tenure. In addition, he guided RPI to undefeated regular seasons (9-0) in 1999 and 2001.
The Engineers, who took a 42-0 lead into halftime, took advantage of 11 Hartwick turnovers — including seven interceptions and four fumbles. RPI had a 295-125 advantage in rushing yards and dominated the time of possession by holding onto the football for 38 minutes, two seconds. The Engineers also received strong special teams play from senior kicker Matt Verenini, who went 7-for-7 in extra point attempts and connected on a 29-yard field goal attempt in the fourth
quarter.
Injured Profs Lead But Fall to DII So. Connecticut
Quarterback Mike Abate completed two touchdown passes to wide receiver Jim Lukowiak for Southern Connecticut State in a 23-10 win over visiting Rowan on Saturday afternoon at Jess Dow Field.
Southern Connecticut, a Division II school, has an overall record of 6-2 while Rowan is 5-2.
For Rowan, running back Pat Thompson carried the ball 20 times for 84 yards and Tremaine Hill contributed with 72 yards on 10 attempts. Thompson also had 22 yards receiving with three catches. The Profs had a total of 231 yards rushing. Jabrill Joseph started at quarterback in place of Mike Orihel who was out with an injury. Mike Seidenberg also saw time at quarterback and had 52 yards passing with seven completions in 23 attempts.
The Owls started the scoring at 10:17 in the first quarter. Abate threw a 7-yard TD pass to Lukowiak which capped a six play, 46-yard scoring drive. Cornerback Yasin York blocked Kevin Bernasconi’s conversion attempt. It was his first failed PAT in 32 attempts. The drive started when Padraic Forry recovered a Profs’ fumble on the Rowan 46-yard line.
Rowan went ahead in the second quarter on a 12-yard touchdown run by Brandon Medine at 9:27 and the PAT by Damian Shaddow. The touchdown drive was five plays and covered 25 yards. Medine started the drive with a 2-yard run. Seidenberg had a rush for 1 yard and a 10-yard pass to Luis Cortes. In the third period, Shaddow kicked a 20-yard field for the Profs’ 10-6 advantage. Rowan covered 41 yards with seven plays in the drive. Seidenberg contributed in the drive with a 19-yard run and a 21-yard pass.
With 1:08 left in the third, Lukowiak had his second TD pass of 8 yards from Abate, putting the Owls up 13-6. Wilson carried the ball five times in the drive for 25 yards. The drive was nine plays and spanned 74 yards. In the final stanza, SCSU had a 27-yard field goal by Bernasconi (12:52) and a two-yard TD carry by Wilson (0:29).
Said Rowan coach Jay Accorsi in the New Haven Register, “Their size was too much for us. We stayed with them for a while, then it got too much for us.”
National Pool B Watch
North
UAA:. Barring a rash of two-loss teams nationally, there aren’t any contenders.
South
PAC: Waynesburg (7-1) defeated No. 13 Washington & Jefferson (6-1) 27-17 this week. The win dropped Washington & Jefferson out of the Top 25, while Waynesburg moved up to No. 25.
ACFC: Salisbury (6-0) defeated Newport News (1-6) 31-6 this week. Salisbury plays at Wesley (4-3) on Saturday. Wesley is Salisbury’s toughest competition thus far and could pull off the win.
West
NWC: No. 3 Linfield (6-0) beat Menlo (5-2) 30-24.
Independent: See Menlo above.
Where do we stand?
If South Region Pool B contender Waynesburg runs the table, they’ll grab one of the Pool B bids. Washington & Jefferson may need help with losses to Salisbury and some big East region upsets for a bid. Salisbury should be eliminated from Pool B consideration due to a very weak SOS, if they lose to Wesley this Saturday.
In the West, No. 3 Linfield (6-0) is in if it wins out. Menlo (5-2) needs a rash of two loss teams amongst the Pool B contenders in order to get back in the playoff race.
The East could start thinning out beginning this week. Montclair (6-1) travels to Ewing, N.J. to take on No. 16 New Jersey (5-1). A TCNJ win clears up the East a little, giving them NJAC title while dropping Montclair out of playoff contention. If TCNJ loses the waters get muddy, leaving Rowan, TCNJ, and Montclair with one D-III loss apiece, each in-region. This would also set up a potential NJAC title match when Montclair travels to Glassboro on Nov. 15.
RPI (6-0) travels to St. John Fisher (5-2) on Saturday. SJF has only lost to No. 18 Ithaca and No. 21 Brockport in close games. This is RPI’s toughest opponent this season. RPI needs to win out to stay in playoff contention.
No. 18 Ithaca (6-1) should beat Hobart (4-2) and remain one of the front-runners in Pool B.
No. 20 Rowan (5-2) should beat Kean (1-6) for homecoming. After leading 10-6 in the 3rd quarter with their third string quarterback, Rowan lost 23-10 to D-II Southern Connecticut The loss shouldn’t affect playoff consideration, however the quarterback questions helped Rowan drop eight spots to No. 20 this week on the D3football.com poll. It will be interesting to see where Rowan winds up on the NCAA regional poll Oct. 29. Rowan should still be in the running, however wins by TCNJ against Montclair (this week) and Brockport (next week) will help the Profs.
No. 21 Brockport (7-1) should beat Thiel (2-5) and stay in the hunt.
Notes
Brockport quarterback Bob Darnley ranks eighth nationally in pass efficiency with 158.7, while RPI quarterback Dan Cole ranks twelfth with 155.3 and Ithaca quarterback John Felicetti ranks thirteenth at 154.9 efficiency.
Games of the Week
Montclair (6-1) at TCNJ (5-1), Ewing, N.J., 2 p.m.: Last year, Montclair ruined any playoffs hopes for TCNJ by trouncing them 40-7 in Montclair. It’s homecoming for TCNJ, with the NJAC title on the line. The Lions have beaten the Profs. Can they stop DiGirolamo and Vick?
RPI (6-0) at St. John Fisher (5-2), Pittsford, N.Y., 1 p.m.: SJF has lost by a total of four points to two Top 25 teams. RPI has beaten only one team (Union) at or above .500 this year. Can they handle the Fish, or does RPI get fried?