Down and out in New Jersey
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There is speculation that the team may be overrated and/or lack cohesiveness. Unfortunately the local press which lauded Montclair in preseason as one of the best teams in the country, hasn’t said much about the cause of the team’s slide.
The general fear is that Springfield’s top ten rating might be a little high. D3football.com voters might be thinking the same thing as Springfield slid one spot to No. 6 this week, despite a decisive win 56-27 over Western Connecticut.
Rowan slid five spots to No. 16 after losing to DII Virginia State 27-7 with out the starting quarterback, center and a wide receiver. The tough out of conference schedule has been taking a toll on the Profs.
Kean surprises Montclair
Freshman quarterback A.J. Roque hit freshman tight end Jerrod Langley for a 24-yard touchdown pass with 5:45 remaining in the game to lift Kean to a 21-17 upset victory over 22nd-ranked Montclair in front of 2,180 Homecoming fans in New Jersey Athletic Conference action. The Cougar victory was the first over the Red Hawks since 1995 and is just the fourth victory in 30 all-time meetings against Montclair State.
Kean improved to 2-4 overall, 1-2 in the NJAC, while the Red Hawks dropped to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference play for the first time ever.
With six minutes remaining in the game, the Red Hawks had the ball on their own 19-yard line leading 17-15. On the first play of the drive, freshman running back Josh Walkowitz fumbled after getting hit by Kean junior defensive tackle Ricky Jones, and freshman linebacker Jason Haskins recovered the ball for the Cougars on the Montclair 24-yard line. On the very next play, Roque hit Langley on a crossing route for just his second career reception and he ran in the endzone untouched for the game-winning touchdown.
The Cougars and Red Hawks traded fumbles in each of their opening possessions, Kean took a 6-0 lead just 2:01 into the game, as Roque hit junior wide receiver Jasonus Tillery for an 84-yard touchdown pass, the fourth longest passing play in program history and the longest since 1991.
Montclair answered back on a 61-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Mike Passero to senior wide receiver Steve Armstrong with 4:38 left in the first quarter, capping a seven-play, 97-yard drive, to take a 7-6 lead after the extra point by sophomore kicker Vin Doffont.
The Cougars took a 12-7 lead with 7:41 remaining in the second period, when Roque and freshman wide receiver Duane Schultz connected on a 30-yard touchdown strike to finish off the five-play, 57-yard drive.
With less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Red Hawks drove the ball 80-yards on nine-plays to regain the lead with two seconds remaining, as freshman quarterback Al Hawkins found Armstrong in the back of the endzone.
The Cougars forced the Red Hawks to punt their first possession of the second half, Kean took the ball 42-yards on eight plays and freshman kicker Jonathan Robinson had a 32-yard field goal to give Kean the 15-14 lead with 6:23 left in the third period.
Montclair took its final lead of the game at 17-15 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, when Doffont had an 18-yard field goal to cap a 13-play, 66-yard drive that spanned 6:50 of the third and fourth quarters.
The Cougars all but sealed the 21-17 victory when Jones forced his second fumble of game and Kean senior linebaker Steve Skakum recovered the ball with 4:35 remaining. The Red Hawks had one last chance after the Cougar punt, however the Kean defense had a pair of sacks and forced two incompletions to take over the ball on downs and run out the clock for the Homecoming victory.
In the win, Roque finished with 252 passing yards, completing 12-of-25 passes with three touchdowns, while Tillery had four catches for 140 yards. Defensively, freshman defensive back Ryan Staton made nine tackles and had one interception, Skakum added eight tackles and recovered one fumble and senior nose tackle Frankie D’Arpa had eight tackles and two sacks. As a unit, the Cougars forced six turnovers on three interceptions and three fumbles.
For the Red Hawks, senior running back Eugene Vick carried the ball 19 times for 70 yards, but left the game late in the third quarter with an injury. Hawkins completed 11 of 23 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown, while Passero had 85 passing yards on 4-for-10 passing. Armstrong had four receptions for 131 yards, however was ejected after his second touchdown when he received his second unsportsmanlike penalty in the game. Defensively, junior linebacker Morgan Burklow had a game-high 10 tackles, while senior linebacker John Lennox had seven tackles, including four for a loss of 9 yards.
‘Hail Katherine’ pass puts St. John Fisher over the top
Junior receiver Noah Fehrenbach caught a 39-yard pass in the back of the end zone from Curt Fitzpatrick as time ran out to lift No. 17 St. John Fisher to a 37-32 win against Brockport State at Special Olympics Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals defeated the Golden Eagles for the first time in 15 all-time meetings, and improved to 6-0. Brockport fell to 3-2 on the year.
If you missed it, it was the D3football.com Game of the Week, and the audio broadcast is archived.
"I sprinted downfield, turned around and the ball was right there,” Fehrenbach told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The 6-2 Fehrenbach somehow sprinted past the defensive backs in Brockport's prevent defense to catch Fitzpatrick's throw.
"Somebody was looking down on us,'' a stunned Paul Vosburgh, Fisher's coach, said in the Democrat and Chronicle. "Somebody helped us make that play. They had kids all around him.''
The team believes that someone is former school president Dr. Katherine E. Keough, who died Sept. 25 from complications related to bone cancer. The players wear Keough's initials on their helmets.
Instead of the more common "Hail Mary" term, Fehrenbach's catch was being referred to as the "Hail Katherine" play not long after it happened along the Fisher sideline, the paper reported.
Brockport State had taken a 32-31 lead with 38 seconds remaining when quarterback Bob Darnley found Mike Mahoney with a 36-yard touchdown, and a point after by Marc Menchetti. But St. John Fisher took over at its 20 with 38 seconds remaining. On a fourth-and-3 from the 27, Fitzpatrick connected with Eric Praetorius for 9 yards to keep the drive alive. Three plays later from the Brockport 46, Fitzpatrick completed a 7-yard pass to Mike Nackley on a third-and-3. On the next play, Fitzpatrick found Fehrenbach in the right back of the end zone for the winning score.
"It was a big teeter-totter," Darnley said in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about the final minutes of the game, Brockport’s homecoming. "Mike made a great catch in the end zone.
"We thought that we had it."
Fitzpatrick finished with 302 yards passing, completing 25 of 41 attempts, and had three touchdowns through the air. Mark Robinson rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals. Darnley was 17-for-24 for 201 yards and two touchdowns. In the fourth quarter at 9:48, Darnley had a 22-yard pass completion to Mahoney that made him the all-time career passing yardage leader in Brockport history, replacing Jim Higgins. Darnley ended the day with 5,190 career yards. John Walther led all players with 18 tackles for Brockport, while Derek Marriott and Mike Fox had 14 tackles each for the Cardinals. Jon Brown had 129 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns for Brockport.
Brockport opened the scoring with a 3-yard run by Brown at 10:29 of the first to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive. The point after failed. Robinson tied it for Fisher with a 1-yard rushing score with nine seconds remaining in the first quarter, and Will Bean made the kick for a 7-6 Fisher lead.
Brown added a 3-yard rushing score at 10:58 of the second quarter to finish a nine-play, 65-yard drive for a 13-7 Brockport lead. But Bean hit a 32-yard field goal with five seconds remaining in the first half to pull the Cardinals within three. Robinson had a 1-yard run at 9:33 of the third to complete a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 5:27 and gave the Cardinals a 17-13 lead. Fehrenbach caught a 44-yard pass from Fitzpatrick at 8:41 for a 24-13 advantage in the third. But Mike Bond brought the Golden Eagles back with a 4-yard scoring strike from Darnley with 5:12 left in the quarter. But Darnley's two point pass conversion failed and it was 24-19 Fisher.
Fitzpatrick opened the third with a 13-yard pass to Craig Fitzpatrick that ended a 10-play, 65-yard drive with 1:07 left in the third, as Fisher took a 31-19 lead.
Brockport converted a nine-play, 73-yard drive with 7:31 left in the fourth quarter on Brown's third score of the day, a 4-yard run. The kick failed and it was 31-25. On the Brockport 24 with a fourth-and-8, a Cardinal pass fell incomplete and Brockport took over with 2:06 remaining at its own 24. Seven plays later, Darnley found Mahoney for what seemed to be the winning score before Fisher's final second heroics.
Brockport had never lost to Fisher in the 14 previous meetings before Saturday.
"We've never lost a game like that,'' Rocco Salomone, Brockport's stunned coach, told the paper. "They had a kid who wanted to make a play more than we did, that's all it was.”
Springfield grinds up Western Connecticut
No. 5 Springfield defeated Western Connecticut 56-27 behind an outstanding individual performance from senior quarterback Ryan Sylvia.
Sylvia led the triple option and rushed for a career-high 197 yards on 30 carries, scored four touchdowns and threw for another as the Pride improved to 4-0.
His scores came from 23, 2, 5 and 1 yards, respectively as Springfield amassed 487 yards of total offense. Sylvia completed his only pass of the afternoon for a 38-yard touchdown to Mike Grendal long after the outcome was decided with 10:38 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Both teams swapped blows until the 1:22 mark of the second half when Tim Lutgens scampered 4 yards for his second touchdown of the day to give the Pride a 28-21 advantage. They would go on from there to score 28 unanswered points and built a 49-21 lead on Sylvia’s 1-yard dive with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter.
Western Connecticut, 4-2 overall, had tied the game at 21-21 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jason Adamson 1:34 into the second stanza, but that would be the last time the Colonials would threaten.
“All I could think about was that 56-48 game down here in 1999,” said Springfield coach Mike DeLong in The (Danbury, Conn.) News-Times. “We got beat in that one. I was afraid we might see that again.”
“The Springfield offense was awesome,” Western Connecticut coach John Burrell told the paper.
Joe Dimeglio kept the Colonials competitive for a while and finished the day completing 17 of 34 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. His scores came from 34, 57 and 7 yards. The first to Adamis Gonzalez and second, to Vincent Sheperis tied the game at 7-7 and 14-14, respectively in the first quarter.
“I don’t know what happened; we were doing such a good job for those first three or four possessions on offense,” said Western Connecticut wide receiver Adamis Gonzalez in The News-Times.
David Cournoyer gathered the Colonials' final touchdown, a 7-yard slant, 36 seconds into the final quarter, but Western Connecticut trailed 49-27 at the time. He led the Western Connecticut receiving corps with five catches for 109 yards. Sheperis hauled in four catches for 110 yards on the afternoon. The Colonials had the ball for only 18:41 on the day.
The Pride, winners of three in a row in the series, came up one point short of the Western Connecticut record for points allowed. It dropped a 57-0 decision to Southern Connecticut back in 1981.
Kevin Domurat added 88 yards on 10 carries and scored the game’s first touchdown for the Pride, a 3-yard run at the 10:51 mark of the first quarter. Lutgens ground out 73 yards on 20 carries and hit paydirt twice, from 2 and 4 yards.
Notes
Hobart senior wide receiver Dan Suozzi caught eight passes for 161 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Statesmen past Coast Guard. With his second reception of the afternoon, Suozzi became Hobart’s career leader and finished the day with 148 career catches. He currently has 20 career touchdown receptions.
Ithaca hasn’t allowed a sack for the fourth time in five games behind left tackle Brett Monnat, left guard Joe Scalice, center Mike D'Amico, right guard Mark Hedglin, and right tackle Chris Swiss.
Rocky Myers, a senior strong safety, had eight tackles and one interception for a 30-yard touchdown as Wesley shut out Frostburg State 22-0. He earned his second ACFC defensive player of the week award.
Kean freshman A.J. Roque earned NJAC Rookie honors for the third time this season and the second consecutive week after leading the Cougars to a 21-17 win over conference rival Montclair State. He completed 12 of 25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. His first scoring strike of 84 yards marked the longest Kean pass play since 1991. The victory gave the Cougars their first win over Montclair since 1995 and only their fourth victory over the Red Hawks in their last 30 meetings. Roque currently ranks third in the NJAC in passing yards per game with an average of 240.2.
Games of the Week
No. 17 Ithaca (4-1) at Brockport (3-2), 1 p.m., Brockport, N.Y.: With two D-III losses Brockport’s NCAA playoff plans are pretty much over. The Golden Eagles lost on a Hail Mary pass to No. 17 St. John Fisher. Last year, Ithaca dominated Brockport 31-10. Can Brockport play spoiler or do the Bombers stay within striking distance of Springfield and St. John Fisher?
Western Connecticut (4-2) at New Jersey (4-1), 2 p.m., Ewing, N.J.: Both teams have lost to the Profs this year. The winner stays within a game of Rowan in the NJAC.
Cortland State (3-2) at No. 16 Rowan (3-2) 2 p.m., Glassboro, N.J.: Rowan needed an overtime touchdown pass to beat Cortland State last year 34-31. The Profs have been subject to numerous injuries this year, with three players out for the season. Starting quarterback Mike Orihel broke a bone in his non-throwing hand at New Jersey on Oct 1 and missed last week’s loss at Division II Virginia State, but is expected to be back this week. Cortland has already ruined Montclair’s season, can it do the same to the Profs and spoil a Rowan homecoming?