|
| Damien Jones sometimes has opponents seeing blue, as he runs past them. University of New England athletics photo by David Bates |
By Greg Thomas
D3football.com
The night before he broke open the biggest game in University of New England football history, Damien Jones was already running it back in his sleep.
“Honestly, it really started the night before,” Jones said. “I had a dream that I was catching the ball in the end zone, so that’s where it really kind of started.”
The junior running back and All-American return specialist didn’t have to wait long for the dream to meet reality. Late in the third quarter against Western New England, Jones fielded a kickoff, trusted his blockers, and hit the crease.
“I knew the second I got the ball I had to do something with it and everyone executed perfectly. Everyone got to the right man to block. I did my job in setting up the return and everything opened up like the Red Sea.”
Ninety-five yards later, Jones was back in that end zone, a touchdown that gave UNE the spark it needed to topple Western New England for the first time in program history. The Nor’easters improved to 4-0, the best start in their brief time as a football program, and pushed themselves into the conversation in a Conference of New England that has been dominated by programs like Endicott and Western New England.
For Jones, it was a dream fulfilled. For UNE, it was another step in a dream that began eight years ago.
UNE played its first varsity season in 2018, with Mike Lichten as the architect and first (and only) head coach. That season was heavy on growing pains, but the Nor’easters claimed their first victory in storybook fashion by kicking a last-second field goal with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The win came against Curry in just the program’s fourth game.
“From taking the field for the first time as a team to winning the first game in the last moment on a kick at home to winning our first road game and winning our first conference game,” Lichten recalled, “those are significant milestones that are certainly things we focus upon.”
Each first was a mile marker. For a program with no alumni base and no history, those small steps mattered. Survival and progress were the early goals, and every win marked another step forward on their road to new heights.
UNE’s 4-0 start is not just the product of being the new program hungry for respect. It’s the sign of a program that has reached another stage of development. The Nor’easters are no longer just making introductions, but are fully established in the landscape of Division III football.
There’s no single moment where a program officially graduates from newcomer to contender. The growth happens gradually, and UNE has built its identity piece by piece.
This season’s victory over Western New England was one of those benchmarks. WNE has been a fixture in the Region 1 postseason conversation for more than a decade. For UNE to beat them, and to do it with the kind of game-breaking play from Jones that shifts a team’s ceiling, felt different.
UNE has also leaned into traditions that make a football program feel like part of the fabric of Division III. The Lobster Trap Game against Husson is only a few years old, but it already has the hallmarks of the kind of traveling trophy game that defines a season. Today it’s new; decades from now, it will have its own lore.
Lichten sees that accumulation of moments, not a single turning point, as the measure of growth. “I don’t know if there’s one significant moment where it went from, ‘Hey, we’re just getting started and trying to compete’ to where the expectation is to win each time we go out,” he said. “Rather a bunch of really impactful opportunities and accomplishments from different groups of players and different teams. When you’re process-oriented and when you stick to the mentality of trying to do the right things in a small vacuum, those moments just kind of naturally occur.”
He also points to the landscape around UNE. “One thing that is significant is the amount of other new programs that have started around us that has kind of led us to feeling a little more mature and a little more developed. It’s a great thing to watch new programs start after us and older programs restart after us. That’s kind of given me a sense that maybe we’re a little more mature than we are because there are so many other young teams surrounding us, and I think that’s a good thing.”
UNE is not the new kid anymore, they’re part of the neighborhood. And that neighborhood is having a moment.
Springfield reached the national quarterfinals last year, knocking off defending champion Cortland along the way. Endicott has played its way into high-profile national games and continues to raise the bar for New England area football. Even Coast Guard has grabbed attention this fall, hanging 92 points on Anna Maria, but its lone blemish came in Week 1 against UNE.
The Nor’easters belong in that conversation now, too. Their 4-0 start that includes wins over Coast Guard and Western New England means they enter this week’s CNE showdown with Endicott not as a longshot underdog but as a confident, battle-tested group.
The dynamics have shifted as well. According to Logan Hansen’s analysis of returning production, UNE entered this season ranked 25th nationally in returning production. Endicott, by contrast, was 197th. Perhaps for the first time in this series, the advantage that comes with experience tilts UNE’s way.
The first six meetings between UNE and Endicott have been mostly lopsided in favor of the Gulls. Saturday’s matchup feels different. The Nor’easters are playing with the kind of belief that comes from years of progress now paying off.
UNE doesn’t need to knock off Endicott to validate its growth, but the game offers another chance to measure just how far the Nor’easters have come and how close they are to joining Endicott and Springfield as standard-bearers for New England football.
Last year, Jones became the first All-American in UNE history, earning a spot on the D3football.com Third Team as a return specialist. He was the only player in any division of college football to score a punt return touchdown, a kick return touchdown, and a rushing touchdown in the same game.
“It’s an individual award,” Jones said, “but it’s truly a testimony to what the team has done, especially on special teams. During my freshman year, we weren’t one of the big teams for special teams and now we’re actually being recognized for it. It’s not even just me. Last week Teighan Jeremy got a punt block and he returned it for a touchdown. He won the conference’s special teams player of the week. So it’s really a testimony to what all 11 guys on the field are doing.”
Jones remains a home-run threat whenever he touches the ball, though opponents are increasingly strategic about limiting his opportunities in the return game. Even with fewer touches on punts and kicks, he’s among the nation’s top 25 rushers and continues to find ways to make huge impacts on games.
For Lichten, Jones embodies both UNE’s talent and its identity. “Damien is as advertised,” the coach said. “He’s a dynamic player and an even better person. He’s incredibly involved on campus. He is involved in residential life and leadership opportunities. He’s an explosive player on the field. He catches the ball, runs the ball, and can hit a home run at any time. And obviously his performance on Saturday is kind of standard for him, but certainly a timely return.”
The kick return against Western New England wasn’t just another highlight for a player who has provided plenty- it could be the moment that signals that UNE’s time has arrived.
UNE football was built on milestones: first game, first win, first rivalry trophy, first All-American. The Nor’easters are no longer chasing those “firsts.” They’re building something more lasting. Something that is common with programs that are half a century old or older- rivalries, reputations, and expectations.
When Jones crossed the goal line against Western New England, it was the kind of moment that once would have been a dream for the program. Now, it’s reality.
Saturday against Endicott will show how far UNE has climbed and how much further it can go. But whether or not the Nor’easters knock off the conference favorite, their place in the New England football picture is already clear. UNE is no longer dreaming of being a contender. The Nor’easters are living it.
Top 25 Talk
There were a couple of odd results that made voting extra challenging last week. First, you know I have to mention Alma-Hope. Results like what we saw at the end of the Alma-Hope game last week don’t happen often (thankfully!), but when they do happen, they can be challenging to voters. I sidestepped the question a bit in Monday’s Around the Nation Podcast, but I’ll share here how the result of that game impacted my ballot.
Going into Week 4, Hope was No. 19 on my ballot- compared to Hope’s position at #15 on the final poll, you can see that I was ranking Hope lower than the average voter. The loss to an unranked team, no matter how controversial, does go down as a loss. After accounting for other results, Hope ultimately just missed my top 25. If I were to rank 30 teams, Hope would be in that top 30 and a return to winning ways is likely going to result in Hope’s hiatus from my top 25 being short.
The other result that was hard to process was UMHB’s 21-7 loss at D-II Mars Hill. It is always hard to know exactly how to process results against non-division opponents. The Crusaders went in to Week 4 at No. 11 on my ballot and after Week 4 slid to No. 19. Why No. 19 despite a two-game losing streak? Predictive models had UMHB as small underdogs to Mars Hill last week. This week, the Top 766 by ESPN’s Bill Connelly has Mars Hill (293) ranked remarkably close to UW-Whitewater (296). Am I surprised that UMHB rendered a similar result against a similar caliber opponent in back-to-back weeks? I am not, so UMHB didn’t slide off of my ballot. The slide this week was really more a reaction to consecutive weeks with an offense that hasn’t found the right gear.
Seven ways to Saturday
Whether you need to recap the week that was or get ready for the week to come, D3football.com is your daily source for fresh Division III football content. We’re bringing the content seven ways to Saturday.
Sunday: New Top 25 poll
Monday: Around The Nation podcast. Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas recap the weekend that was and preview the weekend to come in Division III football.
Tuesday: Team of the Week Honors
Wednesday: Features columns
Thursday: Around the Nation Column
Friday: Quick Hits featuring our panel’s predictions and insights into the weekend’s games
Saturday: Game Day! The D3football.com Scoreboard has all of your links for stats and broadcasts.
I’d Like to Thank…
Special thanks to the University of New England’s Damien Jones and Mike Lichten for spending time with Around The Nation for this week’s column. Additional thanks to Tristan Durgin, Director of Sports Information at University of New England for coordinating this week’s conversations!
Read options?
There’s nothing small about small college football. Division III is home to 241 teams, and many thousands of student-athletes and coaches. There are so many more stories out there than I can find on my own. Please share your stories that make Division III football so special for all of us! Reach out to me at greg.thomas@d3sports.com, on X @wallywabash, or on Bluesky @d3greg.bsky.social to share your stories.
