Football Suffers First Conference Defeat in 39-36 Loss to Assumption
WORCESTER, MA - Herb Woodward rushed for
222 yards as the Merrimack football team saw its four-game winning
streak snapped by Assumption 39-36 Saturday afternoon at
Multi-Sport Stadium in Worcester.
The loss drops the Warriors to 4-2 overall, 3-1 in the
conference. They were the last team to lose a conference game after
Bentley defeated previously unbeaten Southern Connecticut on
Friday. Merrimack hosts the University of New Haven, who beat AIC
today, next Saturday as part of Homecoming Weekend at 1 p.m. at
Warrior Field.
Merrimack actually trailed 30-7 early in the third, but its
up-tempo, no-huddle offense did not quit as it cut the lead to 11
in the fourth at 33-22 as James Suozzo (Everett,
MA) connected with Jeremiah Watts (Clovis,
CA) from five yards out, and Anthony Smalls
(Dorchester, MA) scored on a two-yard rush.
The Warriors got the ball back with 7:46 remaining, but Suozzo
was picked off by James Hutchins, who returned it 15 yards for a
touchdown.
Suozzo would find Watts again, this time from 34-yards out,
reducing the lead back to ten, but the ensuing onside kick failed
after illegal procedure was called against Merrimack, forcing a
re-kick which Assumption recovered.
Merrimack got the ball back again with 4:27 remaining, and
Suozzo led the visitors down the field, going 80 yards in 2:30 and
finding Jake Manning (Dunstable, MA) in the end
zone to make it a one score game at 39-36. But yet again, the
Warriors onside kick failed, and Assumption was able to run out the
clock, escaping with the victory.
"It was a tough loss," said head coach John Perry. "We lost to a
good football team today. We didn't play well in the first half,
but our second half performance was encouraging for the future."
The Greyhounds took command early, taking the 10-0 first quarter
lead, controlling the ball for all but 1:44 of the first quarter as
Merrimack managed just six total yards and did not pick up a first
down in either of its first two drives. Woodward rushed for 100
yards on 12 carries in the first quarter alone. They made it 17-0
as Woodward scampered into the end zone off a 5-yard screen pass on
the second play of the second quarter.
Merrimack finally got on the board with 4:53 remaining in the
second, as Suozzo rushed in from 11 yards out for his ninth rushing
score of the season. The Warrior defense gave the offense excellent
field position as Shawn Loiseau (Shrewsbury, MA),
last week's Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Week, tallied his
first career interception and returned it 18 yards to the
Assumption 17-yard line.
The Warriors went three and out to start the second half, and
the Greyhounds immediately extended the lead to 23-7 as Andrew
Kupec found David Canney from three yards out for his second score
of the game. Following a Merrimack fumble, Woodward rushed into the
end zone from one yard out, pushing the score to 30-7.
Assumption controlled the ball for virtually the entire game,
keeping it for 23 minutes of the first half and 38:45 of the entire
game.
Suozzo, who ran for 67 yards, was 32-of-46 passing for 369
yards, with Watts leading the receivers with 15 catches for 215
yards, clearly his best day of the season. Chris Laham
(Westwood, MA) tallied 11 catches for 96 yards, while
Smalls, the nation's number two rusher, was limited to 18 yards on
11 carries, marking the first time this season he did not reach 100
yards rushing. Merrimack's defense posted two interceptions with
Loiseau and Jesse Fowler (Lynn, MA) each
registering their first career pick. Loiseau picked up 16 more
tackles, while Shane Brown (Wakefield, MA) and
Jason Fischer (South Freeland, MD) totaled nine
each.
Kupec, last week's Gold Helmet award winner, passed for 222
yards and three touchdowns, as the Greyhounds improved to 4-2
overall, 3-1 in the conference.
