Football Earns Share of Conference Championship with 46-14 Win over Pace
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack football team clinched a
share of its second Northeast-10 Championship, defeating Pace
University 46-14 Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field.
Merrimack finishes the regular season with a 7-3 overall record,
its best finish since 2006 when they captured their first-ever
title, and a 6-2 mark in the conference. With Bentley losing to
Stonehill 23-21 Saturday, the Warriors finish in a three-way tie
for the conference championship with Bentley and Southern
Connecticut.
“As a program, we took a big step forward last week beating
Southern Connecticut, and we took care of business today,”
said head coach John Perry. “It's
exciting for the program and we have a great group of guys that
worked real hard for this.”
Merrimack defeated both Bentley and Southern Connecticut, but
Northeast-10 rules do not include a tie-breaker hence the three
teams will share the title.
The Warriors wasted no time putting this one away, picking up 37
first-half points, despite running just 21 plays.
Not to be outdone, Merrimack's defense tallied five
interceptions, led by Jason Fischer (South Freeland,
MD) who set a school record with three picks, including a
52-yard return for a touchdown.
James Suozzo (Everett, MA) started the scoring,
rushing for 61 yards on Merrimack's second play from
scrimmage for the first touchdown of the game. On the third play of
the next drive, Suozzo avoided the defensive rush and hit senior
Patrick Easley (Tulsa, OK) for a 42-yard
score.
Merrimack started its next drive at the eight-yard line, and
Anthony Smalls (Dorchester, MA) raced into the end
zone on the first play, going over 1,000 career yards with the
92-yard touchdown rush. Smalls becomes the second running back in
school history to reach the 1,000 yard milestone.
Entering the second quarter with a 20-0 lead, freshman
Jimon Hill (North Chicago, IL) made it 27-0 after
racing 65 yards on the third play of the drive. Fischer picked up
his first collegiate score on his team-leading fifth interception,
second of the half, returning it 52 yards for the fifth touchdown
of the game. A Pedrom Tand (Northboro, MA) late
field goal gave the Warriors the 37-0 halftime lead.
Each of Merrimack's first-half scoring drives lasted no
longer than four plays, as the rushing attack, ranked fifth in the
country entering Saturday's game, rushed for 280 first-half
yards. The Warriors picked up four first-half interceptions, two
from Fischer and one each from Shane Brown (Wakefield,
MA) and Jesse Fowler (Lynn, MA).
They cruised to victory in the second half, as Smalls added his
second score of the game, rushing into the end zone from 23 yards
out, while Nick DesJardins (Somerville, MA) added
a fourth-quarter safety.
Smalls finished with 187 yards on the day in 11 carries, while
Hill added 94 yards on 17 carries. Suozzo completed just five
passes for 104 yards and ran for 93 more. In their final regular
season game, all-conference wideouts Jeremiah Watts
(Clovis, CA) and Chris Laham (Westwood,
MA) combined for three catches.
In his final game, Brown led the defense with 13 tackles, while
Shawn Loiseau (Shrewsbury, MA) added 12 more to
his school record-leading total.
After setting the school record for yards in a season last week in
a 52-42 win over Southern Connecticut, the Warriors set the school
mark for points in a season with 349, passing the mark of 306.
The NCAA Division II Selection Show will be Sunday at 3 p.m. on
ESPNNEWS. The Warriors are considered an unlikely candidate to earn
one of the six regional selections, despite the Co-Championship
season, which featured wins over Bentley and Southern Connecticut.
