Football Improves to 2-0 in Conference with 41-31 Win over Saint Anselm
MANCHESTER, NH – The Merrimack football team racked up 364
yards rushing leading to a 41-31 victory over Saint Anselm Saturday
afternoon in conference action at Grappone Stadium.
The win sets up a first-place showdown next Saturday (1 p.m.) at
Warrior Field between the Warriors (3-1, 2-0 NE-10) and Bentley
University (5-0, 3-0 NE-10). Southern Connecticut also remains
unbeaten in the conference at 3-0 after defeating Assumption
Saturday.
Anthony Smalls (Dorchester, MA), who entered
Saturday's game second in the country among Division II
rushers, scampered for a career-high 219 yards and two touchdowns
on 28 carries. James Suozzo (Everett, MA), last
week's Northeast-10 Player of the Week and Gold Helmet Award
winner, tallied 151 yards on the ground and a touchdown and added
237 in the air while throwing for three touchdowns, all to senior
wide receiver Chris Laham (Westwood, MA).
“The big thing is it was a complete game for us,” said
head coach John Perry. “The defense played
very well especially in critical situations and came up with big
plays when they needed to. The offense struggled early, but they
played a great second half.”
Laham, who has nine touchdowns in four games this season, caught a
team-high seven passes for 112 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown
pass to end the first quarter and even the score at seven.
The Hawks led 10-7 early in the second, but the Merrimack offense
picked up 27 of the next 34 points to take a commanding 34-17 early
in the fourth quarter.
Smalls rushed in from seven yards out midway through the second to
give the visitors the 14-10 lead at halftime.
Merrimack added two more scores 3:16 apart in the third, as Suozzo
found Laham from five yards out for his second score of the day,
completing a 13-play, 86-yard drive. On the Warriors' next
drive, Smalls broke away from the defense and picked up a 67-yard
touchdown run on the second play of the drive to give the visitors
the commanding 27-10 lead.
After the Hawks cut the score to 27-17, Suozzo followed up
Smalls' run with a 66-yard run of his own, pushing the
advantage back to two scores. Suozzo's run was the
Warriors' third touchdown play of over 65 yards in the
game.
With the score 34-24 late in the fourth, Laham picked up his third
touchdown of the game, sixth in two games, and 34th of his career
to put the game away at 41-24.
Through four games, the Warrior offense is averaging 529 yards and
35 points per game, both among the national leaders. Smalls has
rushed for over 100 yards in all four games and has at least 180
yards in the last three games.
Nick DesJardins (Somerville, MA), who recovered two
fumbles last week, including one in the end zone, recovered another
fumble Saturday that was forced by Shane Brown (Wakefield,
MA) and also totaled two sacks. Brown tallied 11 tackles,
while Tony Johnson (Lynn, MA) had two sacks and 10
tackles, and Shawn Loiseau (Shrewsbury, MA) picked
up 13 more tackles to add to his team-leading total.
Hawks quarterback Michael Pierce threw for 251 yards and three
scores, while Marc Wilson had 54 yards rushing and 28 receiving in
the loss.
