Football Upsets New Haven, 14-10, Saturday Afternoon
Links: Box Score
WEST HAVEN, Conn. – A late 17-yard touchdown pass from junior transfer Nick Davis (Oxnard, Calif.) to senior Jere Brown (Freeport, N.Y.) vaulted the Merrimack College football team to a historic, 14-10 victory on the road against the University of New Haven, as the Warriors won their second straight overall and first-ever road meeting against the Chargers.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 14, New Haven 10
Records: Merrimack (2-3, 2-2 NE-10) | New Haven (3-2, 3-1 NE0-10)
Location: DellaCamera Stadium | West Haven, Conn.
How It Happened
After picking up its first win of the season in resounding fashion last week at home against Bentley, the Warriors hit the road looking for their first win in three tries at DellaCamera Stadium. New Haven, which had won three straight coming into the weekend, had not lost to Merrimack since the two sides' first-ever meeting in the fall of 2009.
Saturday's battle turned into a defensive struggle throughout, but the Warriors did manage to take the game's first lead after Davis lofted an 11-yard strike to sophomore Cody Demers (Dracut, Mass.), to push the visitors ahead by a 7-0 tally.
After each side punted, then turned it over on downs, and after yet another New Haven punt, Merrimack took over deep in its own territory late in the second quarter and was in the midst of a promising drive before fumbling the ball back to the Chargers near midfield. New Haven would need only two plays to go 35 yards in 32 seconds to tie the match at 7-7, a score that held through halftime after the Warrior defense forced another turnover on downs for the third time in the half.
New Haven edged ahead on its first drive of the third quarter, as Danny Stock knocked in a 25-yard field goal to push the hosts up by three (10-7).
The Chargers had the opportunity to add to their lead after picking off Davis near midfield, but junior captain Josh Hill (Glastonbury, Conn.) came up with a game-changing forced fumble that was gobbled up by senior Jon Hooper (Pembroke, Mass.) in Merrimack territory, preventing New Haven from doing further damage.
Two drives later, with New Haven matriculating downfield, the Merrimack defense answered right back as junior Brian Carroll (Sudbury, Mass.) snatched his second career interception to give the Warriors the ball again.
Four consecutive drives by both sides wound end in punts, setting the stage for Merrimack's game-winning drive. It began at the Merrimack 27, where Davis would complete passes of 19, 9 and 4 yards in succession to Brown to move into New Haven territory. The Chargers nearly got the ball back after Brown was stripped following the last of those three completions, but the senior wide receiver had the wherewithal to recover the loose ball and keep the drive alive.
Following a Merrimack timeout and an incomplete pass, Davis and Brown went to work again, exploiting New Haven's secondary play after play, as the duo was unstoppable over the course of that two-minute drive. Davis found Brown for completions of 11 and 14 yards to put the Warriors inside the red zone, and finally, from 17 yards out, Davis' game-winner was hauled in by – appropriate enough – Brown in the end zone to give the visitors a 14-10 lead they would never relinquish.
New Haven still had an opportunity to answer with 1:36 left, but after a defensive holding penalty gave the Chargers a fresh set of downs near midfield, the Warriors' front seven harassed opposting quarterback Ajee Patterson to the point that the latter was forced to toss an intentional grounding penalty and three straight incomplete passes before turning the ball over on downs.
The Warriors would run out the clock from there on out to seal their biggest win of the season.
Inside The Numbers
- Talk about fantastic defense – the Warriors limited New Haven to only 321 total yards, including 95 on the ground against the league's third-ranked offense coming into the weekend
- The defense held Patterson to only 10 yards rushing on seven attempts, while the opposing QB tossed for zero touchdowns, one interception and 226 total yards
- Davis and Brown's chemistry was undeniable on Saturday; the former finished 24-for-38 with 226 total yards passing and two TDs, with 125 of those receiving yards garnered by Brown
- Hill was a monster in the trenches, leading the Warriors with 11 tackles, including 2-1/5 for losses of 18 yards
- Merrimack held New Haven to a 33 percent conversion rate (6-18) on third downs
Up Next
Merrimack continues its two-week road trip when it heads down to face last year's league champion, LIU Post, on Long Island next Saturday (Oct. 10) beginning at 1 p.m.
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