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WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven football team began the defense of its three-straight Northeast-10 Championships with a 65-0 shutout of visiting Pace on Saturday afternoon at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium. Mike DeCaro (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay ) racked up 154 all-purpose yards with three touchdowns and Ronnie Nelson (Stuart, Fla./South Fork ) threw for four scores before a home crowd of 3,020.
 
With the win, the Chargers improve to 1-1 and begin the NE-10 slate at 1-0 for the third-consecutive fall. New Haven has also won its home opener for the fourth-straight campaign. Pace drops to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference with the loss.
 
DeCaro's 154 all-purpose yards, all garnered in the first half, came courtesy of 102 receiving yards out of the backfield with two scores and 52 yards on the ground with a two-yard scamper to paydirt. Nelson also only played prior to the intermission, connecting with DeCaro on touchdown passes of 50 and 51 yards as well as a 62-yard hookup with Courtney Moshood (Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto) and a 15-yard strike to Nick Music (West Milford, N.J./West Milford ).
 
Nelson added 10 rushing yards to his 10-for-17 day for 234 yards through the air. Trevor Officer (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) colleted 50 yards on seven careers with a touchdown and Anthony Tillman (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) ran for 10 yards on five carries.
 
Joey Bradley (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah / University of North Dakota) took the reins under center in the second half. He went 3-for-5 for 50 yards and two touchdowns. The junior transfer from the University of North Dakota had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Michael Flacco (Audobon, N.J./Gateway Regional / The Community College of Baltimore County - Catonsville) and a 15-yard pitch-and-catch to Rishawn Harris (Springfield, Mass./Putnam Vocational Technical Academy).
 
Earlier in the game, Flacco caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Greenfield (Bloomfield, N.J./Paramus Catholic / Wagner) on a fake field goal. He finished with four grabs for 68 yards.
 
As an offensive unit, New Haven outgained the Setters, 425-228.
 
On the defensive side of the ball, Carlos Lozada (New London, Conn./New London) had two second-half interceptions, while Rodney Lanham (Bridgeport, Conn./Bridge Academy) added a late pick of his own. Sean Berglund (Wolcott, Conn./Wolcott) led the effort up-front with three sacks, a forced fumble and four total tackles-for-loss. Chad Woodfine (Springfield, Mass./Chicopee / Suffield Academy) and Kervin Edouard (Somerville, Mass./Somerville ) each had a sack as well, and Edouard also forced the fumble that led to New Haven's first touchdown.
 
Berglund, DJ Brown (Washington Township, N.J./Washington Township), Andre Lawrence (Hartford, Conn./Hartford Public / Boston College) and Matthew Fallico (Syracuse, N.Y./Fayetteville Manlius / Hudson Valley) shared the team-high of seven tackles. The Chargers racked up 16 tackles-for-loss, including six sacks, to limit the Setters to 25 net yards rushing and 203 through the air.
 
In addition to a touchdown pass on the first throwing attempt of his career, Greenfield went 9-for-9 on extra points and boomed five punts for an average of 49.8 yards per try, including a 64-yarder with no return.
 
Antwan Washington started at quarterback for Pace. He went 16-for-33 for 171 yards and three interceptions in addition to 15 rushing yards. Delaney Wallace had a team-best 21 yards rushing on 16 carries.
 
After the Chargers went three-and-out on their opening possession, Greenfield pinned the Setters at the 16-yard line with a 42-yard punt. On the Setters' first play from scrimmage, Edouard sacked the quarterback and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Berglund at the 10-yard line.
 
The offense promptly cashed in on the turnover as Nelson ran for eight yards on first down and DeCaro picked up the last two to break the plane and run the score to 7-0.
 
The Chargers defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Pace possession, and the offense took over at the Pace 39-yard-line. The drive appeared to have stalled at the 19 as the field-goal unit trotted onto the field on 4th-and-4. However, holder William Clements (Pennsauken, N.J./Bishop Eustace) received the snap and flipped it over his head to Greenfield, who lobbed a pass into the corner of the end zone. Flacco elevated and came down with the jump ball for the first touchdown of both his and Greenfield's collegiate careers.
 
After empty trips each way, the Setters took over but were soon forced to punt again. The snap went over the head of punter Reza Zouroufie and was recovered by Drew Ortone (Grafton, Mass./St. John's). The linebacker moved the ball to the Pace one-yard-line, but he was stripped and the Setters recovered to earn a new set of downs pinned back at their one-yard line.
 
After a false start moved Pace to the half-yard line, a quarterback sneak by Washington was stuffed for a loss by Brent MacLeod (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) for a safety that extended the Chargers' lead of 16-0.
 
The free kick put New Haven back in good field position at midfield and the Chargers needed just one play to capitalize as DeCaro got behind the secondary and caught a long pass from Nelson in stride to coast into the end zone untouched to give UNH a 23-0 advantage in the final minute of the first quarter.
 
The Setters responded with their first extended drive of the game as they marched into New Haven territory for the first time. The early deficit forced Pace to go for it on 4th-and-14 at the Chargers' 33-yard-line, and Washington was flushed out of the pocket and sacked by Berglund to turn possession back to the Chargers.
 
Once again, New Haven scored on its first play of the drive as Moshood outran everybody and reeled in a perfect pass from Nelson for a 62-yard score. The first touchdown of Moshood's career extended the commanding lead to 30-0.
 
The Setters managed two first downs before their next drive stalled, as New Haven took over on downs at the visitors' 39-yard line. DeCaro gained 35 yards on the ground to lead a drive that also featured an 11-yard pass to Brandon Ruberti (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand ). The final action of the eight-play march was a 15-yard pass from Nelson to Music on a slant for the score.
 
After another three-and-out by Pace, the Chargers capped the first-half scoring with another quick strike. DeCaro rushed for seven yards and, after an incompletion, caught a screen pass and outran five defenders, aided by a key block by Ruberti, for his third touchdown of the half.
 
The defense came up with another stop, this time stifling Pace in the red zone as Jacob Weaver (Wilmington, Del./Archmere Academy) broke up a fourth-down pass attempt. New Haven regained possession and took a knee to head to the locker room with a 44-0 lead.
 
A 61-yard kickoff return by Kyle Johnson gave the Setters their best starting field position of the day to open the third quarter at the New Haven 21-yard line. Pace reached the 13-yard line before Edouard and Berglund teamed up for a third-down sack and Weaver stopped a scrambling Washington on fourth down to end the scoring threat.
 
Though New Haven went three-and-out on its next possession, Greenfield skied a 58-yard punt and the Chargers soon regained control with good field position as Lozada made his first interception of the day at the Pace 30-yard line. The first play of the ensuing drive saw Bradley connect with Flacco for his second touchdown reception of the day.
 
The next Pace drive ended with another Lozada pick. This time, the junior ran it back 41 yards to the Pace 15-yard line. On offense, Bradley ran for six yards on first down before the second of back-to-back rushes by Officer found paydirt to extend the margin to 58-0 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
 
A touchdown strike from Bradley to Harris on the first drive of the fourth quarter capped the scoring at 65-0, as the Chargers continued to run out the clock on offense and looked to preserve the shutout on defense.
 
The biggest threat to the clean sheet for the defense came in the final quarter when Pace fought to a first-and-goal from the six-yard line. Jashon Dawson carried on first down and brought the ball to the three followed by a one-yard surge from Wallace on second down. Christian Bish (Bridgeport, Conn./Bridgeport Central) then broke through the line on third down and stopped Washington for a one-yard loss to set up fourth-and-goal from the three. DJ Brown led a huge defensive push on fourth down as Wallace backtracked his way to a 12-yard loss to end the scoring threat.
 
Lanham's interception came to end the final drive in the closing seconds and the Chargers took to field in victory formation to run out the final ticks of a 65-0 triumph.
 
The 65-0 margin is the Chargers' first shutout since a 45-0 blanking of Saint Anselm on Sept. 22, 2012. New Haven also registered 65 points in a game last fall, topping visiting Assumption, 65-7, on Oct. 6, 2012. The Chargers last scored more than 65 points on Oct. 18, 2002 – a 69-21 triumph over Massachusetts-Lowell.
 
In today's game, New Haven fell one point shy of matching the largest margin of victory in program history, which was a 66-0 shutout of Virginia Union during the 1996 season.
 
The Chargers return to action on Friday, Sept. 20 at Saint Anselm. The Hawks are 0-1 on the season and begin their NE-10 schedule this evening at Stonehill.  UNH takes to the blue and gold turf at DellaCamera Stadium the following Saturday, Sept. 28, for a 1 p.m. meeting with LIU Post. That game will be broadcast live in high definition free of charge on NewHavenChargers.com.