NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – It was the Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) and Ajee Patterson (Neptune, N.J./Neptune) show in North Andover as the University of New Haven football team upended Merrimack 44-18 to pick up its third straight victory and remain undefeated in the Northeast-10 on Saturday night. Williams completed a trio of scoring receptions, all for 35 or more yards, becoming the first receiver at New Haven to complete three scoring receptions since 2012.
Overall, Williams closed out the night with 175 yards on nine catches, with the majority of that coming in the first half when he had 162 yards on eight catches. His night would come to a close in the third quarter, but not before completing three touchdown catches from 35, 36 and 36 yards out, all in the first 22 minutes of the game.
Patterson finished the night with 316 passing yards, his third game of the season with 300 or more yards. Overall, he completed 19 of 27 passes, a 70 percent average with four touchdowns. The last time Patterson finished with four touchdowns was in 2015 during a 63-16 rout of LIU Post.
The senior quarterback relied of seven total players down field with Damon Rodgers (Charlotte, N.C./Cheshire Academy) and AJ Greene (Middle Island, N.Y./Newfield) following Williams with 48 and 47 yards, respectively. A late fourth quarter touchdown pass to sophomore Chris Carlyle (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) was the only other passing touchdown of the night for Patterson, while it was the first of Carlyle's career and completed an 11 minute drive that put the game out of reach for the Warriors.
On the ground, New Haven picked up 161 yards, all from three different players. Leading the way was Chris Liggio (Mount Laurel, N.J./Holy Cross) who finished with a career high 92 yards on 17 carries as he earned the start in the back field. Ryan McCarthy (Montclair, N.J./Bergen Catholic) followed him with 60 yards on 14 attempts while Greene was the only other to attempt a rush as he picked up nine yards. Liggio and McCarthy also added six points to their season total with rushing touchdowns of four and six yards, respectively.
Defensively, New Haven was led by three players who racked up double digit tackles with senior captain Miles Pease (Sicklerville, N.J./Saint Joseph / Milford Academy) leading the way with 11 total, seven of those solo tackles. In addition, Pease also collected the only turnover of the night an interception late in the fourth quarter that he returned 45 yards. Rounding out the defensive leaders was Jordan Francklin (Queens, N.Y./Holy Cross) and CJ Fitzpatrick who each finished with 10 tackles. Additionally, Pease had a night in the return game, adding a total of 70 yards in kickoff returns to his 45 yard interception return.
FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
New Haven opened up the game on defense and after allowing the Warriors into Chargers territory, the defense forced a pair of negative gain plays before an incomplete pass ended Merrimack's first drive. The Blue and Gold offense took that momentum and marched 87 yards, 81 of which came in the air with a 35-yard haul from Williams capping off the drive with his first touchdown of the night.
Overall, Patterson completed all but one of his pass attempts with just one of those completions for under 10 yards. The remaining five yards in the drive came courtesy of a pair of rushing attempts from Liggio
Following a trio of three-and out series, the Chargers took over with just shy of four minutes remaining in the opening quarter, turning their third drive of the night into three points as the drive spilled over into the second quarter. Patterson opened up this drive with three straight completed passes, the first two of which went for double digits to Rodgers and Williams. Overall before the end of the quarter, Williams had racked up 40 yards on the drive on a trio of catches.
SECOND QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
After gaining just three more yards on a McCarthy rush, the Chargers faced fourth-and-goal from the three yard line where they called on sophomore kicker Michael Stalenyj (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), the reigning NE10 Special Teams Player of the Week, for his first field goal of the afternoon, drilling it straight down the middle from 20 yards out.
New Haven would strike again following another set of three quick drives presented the Blue and Gold with the ball at the Merrimack 36 yard line. From there Patterson and Williams made quick work, scoring on the first play of the drive with a deep ball to the corner of the end zone, giving the Chargers a 17-0 lead.
The defense would force another three-and-out for the Warriors, the third of the quarter less than halfway through the period. Following that quick drive, New Haven would get the ball back at the Merrimack 41 yard line setting up another short field drive. This time around Liggio would pick up five yards on first down before Patterson called the exact same play from the previous drive, sailing yet another touchdown pass into the corner of the end zone for Williams third score of the evening. With that TD catch, Williams becomes the first player since October 2012 to complete three touchdown receptions in a single game (Jason Thompson vs Stonehill).
Facing a 24-0 deficit, the Warriors would finally put together a lengthy drive, which started at their own 20 yard line. After three double digit pickups left the Warriors inside the Chargers 10 yard line, but New Haven's defense came up big under pressure forcing a 34 yard field goal attempt from Corey Resendes which he missed wide right to keep the shutout intact.
New Haven was then forced into a three-and-out drive which set Merrimack up at their own 46 yard line with 32 seconds remaining before the intermission. The Warriors turned to its deep game to finally break the Chargers momentum scoring as time expired at the half to make it a 24-7 New Haven advantage heading into the locker room.
THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
Thanks to winning the coin toss at the start of the game, New Haven would open up the second half with the ball as Pease returned that kickoff 23 yards to set the Chargers up at their own 33 yard line. From that point the Chargers would pick up a pair of first downs in the passing game with completions of 13 and 26 yards, however for the first time the running game would come through at the end of the drive with a six-yard scamper through the line for McCarthy providing the first touchdown for the running game.
After once again limiting the Warriors to just three points despite another trip in the red zone on their next drive, the Chargers once again turned to the running game to complete their sixth scoring drive of the night. The drive would once again begin with another long return from Pease, this time bringing the kick off out 31 yards to the New Haven 40 yard line.
From there, other than a third down, 30 yard completion to Rodgers it was all running game for the Chargers with Liggio closing out the drive with gains of six, 14 and four yards, the last of which completing the 60 yard drive in just under three minutes.
FOURTH QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
The final scoring drive of the night for New Haven would once again span two quarters, this time starting with one minute remaining before the end of the third. This drive would turn out to be a game changer as the Chargers held the drive for 11:19, keeping the Merrick offense off the field until there was less than five minutes to play in the game.
To top that, the Chargers came through on a third and 10 with an 11 yard pass from Patterson to Carlyle for the wide receivers first collegiate touchdown. Overall, that drive totaled 17 plays, 13 of which came on the ground with Liggio and McCarthy combining for 64 yards, 35 from Liggio and 24 from McCarthy. On top of that Patterson completed four passes, two of which went for double digit yards, including the most important one that Carlyle caught in the air at the edge of the end zone.
Despite the 26 point margin, the Chargers defense put the game in the books when Pease picked off a Warriors pass in the end zone, returning it 45 yards as the clock hit triple zeros. The interception by Pease was the lone turnover of the night for either squad, while New Haven now has at least one interception in all four games in 2018.
UP NEXT
New Haven returns to DellaCamera Stadium for its second home game of the season, which also serves as Homecoming 2018, when they host the Bentley Falcons. With the Charger Huddle scheduled for the day prior and a number of Alumni events slated for Saturday, it is sure to be a busy weekend around North Campus. Kickoff against the Falcons is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
