GAME DAY INFORMATION   DATE: November 16, 2019 LOCATION: DellaCamera Stadium | West Haven, Conn.   GAME DAY LINKS   LIVE STATS  |  LIVE VIDEO

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THE FIRST LOOK
New Haven returns home one final time in the regular season on Saturday when it hosts the Stonehill Skyhawks for Senior Day at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium. Prior to the game, the Chargers will honor 14 seniors who will make their final appearance on the Blue and Gold turf. New Haven looks to remain in the fight for the NE10 crown with a victory over Stonehill while Assumption, Bentley and Pace are all looking to make a run at the title.

INSIDE THE SERIES

• New Haven and Stonehill meet for the 12th time in a series that dates back to the Chargers first season in the NE10, 2009.
• Overall, the Chargers hold a 9-2 record in the previous 11 match-ups.
• The Chargers opened up the series winning six of the first seven meetings.
• Prior to the first meeting this season, all but one of the last seven meetings in the series have been decided by a touchdown or less with the average margin of victory over that stretch just 3.3 points. 

A WIN OVER STONEHILL WOULD...

• be the fourth straight victory for the Chargers to close out the regular season
• keep the Chargers undefeated in the month of November
• guarantee the Chargers at least a share of the best record in the NE10 following the regular season
• be the 255th overall victory in the 41-plus year history of Charger Football.
• be the 224th victory since the Chargers began playing at the Division II level - first DII season was 1982.

GAME DAY FORECAST
New Haven and Stonehill will meet under sunny skies on Saturday, however temperatures will struggle to reach 40 degrees on the day. The predicted high for Saturday is 39 degrees with a low of 26. Good news comes in the form of a zero percent chance of precipitation, however battling the sun could be an issue with sunset scheduled for 4:32 p.m. with the return of Daylight Savings Time. Winds on Saturday will come from the north-north-east at 16 miles per hour.  

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
Late game heroics led to a 34-33 road victory over Assumption College for the Chargers this past Saturday. Junior quarterback Christian Lupoli (Branford, Conn./Notre Dame) led the Chargers back from a two-score deficit with late touchdown passes to Jake Lareau (East Granby, Conn./East Granby) and Zhyaire Fernandes (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell), the latter with 28 seconds remaining to lift the Chargers to victory. For the season, Lupoli will make his sixth start under center and looks to build upon a 58% completion percentage for the season. Overall,  Lupoli has racked up 1,068 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing 79-of-137 pass attempts. Last weekend at Assumption, Lupoli threw for a career-high 319 yards and five touchdowns. Heading into the regular season finale, the Chargers have gained an average of 186.1 yards on the ground and 184.4 in the air per game. Leading the ground assault is sophomore Shamar Logan (Brooklyn, N.Y./High School for Youth & Community Development) who has 878 yards on 149 attempts with six touchdowns. Following Logan in the ground game is senior captain Chris Liggio (Mount Laurel, N.J./Holy Cross) who has picked up 369 yards on 82 attempts. Graduate wide receiver Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) leads a group of nine wide outs with 42 catches for 662 yards and eight touchdowns, including two touchdown catches in each of the last two games. Defensively, the Chargers are led by Zach Cofrancesco (East Haven, Conn./Notre Dame), Ryan Hodgins (Flanders, N.J./Mount Olive) and Allah Sessions (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira) who have 65, 56 and 56 tackles, respectively. The Chargers defense has also forced 16 turnovers with junior Shawn Tafe (Bronx, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) pulling in four of the team's nine total interceptions, one shy of reaching the single season top-10 in program history.

SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
Sophomore running back Justin Felder finished with 311 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Skyhawks over Pace 34-22 on Senior Day at W.B. Mason Stadium last week. Felder is one of the leaders on offense for the Skyhawks, racking up 1,349 rushing yards on 209 carries for an average of 149.9 yards for game. He has also scored 14 touchdowns on the ground, while adding two more among 13 completed catches. Junior Anton Stoneking leads Stonehill's two quarterback options with 1,722 passing yards, completing 136 passes in 218 attempts with 15 touchdowns. Stoneking has also been picked off seven times. The leading target for Stoneking has been senior wide out Andrew Jamiel who is just shy of 1,000 yards with his 66 receptions good for 927 yards and seven touchdowns.

LAST TIME THEY MET
With a new schedule in place in the Northeast-10, New Haven and Stonehill met earlier this season in week two with the Chargers earning a 31-9 decision at W.B. Mason Stadium in a non-conference battle. In that game, the Chargers picked up 223 yards in the ground game while limiting the Skyhawks to just 26 yards with sophomore running back Shamar Logan (Brooklyn, N.Y./High School for Youth & Community Development) recording the first 100+ yard game of his career with 157 yards while adding two touchdowns. Joining him in leading the rushing game was junior Zach Mauro (Woodbury, Conn./Nonnewaug) who picked up 72 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. Junior quarterback Christian Lupoli (Branford, Conn./Notre Dame) and Nick Robins (Nephi, Utah/Juab) split time under center, combining for 56 total yards and one touchdown which found the hands of Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) for a 36-yard score. Defensively, New Haven was led by D'won Walker (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) and Ryan Hodgins (Flanders, N.J./Mount Olive) who each finished with six tackles, while the Chargers defense also forced three turnovers with Shawn Tafe (Bronx, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) picking off a pair of Stonehill passes and Christian Sullivan (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) recovering a fumble.

HONOR ROLL
Rookie RB Shamar Logan (Brooklyn, N.Y./High School for Youth & Community Development) and junior DB Shawn Tafe (Bronx, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) each hauled in some brass following week two earning Rookie of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. Against Stonehill, Logan ran all over the O-Line racking up 157 rushing yards on 22 carries with a pair of touchdowns. His first collegiate score came in the first quarter when he broke through the middle of the line and sprinted straight down the left hash marks to the end zone to put the Chargers on the board. He then took the ball for both plays of a two play, 19-yard drive that ended with his second touchdown of the afternoon. For the season, Logan has amassed 218 rushing yards and an average of 6.2 yards per carry. Tafe picked apart the Stonehill passing game, intercepting a pair of Skyhawk passes, returning them for a total of 33 yards. He also added five tackles.

HONOR ROLL PART DEUX
Graduate transfer defensive back Zach Cofrancesco (East Haven, Conn./Notre Dame) racked up 10 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble, all leading to NE10 Defensive Player of the Week honors following week five. His 10 tackles were tied for the team lead against the Setters while it is the second time this season he has recorded double digit stops. He began with both of his interceptions coming in the first half, both setting up scoring drives as he led his squad to a 28-7 lead at the intermission. After hearing his name called numerous times over the second half, Cofrancesco came up clutch in the final minutes when came off the side of the line to hit the Setters quarterback forcing a fumble his teammate would recover, effectively ending the game as the Chargers were able to run the remaining time off the clock.

HONOR ROLL CHAPTER III
Rookie linebacker Anthony Repollet (Hamden, Conn./Hamden Hall Country Day School) added to his spectacular special teams performance against Southern Connecticut by earning Northeast-10 Special Teams Player of the Week accolades, the third time this season New Haven has had a player honored by the league office. The Hamden, Conn. native blocked a pair of punts in the annual battle of the Elm City with each of those blocked kicks turned into points for the Blue and Gold, nine total for his squad. Repollet started off the scoring when he blocked his first punt, the first blocked punt since 2016 for New Haven, on the Owls opening drive in the first quarter. Senior defensive back Josiah Shumaker (Ledyard, Conn./Ledyard) scooped up the loose ball at the 13-yard line and eased his way into the end zone to put the first points on the board. Repollet would strike again on the Owls opening drive of the second quarter, this time with the blocked punt dribbling out the back of the end zone for a safety. That safety was the first recorded by New Haven since the 2013 campaign.

SMART ON AND OFF THE FIELD
Just 48 hours prior to the regular season finale against Stonehill, senior wide receiver AJ Greene (Middle Island, N.Y./Newfield) was one of 26 student-athletes honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District I First Team. The senior wide out is currently second on the team among receivers with 24 catches for 411 yards and three touchdowns. His biggest catch of the season came this past weekend when he hauled in an 87-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter that helped lead the Chargers to a 34-33 win over Assumption College. A psychology major, Greene sports a cumulative grade point average of 3.68.

GOING FOR DISTANCE
Through nine games, the Chargers have not been shy of looking for big plays, racking up 55 plays of 20 yards or more, including 18 for more than 40 yards. The longest of the season so far was AJ Greene's (Middle Island, N.Y./Newfield) 87-yard catch and run against Assumption last weekend. That is one of two plays for 80+ yards with the other an 85-yard fumble return for Josiah Shumaker (Ledyard, Conn./Ledyard) in week nine against Franklin Pierce. On the ground, Shamar Logan (Brooklyn, N.Y./High School for Youth & Community Development) has broken through the line on four occasions for 40+ yards, including twice for a run of 47 yards against Stonehill and Bentley, the first of those going for a touchdown. Last season the Chargers finished the year with 84 plays of 20 yards or more, including six of 50-plus yards.

RETURNING IN 2019
The Chargers boast 42 total lettermen returning in 2019, including 23 on offense, 17 on defense and a pair of kicker/punters. Additionally, the Chargers return 14 starters from a year ago, including four of the five starters on the offensive line. Finally, the Chargers return six of 13 players who received all-conference honors last season, highlighted by the lone first teamer to return; wide receiver Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central).

IT'S ALL ON THE LINE
The Chargers offensive line was nothing but exceptional last season and this year expect much of the same as the Blue and Gold return four of their five starters. Add to that, all 10 players on the depth chart have significant playing time under their belts on the line. Last season, the Chargers O-Line contributed to 4,827 total yards on offense, the most in the NE10, which included just shy of 2,000 rushing yards. Additionally, the O-Line allowed opponents to sack quarterback Ajee Patterson (Neptune, N.J./Neptune) just three times through the 10-game regular season.

BIG BOOT
The Chargers will return a big boot in 2019 with Michael Stalenyj (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) returning as one of two kicker/punters. Stalenyj closed out his rookie campaign in 2018 a perfect 9-of-9 in field goal attempts while he was also 34-of-38 in extra point attempts. So far in 2019, Stalenyj stands at 4-of-5 in field goal attempts, with his longest conversion of the season from 35 yards. He has also converted 15 extra point attempts. For his career, his 62 PAT conversions stands eighth all-time in program history, while his 14 field goals made is currently tied for sixth all-time.

FLIPPING THE FIELD
One area the Chargers will look to recover from a large loss is their punting game. Last season, graduate student Francis Palmer (Brewster, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling) averaged 40.4 yards on 31 punts including a pair of 50+ yard boots. He also pinned Charger opponents inside the 20 eight times with his longest punt of the season going for 59 yards. The lone Charger who returns after attempting punts last season is wide receiver Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) who on seven kicks averaged 36.6 yards and pinned the opposition inside the 20 once.

WELL OILED MACHINE
Second-year transfer wide receiver Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) has quite the resume heading into his final season on the gridiron. The Springfield, Mass. native closed out his first season wearing the Blue and Gold by hauling in a single season school record 1,171 yards on 65 catches with 11 touchdowns. In addition to his yardage record, Williams' 11 touchdowns was also tied for fifth most in a single season among wide receivers in program history. So far in 2019, Williams has completed 30 catches for 406 yards with four touchdowns. Overall, Williams enters Saturday's game needing 99 yards to reach the top-10 in program history for receiving yards.

TRANSFER SUCCESS
Head coach Chris Pincince is hoping that last year's success of graduate transfer Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) will carry over to 2019 with the addition of five graduate transfers this season. A pair of the transfers, Zach Cofrancesco (East Haven, Conn./Notre Dame) and Dennis James (Hillside, N.J./St. Peter's Prep), are high up on the depth chart, both defensively. Cofrancesco hails from East Haven, Conn. transferring to New Haven after completing his undergraduate degree at LIU Post. James (St. Francis, Pa.) is one of two players transferring from Division I schools, joined by Nigel Beckford (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame) (Maine). Rounding out the graduate transfers for 2019 is Mohammed Berry, a defensive back who comes from Seton Hill.

ON THE RADAR
The postseason run for New Haven didn't go unnoticed as the Chargers were among teams receiving votes in the preseason AFCA Division II Coaches poll released by the organization on August 26. New Haven garnered 65 votes in the initial poll with that total placing them 29th in the tally. Following last year's NCAA Tournament run New Haven was slated 23rd in the final AFCA poll which was released following the national championship game.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO
Among 13 players who were named to All-Conference teams following the 2018 campaign, the Chargers return six. Highlighting the group is a First Team selection in Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) who led the Chargers with 65 catches and 1,171 total receiving yards. Joining him offensively are o-lineman Osaro Eromosele (Hillside, N.J./DePaul Catholic) and Mike Zecchin (Thiells, N.Y./North Rockland). A pair of defensive players return with Scott Lavelle (West Milford, N.J./DePaul Catholic) and Markel Johnson (Jersey City, N.J./Lincoln) both earning accolades last season. Combined the pair collected 117 tackles and combined for 24 tackles for loss last season. Rounding out those returning players who were honored last year was rookie kicker Michael Stalenyj (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) who earned a spot on the All-Rookie team. Last season, Stalenyj finished a perfect 9-9 in field goal attempts while converting 34-of-38 extra point opportunities.

UNDER THE LIGHTS & ON THE BIG SCREEN
For the second-straight season, the New Haven football team was selected to participate in the NCAA Division II Showcase with this year's game coming in week 4 under the lights at Bentley. The game, which was part of the hybrid model, was available with an enhanced streaming broadcast through the NCAA's social media accounts - specifically, the Division II Facebook and Twitter pages. As did last season's game against Southern Connecticut, this year's match-up against Bentley also aired live on MyTV 9 throughout Connecticut.

LEADERSHIP IS EVERYTHING
In a vote of all active players, Gavin Dowd (Williston Park, N.Y./Herricks), Chris Liggio (Mount Laurel, N.J./Holy Cross), Christian Sullivan (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and Ju'an Williams (Springfield, Mass./Springfield Central) were all tabbed captains for the 2019 campaign. All first-time leaders for the Blue and Gold, Dowd, Liggio and Williams are all major components of the offense while Sullivan anchors New Haven's defensive line.

FAMILIAR FACES ON THE SIDELINES
They may not be between the white lines in 2019, but All-American Zach Voytek and four-year starting tight end Jonathan Badyna (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) return to the sidelines for the Blue and Gold as members of the coaching staff.  Voytek returns for his second season working with the Chargers tight ends after spending the 2017 NFL training camp season with the Buffalo Bills. Badyna, who completed his eligibility last fall, will serve as the Director of Football Operations.

WHAT D2FOOTBALL.COM IS PREDICTING FOR WEEK 11 (Paul Falewicz)
Stonehill defeated Pace 34-22 to keep their championship hopes alive.  The Skyhawks have been the surprise team of 2019 as they have defied the preseason polls.  They have the hottest running back in the league and will see what he can do against a solid defense.  For the Skyhawks to win on the road, they will need to continue to ride the hot hand of their offensive catalysts.  The defense will need to pressure the quarterback into making bad decisions. New Haven came back to defeat Assumption 34-33 last Saturday afternoon.  The Chargers rallied in the fourth quarter and proved to themselves that they are capable of winning on the road against good teams.  For the Chargers to win on the blue turf, they will need to put the Assumption victory behind them.  They need to find a way to bottle up the Stonehill offense and then make plays when they have the ball. This game will live up to the billing and Stonehill will make a late play to steal the road victory. Prediction: Stonehill 38 New Haven 35

PRESEASON PROPS
Coming off of an NCAA Championship Second Round appearance last season, the Chargers have been selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2019 NE10 Championship in a poll of the league's nine head coaches. New Haven racked up a total of 63 points and seven of the nine possible first place votes, finishing nine points ahead of the Assumption Greyhounds who scored the remaining two first place tallies.
2019 Northeast-10 Football Coaches' Poll
1. New Haven – 63 (7)
2. Assumption – 54 (2)
3. Pace – 49
4. Bentley – 40
4. Southern Connecticut – 40
6. Stonehill – 29
7. American International – 23
8. Saint Anselm – 18
9. Franklin Pierce – 8
(#) indicates first-place votes

GAMEDAY IMPROVEMENTS
If you haven't visited Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium since the NCAA Championship game against Slippery Rock, you are going to find a welcome addition with the construction of a permanent restroom and concession building. The new building is located on the southeast corner of the stadium, just inside the main entrance.
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