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WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The clock at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium was closing in on the final 30 seconds and a jubilant Chris Pincince raised both of his arms into the air to start yet another celebration on the University of New Haven's blue turf field.

The University of New Haven football coach had seen his team accomplish so much during the 2021 season and while he believed that the Chargers were a better team than conference rival Bentley, he knew that being the best team doesn't always result in victories at this time of the year.

The visiting Falcons were going to have added motivation after the Northeast-10 champion eluded their grasp thanks to New Haven's 17-point win just two weeks early. Junior defensive stalwart Khyon Fitzpatrick (Union, N.J./Paramus Catholic), quite possibly the Chargers' best player, missed most of the practices heading into the game after needing to get his wisdom tooth removed.

However, as the clock went under 40 seconds and the Chargers, ranked 18th in the American Football Coaches Association's Division II poll, were closing in on the impressive 38-13 win over No. 20 Bentley in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs in front of a crowd of 2,378, Pincince could finally exhale.

"Honestly, to beat them for a second time, you aren't very really sure if you are going to do it," Pincince said. "We thought we had solidified ourselves as the best team in the league two weeks ago and there is that thought in the back of your mind that if we go and stub our toe today that some of that might be taken away from us. Everything that our kids did to come back and win a championship was justified so I am excited for them."

Bentley looked like the more physical team in the early going and especially during an 18-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was capped with Nathaniel Larkins' four-yard touchdown just six seconds into the second quarter. The drive took nearly 10 minutes and gave Bentley the early 6-3 lead.

The Falcons didn't record their next first down until the early stages of the second half when New Haven had built up an 18-point advantage.

made some adjustments to our defense because he knew that once we stop the run and made them pass, they couldn't really throw the ball as well as they were running the ball so once he made that adjustment, we just executed

"[Defensive coordinator Matt Scott] made some adjustments to our defense because he knew that once we stop the run and made them pass," Fitzpatrick said. "They couldn't really throw the ball as well as they were running the ball so once he made that adjustment, we just executed."

The New Haven defense, which led the Northeast-10 in scoring defense and rushing defense during the regular season, did more than allow the New Haven offense to possess the ball for more than 35 1/2 minutes, they also set up the offense in glorious field position with a pair of Hunter Addison (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) fumble recoveries.

A pair of Hunter Addison (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) fumble recoveries set up the Chargers. The second one, forced by cornerback Ryan Dolce (Union, N.J./Union), led to the third rushing touchdown of the game and the 15th of the season by quarterback Connor Degenhardt (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy). His 1-yard score pushed the lead to 38-6. 

Bentley (9-2) got one of the scores back when Tajon Vassar caught a pass and rolled over a would-be tackler. The New Haven players stopped thinking that Vassar was down. Vassar ran the rest of the way for the 50-yard score with 2:21 left to play.

Receiver Brett Huber (Milford, Conn./Foran) recovered the ensuing on-sidekick as the Chargers set up a game at No. 12 Kutztown in the second round.

New Haven, which took the early lead on Briant DeFelice's (Massapequa, N.Y./Farmingdale) 31-yard field goal, added a pair of touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half. 

Degenhardt's touchdown on fourth down gave the Chargers the lead for good.

The New Haven defense forced its second consecutive three and out to give the New Haven offense the ball at the 48. Degenhardt only attempted two passes, one went to Kevin Foelsch (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) and the other resulted in a defensive pass interference penalty on Bentley on a deep throw to Dev Holmes (Troy, N.Y./Troy). Three plays after the game's first penalty, Degenhardt raced in from 12 yards out to put New Haven up 17-6 with 14 seconds left in the first half.

"It was a bad read honestly but [running back Zach] Mauro did a good job faking like he had the ball and I was able to kind of follow where I thought he would be going," Degenhardt said of his touchdown late in the second quarter. "The O-line was protecting great, the receivers were downfield blocking which was huge and I was basically able to walk into the end zone."

A Degenhardt touchdown run and DeFelice field goal in the final minute of the first half allowed the Chargers to build a 17-point lead by halftime in the regular-season meeting. Once again, scoring shortly before halftime was a huge momentum shift for New Haven.

"That last points that go on the board are big from a momentum standpoint," Pincince said. "We knew we were getting the ball to start the second half and obviously we did a good job of scoring in the second half. That is a lot of points without them getting the ball back and I think mentally at that point, we had won the football game."

Bentley did get the ball back just before halftime but opted to take to knee to run out the final few seconds.

Not even a holding penalty on their first offensive play of the second half could slow the Chargers' surge.

On second down, Degenhardt squeezed the ball in against tight coverage to Dev Holmes (Troy, N.Y./Troy) who shook off one defender, eluded another Bentley would-be tackler and raced in for the 77-yard touchdown for New Haven's longest offensive play since late September.

"As a team, we were doing everything that we needed to do and to seal the deal like that and take their life away, it was a great feeling," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick was just happy to be playing after only returning to practice on Thursday.

"I had to get my wisdom tooth removed and it was infected," Fitzpatrick said. "I couldn't eat for four days, I was throwing up everything I thought I would eat, it was crazy."

It didn't take long for the Chargers to add to the lead. Degenhardt's first passing attempt of the second half was a contested throw that was snared by Dev Holmes (Troy, N.Y./Troy). He shook off two defenders and raced in for the 77-yard touchdown just 1:24 into the second half.

"He is an awesome player and we just know we have to give him the ball in space and then he can do awesome stuff like that," Degenhardt said. "He came up huge on a fourth-down catch too so Dev is awesome, I have all the confidence in the world that he is going to make all the plays whenever I throw him the ball."

Degenhardt only attempted 11 passes. Four of them went to Holmes who had 104 of the Chargers' 144 receiving yards. New Haven relied on its physical running game to take control of the first postseason game for the Chargers since 2018.

Mauro had 119 of the 168 rushing yards on 33 carries for his third contest with at least 100 rushing yards in the last four games.

"Every game we are giving our all preparing for it but this week definitely had more meaning behind it because we had already beaten them previously in the championship pretty well," Mauro said. "All week we kept seeing that Bentley saying that last time was a fluke and they were the better team that were going to come here and beat us. We played with a little bit of an extra chip on our shoulder today, we wanted to prove again why we won the NE10 and why we were undefeated in the NE10 and we were actually able to beat them by more today than last time."

Jermell Brandon (Baltimore, Md./Monroe Area) led New Haven with seven tackles and nearly had an interception on Bentley's second offensive play.

Defensive linemen Michael Montecalvo (Green Brook, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional), Jason Dooling (Sunrise, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), Khalim Cisse (Willingboro, N.J./Willingboro) and Hunter Addison (Baltimore, Md./Lansdowne) combined for 14 tackles, three tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries.

"The D-line is amazing, they cause a lot of havoc and it makes it easier for the DBs to make plays," Fitzpatrick said. "The D-line with Hunter, Dool, they need to keep balling."

Next up are Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Kutztown as New Haven advances to the second round for the seventh time in eight postseason appearances.

"This program is historic, a force to be reckoned with and there are a lot of us here that actually played in the 2018 [postseason] so a lot of us know how it feels and we are prepared," Mauro said. "We are ready for it. We are excited to get back to it next week and excited to have Thanksgiving [on campus] at Bartels, it couldn't be better."

There will also be plenty of players who will be playing in their first road playoff game.

"This is the first college playoff win of my career so I really wanted to get off my back and to be able to move on with this team," Degenhardt said. "We don't want these seniors to go out yet. We know we can keep winning games, we know we are a really special team and I think we just need to focus and keep winning."