GAME DAY INFORMATION |
DATE: September 3, 2022
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LOCATION: Bulldow Stadium
Bowie, Md. |
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GAME DAY LINKS |
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO |
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THE FIRST LOOK
The excitement around the start of the 2022 season for the New Haven football team is palpable with fans eager to see the Championship team from 2021 return to the Blue and Gold turf. They will have to wait until week two to get a home siting of the Chargers as New Haven will open the new season on the road in a battle of ranked teams as they take on No. 8 Bowie State at Bulldog Stadium.
INSIDE THE SERIES
· New Haven and Bowie State meet for the fifth time in the history of the two programs.
· New Haven holds a perfect 3-1 record against the Bulldogs with all three victories coming in successive years starting in 1993.
· Overall in those meetings, New Haven has outscored Bowie State 138-25, including a 34-0 shutout in the most recent meeting on Nov. 4, 1995, which also took place in West Haven.
· The lone Bowie State win came last season in West Haven with the Bulldogs taking a 27-13 victory.
A WIN OVER BOWIE STATE WOULD...
· be the second straight season New Haven has opened the year with a victory.
· avenge a loss to the Bulldogs from last season, the first and only loss in the all-time series that began in 1993.
· be the 267th overall victory in the 43 plus year history of Charger Football.
· be the 237th victory since the Chargers began playing at the Division II level - first DII season was 1982.
GAME DAY FORECAST
New Haven and Bowie State will open the 2023 season under ideal conditions with the forecast calling for mostly sunny skies with a high temperature of 86 degrees. The low for the day is predicted at 65 degrees while there is a 16% chance of precipitation and a 56% humidity level. Winds on Saturday will be around seven miles per hour out of the east-south-east. Sunrise is set for 6:37 a.m. while the sun will set at 7:34 p.m.
SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
With the return of starting quarterback Connor Degenhardt (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy), leading receiver Dev Holmes (Troy, N.Y./Troy), top-three rusher Jake Conlan (West Haven, Conn./Trinity-Pawling) and two of the top four defensive backs from last season, it's no wonder that the New Haven football team scored a trio of Top-25 nods heading into the 2022 campaign. Among those was No. 16 in the AFCA Coaches poll in which the Blue and Gold wrapped up 2021 at No. 14. Leading the Chargers into 2022 with Degenhardt who returns for his fourth year of eligibility and his second under center for the Blue and Gold. Last season, Degenhardt was a part of 33 touchdowns, throwing 18 and running in a team-high 15. Holmes was the primary target down field for Degenhardt, completing 47 catches for 869 yards and nine touchdowns. Defensively, Fitzpatrick and Myles combined for 126 tackles, six interceptions and a fumble recovery. Five of those interceptions went to Fitzpatrick which led the NE10 and top-40 in the nation.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Coming off of a 12-2 season that concluded in the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time in program history, Bowie was picked to repeat as CIAA champions based on a vote of the league's head coaches, sports information directors and conference administrators. The conference title in 2021 for the Bulldogs was their third straight. On the field, Bowie State returns eight starters from last year's team, four on offense and four on defense while they are led by interim head coach Kyle Jackson who took over the reins late in the summer. Among the biggest holes to fill for the Bulldogs will be under center where they lose starter Ja'rome Johnson who threw for 2,223 yards and 24 touchdowns, while also running for 454 yards and eight TD's.
NEXT ON TAP
New Haven will make its debut at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium next time they step within the sidelines as they will play their next two games on the friendly Blue & Gold turf in West Haven. The first of those back-to-back home games welcomes crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University to town for the first of two meetings against the Owls. This first meeting will serve as a non-conference matchup between the two squads with kick off slated for 1:00 p.m. Fans unable to make the game can catch all the action live on the Charger Sports Network, part of NE10 NOW with J.W. Stewart and Steve Kunsey on the call.
WE'VE GOT EYES ON YOU
Heading into the 2022 season, a pair of Chargers are already in the spotlight with quarterback Connor Degenhardt (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) and defensive back Khyon Fitzpatrick (Union, N.J./Paramus Catholic) among the 475 players listed on the College Gridiron Small College Showcase Watch List, putting them square in the eyes of scouts across the country. The Watch List is composed by a panel of college and pro football experts and will be updated throughout the 2022 season.
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
A third Chargers is also among those who scouts will have their eye on throughout the year as defensive back Devonte Myles (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) made his way on to the NFL Draft Diamond watch list over the summer. Myles certainly put up numbers last year that should turn some heads and will continue to do the same damage this season. In 2021, Myles finished with 58 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery and seven pass breakups.
ONE DEGREE ISN'T ENOUGH
With a master's program in sport management, an MBA program and a renowned school of criminal justice it is no wonder so many students call New Haven home when it comes to postgraduate degrees. This season is no different, and for the second year in a row the Chargers have the most graduate students on the active roster in all of Division II. With 28 grad students on the opening day roster, the Chargers also have the most among all teams at all divisions, with Nebraska next in line with 26 grads in their program. According to the annual update from the National Football Foundation, 3,067 student-athletes across all divisions will be competing after having received an undergraduate degree. Of that total, 262 players from 31 Division II schools are among those pursuing graduate degrees.
ON THE RADAR
Following an undefeated NE10 season last year and a postseason run that ended in the NCAA Round of 32, the New Haven football team was ranked 14th in the nation in the final polls of the 2021 season. Heading into 2022, the Chargers are on many radars, earning a national ranking on three different polls. Highlighting those national polls is the American Football Coaches Association poll, which has the Chargers ranked 16th in the country. The first poll to be released this season was the College Football America Yearbook which had the Blue and Gold coming in 14th. The most recent poll was released by D2Football.com which listed the Chargers 18th. Polls will be updated weekly throughout the regular season.
LEAVE IT ALL ON THE LINE
Over the last handful of years, the Chargers offensive line has always been the biggest challenge for opponents' defensive strategies and 2022 will be no different. Last season, the Chargers O-Line helped lead the offense to an average of 346 total yards per game and a 30.3 points per game average which led all Northeast-10 teams. Additionally, the O-Line held strong, limiting opponents defense to just 14 sacks allowed, while also leaving passing lanes wide open to the point of opponents picking off just four passes all season, which was sixth best in all of NCAA Division II.
LEADERSHIP TRIO
Following the Chargers three-week preseason, head coach Chris Pincince announced a trio of players that will make up the leadership corps for 2022; quarterback Connor Degenhardt (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy), defensive back Khyon Fitzpatrick (Union, N.J./Paramus Catholic) and offensive lineman Will Ayers. All three played incredibly important roles last season and will be looked on to continue that success while also leading the next generation of Chargers to a repeat NE10 Championship and a deep run into the postseason.
WHAT D2FOOTBALL.COM IS PREDICTING FOR WEEK 1 (Chuck Bitner - National Weekly Update)
Saturday's only matchup of ranked teams will be an early kickoff in Bowie, Maryland. This will be a fun meeting of two of super region one's conference champions from last season. This is the bottom half of a home-and-home series that started last year in New Haven. Bowie State won that meeting 27-13. The Bulldogs defense dominated the day, holding New Haven to just 193 yards of offense and scoring a defensive TD to take the lead late in the third quarter. The loss and the poor offensive showing on their home field is still not sitting well with the Chargers and they are determined to pick up a win on Bowie State's home turf. That has proven to be a tough task in the last several years. The Bulldogs protect their house. But the Chargers have a very experienced roster with 26 graduate students, the most of any D2 program. Combine that with the turnover in Bowie State's roster and coaching staff since last year, and I think it adds up a rare victory by the visiting team at Bulldog Stadium.
(Paul Falewicz - NE10 Weekly Update)
Two ranked teams in the game of the weekend. New Haven had a great 2021 season and looking for even more this year. They were picked to win the NE10 and have several key weapons back in the fold. Plus, they have several transfers on the roster to step up and fill in for key graduated players from last year. The Chargers are poised to make another playoff run this year. Bowie State is the favorite to win the CIAA in 2022. They have a new coach but return a bunch of all-conference players from a team that advanced to the quarterfinals last year. They have several key defensive players back and will look to move the ball with their big offensive line. It is great when two top-notch programs play each other during the opening weekend. It will help to see which team is ready for prime time. I think that New Haven is going to have a solid season and it helps to beat a ranked team on the road. Prediction: New Haven 24 Bowie State 21
THE SCHEDULE
The New Haven football team will play five home games as part of a 10-game schedule in 2022. The lone game against a non NE10 team comes in week one when the Chargers will travel to Bowie, Md. for a battle of two ranked teams. A second non-conference game will come in week two when the Blue and Gold host crosstown rival Southern Connecticut for the first of two meetings against the Owls. Week three will kick off an eight-game NE10 schedule that features four games at home and four on the road. The regular season finale will come in the form of the annual Battle of the Elm City as the Chargers and Owls will meet for round two. NCAA postseason play kicks off on November 19 with the top seven teams in Super Region 1 battling for a spot in the national semifinals.
PRESEASON PROPS
Returning to the field for the first time after winning the 2021 Northeast-10 Conference Championship, going undefeated in league play, the University of New Haven football team will enter the 2022 season as the preseason favorite to win the Northeast-10 Conference championship in a poll of the league's eight head coaches. New Haven racked up a total of 49 points and seven of the eight possible first place votes in the poll, finishing 12 points ahead of the Assumption Greyhounds who garnered the only other first place vote.
2022 Northeast-10 Football Coaches' Poll
1. New Haven – 49 (7)
2. Assumption – 37 (1)
3. Bentley – 33
4. Pace – 26
5. Saint Anselm – 23
6. Southern Connecticut – 21
7. American International – 18
8. Franklin Pierce – 17
(#) indicates first-place votes
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
If you haven't visited North Campus recently you haven't seen the construction taking place adjacent to Charger Gymnasium. The site is the future home of the Peterson Performance Center, a state of the art facility that will house strength and conditioning, sports medicine, a new football locker room and meeting space with the ability to be tailored for the many different needs of all 20 varsity Charger athletic teams. The entire facility will measure 7,000 square feet and house 20 Olympic style weightlifting racks and a 60-yard turf agility and conditioning area. Construction is scheduled to be completed during the fall with the building opening for the Spring 2023 semester.
