Even before the officials standing on either side of the goal posts at Northwell Stadium the members of the University of New Haven football team were high stepping down the field after the narrowest escape in a season not lacking for close shaves.

Dylan Squillacioti's potential game-tying 22-yard field goal on the final play of the game sailed wide right as the Chargers came away with a 17-14 against Pace to set up a winner-take-all scenario for the Northeast-10 Conference title in the regular-season finale against Bentley.

The winner of the game between the Chargers and Falcons will win the Northeast-10 title thanks to wins by both teams on Saturday.

There were times when it looked like the Chargers might squander the chance to be in that position.

After a 1-yard run by quarterback Daelen Menard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Chaminade Madonna) and Vincenzo DeSimone's (Naples, Fla./Sparta) extra point gave New Haven a three-point lead with 1:57 to play, Pace got the ball inside the UNH 10 needing a field goal to tie and a touchdown to win.

New Haven senior defensive end Jack Quander (Gainsville, Va./Patriot) drew a holding penalty to back up the Setters and Joe Vitale (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) made the tackle on Pace receiver Teddy Harper at the 5. By the time Pace took one of its remaining timeouts, there was time for just one more play. Squillacioti is one of the best kickers in the NE10 with three field goals 40 yards or longer before missing on the chance to force overtime.

"It is a special feeling to come out with a win like that," said Vitale, who had eight tackles, two tackles for loss and one of the Chargers' three quarterback sacks. "Winning in that fashion is always nice."

It is not the first time this season that New Haven won a game when an opposing kicker was unable to convert on a makeable field goal late in the game. That also happened in the second game of the season when the Chargers won 14-13 at Bentley in a non-conference game.

"The Bentley kicker is a really good kicker, this kid is a really good kicker," New Haven coach Chris Pincince said. "I hope that the way that we rushed him affected his kick. We tried something unique there, we stole it from the [New England] Patriots. Christian Ais (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) coming off the edge right there and makes the kick pull to the right."

There were other clutch plays by one of the top defenses in Division II.

A combined sack by Dev Williams and Damon Burton followed by David Abolarinwa's (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) sack to stop a Pace drive inside New Haven territory.

However, the ensuing punt was downed at the 1. When the Chargers punted, Harper returned the punt 34 yards to the UNH 15. Six plays later, Kennedy hooked up with Dominic Nicolo for a 10-yard score to put Pace up late in the third quarter.

The Chargers were stopped on fourth down inside the Pace 5 early in the fourth quarter and again with just 4:51 left to play.

A tackle for loss and sack by Davon Colon (Cromwell, Conn./Xavier) helped to give New Haven one last chance to avoid the upset.

Holmes returned a punt 54 yards to set up Menard's 1-yard score with 1:57 left to go. An unsportsmanlike penalty on New Haven after the TD led to Pace having the 15 yards enforced on the extra point knowing that a missed PAT would give the Setters the chance to win the game with a field goal.

DeSimone made the extra point to set up the wild finish.

"I was definitely nervous watching that ball go up at the end but I believe in our defense," said Holmes, who had had 141 yards on four punt returns. "No matter if we are going to beat them by one point, it is still a win."

New Haven (7-2, 5-1 in the Northeast-10) had a chance to take command of this game early. However, six plays run inside the Pace 10-yard line resulted in just three points being scored.

"I feel like if we score both of those times, the game would have been totally different but a win is a win," Holmes said.

New Haven finally got into the end zone when a play-action pass led to Menard connecting deep with Holmes for the 76-yard touchdown pass to put New Haven up 10-0.

Tyreek Smith, one of eight Connecticut natives on the Pace roster, ripped off a 63-yard return on the ensuing kickoff. However, Giye Jenkins (West Orange, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) came up with an interception on a third-down pass to keep the score at 10-0.

After New Haven failed to move the ball, Pace embarked on a 13-play, 62-yard drive. Aidan Kennedy connected with Dominic Nicolo on a 22-yard completion on 4th-and-1 and two plays later, Kennedy threw the 11-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Sobotker with 12.6 seconds left in the first half to make it a 10-7 game.

"We ended up winning the game and pulling it out," said Menard who was 13 of 23 for 130 yards passing in the game. "We left it out there, we should have scored a lot of points. That is something to fix during this week of practice, get ready for next week and the championship game."

Christopher Ais (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) had 110 yards on 17 carries while Holmes finished with 82 yards on three receptions.

Devin O'Malley (Pawtucket, R.I./St. Rafael Academy) led New Haven with nine tackles while freshman cornerback Jabron Solomon (Lawnside, N.J./Woodbury) set the tone for the defense as he tackled Harper for a two-yard loss on an option play on the first defensive snap of the game for New Haven.

"Regardless of anything that happened, the offense showed up when they needed to, the defense showed up when they needed to, the special teams showed up the whole game," Vitale said. "That is how we are going to keep playing."

The Chargers came into the game in the 10th spot in the Super Region One rankings.

No. 4 East Stroudsburg and No. 5 Frostburg State each lost so perhaps New Haven will move up going into the final week of the regular season.

The winner of the Northeast-10 Conference will not receive an automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs and New Haven will need some help even if the Chargers beat Bentley since only seven teams in each region receive postseason bids.

The focus will be on topping the Falcons and winning the NE10 title and doing it at home would all the sweeter.

"It will be a special feeling," Vitale said. "We are going to do everything that we can in practice this week going into Saturday to make that happen."