WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Four different players found the endzone and three different Chargers picked off passes as the New Haven football team spread the wealth up and down the roster in a 56-0 shutout of the visiting American International Yellow Jackets in front of a homecoming crowd of 4,022 at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium. With the win, New Havem remains unbeaten in the NE10 with a 3-0 conference record, while improving to 4-1 overall on the season.
"It was good to see our defense get on track," said head coach Chris Pincince. We did a good job stopping the run and I thought the secondary did a great job out there. We've been preaching for the first month of the season that we're going to play a two- and three- deep worth of kids. It's not the first time that Justin Felder (Hollis, N.Y./Holy Cross HS) or the second defense has been in there. I'm happy that they were able to perform the way they did and the way they finished out the game."
Leading the Blue and Gold offensively was senior wide receiver Mikey Caines (Maplewood, N.J./Columbia), the Avelo Player of the Game, who finished with 106 yards on six receptions with three touchdown catches of 14, 26 and 35 yards. Caines wasn't the only receiver to haul in six points as Isaac Cutler-Mujjumbire (Albany, N.Y./Stillwater) added a fourth quarter score which came on his first collegiate reception, an 11-yard pass from Jack Chandler (Oviedo, Fla./Hagerty).
"He's [Caines] done a great job for us," continued Pincince. "He's been a really good player for us the last couple years. I'm happy for him that he's been getting a few accolades and getting some catches out there."
The remaining three New Haven touchdowns came from the running game with a 38-yard scramble from senior Christopher Ais (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) and two goal line scores from grad transfer Justin Felder (Hollis, N.Y./Holy Cross HS) from one and two yards out.
All combined, New Haven ran for 294 yards, its second straight game with over 200 yards on the ground, led by Ais who finished his third game of the year with 100+ running yards, closing out the day with 123 yards on 15 carries. Overall, New Haven used five backs with Jalen Smith (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) following Ais with 72 yards, Zaon Laney (Hoboken, N.J./Rahway) with 52 and Felder with 49.
Including the 294 rushing yards, New Haven racked up 490 total yards on offense with graduate quarterback Daelen Menard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Chaminade Madonna) closing out his day with 185 yards going 15-of-22 with three touchdowns, while Chander added his one completion to Cutler-Mujjumbire for 11 yards.
Defensively, New Haven held the Yellow Jackets to just 83 yards of total offense, splitting that nearly evenly with 42 yards on the ground and 41 in the air, while limiting AIC to six first downs. The 83 yards for the Yellow Jackets is the first time in a decade that New Haven has held a team to less than 100 total yards, the last being Pace who finished with 98 yards on November 1, 2014.
The total offense record wasn't the only to fall against the Yellow Jackets, the other being a 27-year-old record with the 56 points scored by the Chargers the fourth straight game scoring 40+ which hasn't happened since the 1997 season. That year, New Haven finished eight games with 40+ in the scoring column, closing out that campaign with a 12-2 overall record under head coach Tony Sparano, with the Chargers advancing to the NCAA Championship Game against Northern Colorado.
Leading the way on the defensive side of the ball was graduate linebacker Chris Campbell (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) with eight tackles while grad defensive back Jalen Fisher (Pasadena, Calif./Chaminade College Prep) followed with six. Among New Haven's 62 total tackles were eight tackles for loss with Campbell also leading in that column with 2.5 for five yards, while Davon Colon (Cromwell, Conn./Xavier) finished with two sacks for 19 yards.
Campbell also forced two of the four New Haven turnovers, recovering a fumble and picking off an AIC pass which he returned four yards. Joining him with interceptions of the day was Ricky Encarnacion (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) and Kaschin Edwards (Hartford, Conn./Hartford Public), with Encarnacion returning his 80 yards to set up a New Haven touchdown drive inside the AIC 10 yard line. Senior linebacker Devin O'Malley (Pawtucket, R.I./St. Raphael Academy) closed out his afternoon with five tackles and three pass deflections, one of which resulted in an interception while he also forced the fumble that Campbell recovered.
New Haven will enjoy a bye week next weekend, returning to the gridiron for the first of back-to-back road games on Saturday, October 19 when they make the short trip across town for the annual Battle of the Elm City against crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University at Jess Dow Field. Opening kickoff in the Northeast-10 Conference game is slated for 1:00 p.m. with all of the action available on Flo Sports.
