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MANCHESTER, N.H. – For the second time in three weeks the schedule worked as planned, pitting two of the top teams in the Northeast-10 Conference against each other, this time around with the New Haven Chargers earning a 14-11 road win over the Saint Anselm Hawks in a battle for outright possession of first place in the league standings. With the win, New Haven improves to 7-2 on the season and 6-1 in the NE10 with one game remaining in the regular season.
"I thought every single member of the team did something today to help us win that game," said head coach Chris Pincince. "Whether it was offense, defense or special teams, a bunch of different guys stepped up and I couldn't be prouder of them for handling some adversity and coming up here and winning a football game today."
"Today was huge man," proclaimed graduate defensive lineman and captain Jack Quander (Gainsville, Va./Patriot). "We stumbled a bit two weeks ago, but we were able to pull each other together. My fellow captains, guys like Joe [Vitale] and Giye [Jenkins] are constantly supporting people, constantly pushing people. They were able to get all of us all-in so that we could just keep grinding. Today was really awesome. It mean's a lot, especially for our seniors. We have 37 seniors out there that are playing and practicing as hard as they can. They play for each other; they play for their brothers. I love those guys. This one was really special."
The Chargers depth all season long continued to wreak its benefits against the Hawks, especially on defense where DC Matt Scott rotated nine players on the defensive line which stepped up and held the Hawks to just 63 rushing yards, the eighth-straight game holding an opponent under 100 rushing yards. For the game, New Haven's defense held Saint Anselm to just 176 total yards on offense which is less than half of their 357.4 average per game. In addition to the 63 rushing yards, New Haven held Saint Anselm to just 113 passing yards, more than 100 yards less than their 222.5 average coming into the day.
"I think the biggest thing is that me and the staff are doing a better job at keeping those guys fresh," said Scott about the defensive line. "There's been times in the past where we've missed out on rotations and things like that but we really stuck to making sure that every series or every other series we're trying to role our defensive line through so you're seeing them be out there and be really fresh and understand what we're asking them to do and executing."
"I think the biggest thing is the players understand our identity as a defense and that how we are going to be good as a defense always starts with stopping the run," continued Scott. "The best thing about this defense so far is how resilient they were at the beginning of the year. We had so many critical errors and mistakes in those first couple games. To be able to get it cleaned up and see the way they are playing right now, the confidence the have in what we're doing and the confidence they have in each other is awesome to see as a coach."
Leading the defense on the day was senior linebacker Devin O'Malley (Pawtucket, R.I./St. Raphael Academy) who finished wit eight total tackles, seven solo and one assisted. Among those was a team-high two TFL that totaled 12 yards, one of which was a nine-yard sack. As a team, the Chargers finished with seven TFL for 29 total yards including three sacks for 22 yards.
In addition to O'Malley getting to the Hawks quarterback, Davon Colon (Cromwell, Conn./Xavier) as well as captains Joe Vitale (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) and Quander all finished with a sack. Colon and Quander combined for a nine-yard sack, while Vitale had a solo sack for four yards. Following O'Malley in leading the Chargers defense on the day was Chima Opara (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) and Colon who each finished with five tackles. All five of Opara's stops were solo while he also picked off a Drew Forkner pass and returned it 21 yards in the first quarter.
Offensively, New Haven finished the day with 263 total yards, more than half of which coming on the ground where once again the depth shined through as four running backs, along with quarterback Daelen Menard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Chaminade Madonna), all accounted for 156 total rushing yards. Leading the way was Zaon Laney (Hoboken, N.J./Rahway) who finished with 62 yards on 16 carries, including a three-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Chargers up 14-3.
Laney also came up big in the fourth quarter when the Chargers faced fourth down with three to go deep in the red zone. Menard, rolling out to his right, found Laney for the quick outlet pass with the junior running back able to turn up field and secure the first down, setting his offense up with first and goal from the three. On the very next play, Laney completed what was an 11-play drive that took over five and a half minutes with a three-yard run sneaking in just right of the center.
Menard would close his day under center with 107 yards, connecting on 12-of-26 passes without an interception. Both Josh Zamot (Millville, N.J./Holy Spirit) and Matt Chandler (Oviedo, Fla./East Coast Prep) led the way with four catches apiece and each totaling 41 yards while Laney finished with three catches for 17 yards total.
"Daelen probably played the best game since he has been here," said Pincince. "The numbers probably won't show it, but he carried himself extremely well. He protected the football today. We did not turn the ball over and we knew we had a chance to win if we protected the football."
"I think the touchdown before half was huge but really that fourth down before our second touchdown was a huge play and after that the game kid of turned in our direction," said Menard on what the turning point of the game was. "I think we came out with a great gameplan, they did as well. They were stopping the run very well but we were able to adjust and score some touchdowns."
New Haven will return home for a rematch of an earlier season road game against the Pace Setters with the Blue and Gold taking the win in the first matchup 47-17. Opening kickoff in the Senior Day game at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium is slated for 1:00 p.m. with all of the action available on NE10 Now on Flo College.
