CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — New Haven lost to Austin Peay 42-17 on Saturday at Fortera Stadium.
Niko Boyce (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) made his first start for the Blue & Gold in the game and made a solid showing, completing 25/39 passes for 227 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to
Tommy Troy (Essex, Conn./Valley Regional).
New Haven answered Austin Peay's opening touchdown with a 12-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Nikolay Boyce's 4-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Troy before
Liam Quigley's (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Govenor Livingston) PAT tied the score at 7-7. After Austin Peay moved back ahead 14-7 on a 65-yard touchdown pass, the Chargers drove 62 yards, including Boyce's 41-yard completion to
D'Arious Reed (Nashville, Tenn.), and
Jack Morgese (Florham Park, N.J./Pope John XXIII) made a 20-yard field goal with 46 seconds left. The Chargers finished the first quarter trailing 14-10 despite scoring on both red-zone trips.
The Chargers' defense answered a blocked punt with a goal-line stand, as Rikervin Encarnacion forced a fumble near the goal line and
Frederick Borkey (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Thomas More) recovered at New Haven's 1 with the score still 21-10. The offense moved off the goal line with a 17-yard
Zaon Laney (Hoboken, N.J./Rahway) run and later reached the Austin Peay 40, but the Chargers did not score in the quarter. Austin Peay added two special-teams touchdowns after New Haven's kicks and carried a 35-10 lead out of the second quarter.
New Haven's defense kept Austin Peay off the board in a scoreless third quarter, forcing punts on the home team's two completed possessions while the offense was limited to three punts. Borkey opened one Austin Peay drive with a 2-yard tackle for loss, and
Irv Briggs (Queens Village, N.Y./Holy Trinity) and Gabriel Perez combined for a 3-yard loss on third down of the next. Offensively, Nikolay Boyce hit Thomas Troy for 20 yards to midfield on the Chargers' longest gain of the quarter, but the quarter ended with Austin Peay ahead 35-10.
The Chargers answered Austin Peay's early fourth-quarter touchdown with a 75-yard drive, capped when Nikolay Boyce found Thomas Troy for a 15-yard score on fourth-and-1 and Quigley added the extra point to make it 42-17. Boyce also completed passes of 15 yards to
D'Arious Reed (Nashville, Tenn.) and 14 yards to
Matt Chandler (Oviedo, Fla./East Coast Prep) on the march, while Laney added a 16-yard run. New Haven's defense forced punts on Austin Peay's next two possessions, but Austin Peay closed out a 42-17 final.
Nikolay Boyce completed 25 of 39 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Thomas Troy caught five passes for 59 yards and two touchdowns. Laney rushed 17 times for 90 yards and added five receptions for 24 yards. Borkey recorded a team-high nine tackles and recovered a fumble.
Up next, the Chargers will travel to face Robert Morris University on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, Pa.
