Some players wither in the spotlight while others rise to the occasion. Quarterback Ryan Osiecki returned to the starting lineup for the first time since being injured against St Augustine’s, and he made his presence felt. He threw five total touchdowns as he led the Chargers back in immaculate fashion like he has so many times throughout his New Haven career.
The CBS Sports network really got their money’s worth, televising New Haven against Stonehill. The game started off with Stonehill University scoring the first touchdown of the game. Shortly after a missed extra point by Stonehill, New Haven scored off a 26-yard Mike DeCaro run. The Chargers would attempt a two-point conversion to try and make it a three-point game, but would fail leaving the score 6-6. After a field goal by Stonehill, Ryan Osiecki scored his first touchdown of the game as he threw to tight end Kameel Lashley. The Skyhawks and Chargers would trade touchdowns before the end of the half.
The second half began with Ryan reuniting with his favorite target Jason Thompson for the first of his three scores in the second half. Stonehill would score a touchdown off a Logan Meyer pass to Nate Robitaille. The score would be 31-26 in favor of the Chargers after a Chris Schifo kick would end the half.
The fourth quarter is where all the fun began. Stonehill would score back-to-back touchdowns to put UNH in a 41-31 hole. Logan Meyer threw touchdown passes to John Gomes and Nate Robitaille, respectively all within four minutes of each other to hand UNH its biggest deficit this season. Jason Thompson and Ryan Osiecki would connect on a touchdown with seven minutes left in the game to bring the Chargers within one score.
With three timeouts in hand and just under five minutes on the clock, the Chargers would begin what was their game-winning drive at their own fourteen. Five times on that drive, New Haven would face third downs and they would complete all of them. With 19 seconds left on the clock, New Haven had first and goal on the Skyhawks three-yard line. On first and second down, Ryan would throw incomplete passes to Josh Smart. One pass was into tight coverage and another was a tough play as Smart couldn’t make the diving grab. On third down with six seconds left, Ryan would lob a pass for Jason Thompson in the back of the end zone, and would then pull it in to put New Haven on top.
The 7-0 Chargers next week take on the 2-6 Southern Connecticut State Owls on the blue turf for Homecoming. This will be the first home game against Southern, where the full student body will be there. The only other time these two teams have faced off on the blue and gold turf was in 2010 during Columbus Day break. This weekend’s game should be a good one to say the least.
