With the 2016-17 football season done and over with, let us take a look back at the year

that the New Haven Chargers had.

Head coach Chris Pincince and his team had high hopes coming into the season after

finishing last year with a 7-4 record, 7-2 in conference play. However, after losing the

first two games, the second to the eventual Northeast-10 conference champion LIU Post

Pioneers. The first two losses could be attributed to the absence of the run game as

senior running back Andre Anderson gained 104-yards over both games.

After dropping the first two games, the blue and gold turned it around; winning four

straight games on the arm of Senior quarterback Ajee Patterson and the stellar play of

the senior linebacker Tyler Condit-led defense. Through the four game stretch Patterson

threw for a combined 1181-yards in the air, over 200-yards in each game. Anderson had

a few statement games, most notably, his 151-yard and 129-yard performances against

rival Southern Connecticut State and Saint Anselm, respectively. The defense only

allowed 76 points against them, which is only four more points than what they allowed

in the first two contests.

U.N.H. was definitely on an upswing with a four game win streak going, but a 3-4

Stonehill team played spoiler and ended the Chargers’ winning streak with a 21-17

victory on the Division II Football Showcase. The team tried to regain their momentum

as they hosted Assumption in their next game, but things didn’t go as planned, losing by

a score of 38-24. Even though they had 381-yards of total offense, Patterson accounted

for 213 and Anderson had his part, rushing for 133-yards.

Adding two more losses to their ledger, New Haven flipped the script, finishing the

season on a three-game win streak with wins against American International, in shutout

fashion, Bentley College, and Southern, during NE-10 championship weekend. In those

last three games, Patterson’s numbers were somewhat down, considering he threw for

over 200-yards in all but one game before these three. The run game was declining as

well, as Anderson only played one out of the final three contests, rushing for only 50-

yards in that game. The Chargers closed out their season with outstanding play on both

sides of the ball, the only downside – most, if not all, the production came from one of

the 20 graduating seniors.