WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven football team won easily on Saturday afternoon by the final score of 50-14 against Saint Augustine’s College. An explosive output by the Chargers
offense in the third quarter mixed by a second half shutout on defense, put the game far out-of-reach for the Falcons. New Haven is now 2-0 to begin the 2011 season while Saint Augustine’s drops to 1-2 overall.
The Charger’s offense was clicking on all cylinders on Saturday. A well-balanced attack accumulated for 443 yards of total offense. New Haven rushed for 209 yards while holding their opponent to a staggering nine yards. They also threw for 234 on 17-of-24 passing and did not commit a turnover all game.
Despite the success on both offense and defense, Saint Augustine’s scored first in the game with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Teddy Bacote to Tyron Laughinghouse. The score came at the 12:54 mark in the first quarter and gave the Falcons momentum early.
However, the Chargers capped off a seven play, 55 yard drive following the kick-off with a six-yard touchdown run from quarterback Ryan Osiecki (Seymour, Conn./Seymour / Univ. of Louisville). After a Falcon’s three-and-out, New Haven regained possession and a 23-yard field goal from Chris Scifo (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas / Central Connecticut State University) gave the Chargers their first lead of the game.
Saint Augustine’s began the second quarter much like the first, as Bacote and Laughinghouse connected on another deep touchdown pass, this time for 40 yards. With 14:13 remaining in the first half, the Falcons took a 14-10 lead which inevitably became their last. From that point on, New Haven’s defense completely shutdown their opponent’s offensive attack.
The remainder of the second quarter featured a touchdown pass from Osiecki to Nick Music (West Milford, N.J./West Milford ) followed by a 20-yard field goal from Scifo, to give the Chargers a 20-14 lead at the break.
The second half was a whole different story as New Haven came out strong immediately. In just over a minute of play, Osiecki and Demetrius Washington-Ellison (Rahway, N.J./Rahway / Univ. of Maine) connected on a 19-yard touchdown pass. From that point on it was all Chargers as they went on to score another 23 points, outscoring the Falcons 23-0 in the third quarter.
The next three touchdowns from New Haven were all on the ground. Osiecki ran one in from a yard out, Ronnie Nelson (Stuart, Fla./South Fork ) scored on a seven-yard run and Brian Alston (Robbinsville, N.J./Robbinsville) punched one in from the one-yard line.
Mike DeCaro (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay ) led the rushing attack with 100 yards on just 11 carries for a 9.1 average. Victor Jones (Paterson, N.J./Passaic County Tech) was right behind him with 11 rushes for 76 yards. Osiecki had his second consecutive four-touchdown performance, connecting on two in the air and rushing for another two. He was 13-of-18 in the game for 194 yards and 0 interceptions. Nelson was 4-for-6 in the game with 40 yards and 44 yards rushing.
Defensively, Bernard Risco (Philadelphia, Pa./James Hillhouse) and Desmond Anderson (Jacksonville, Fla./Edward H. White / Becker College) led the team with five solo tackles and six total. Also, Kareem Cutler (Dorchester, Mass./Charlestown ) and MacArthur Cheek (New Haven, Conn./James Hillhouse) added two interceptions.
The Chargers head on the road next Saturday, September 17 for their first away game of the season against The College of William & Mary. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
