Coach Rossomando must have had something to say to the Chargers as they walked into the locker room during halftime against Assumption Friday night, while they found themselves down by one point thanks to sloppy plays.
The first quarter started slowly for both teams, with three straight drives of three and out, but then the fourth drive of the game, Assumption got something going, getting to the end zone in six plays as James Ward rushed in for a 10 yard touchdown and Assumption took a 7-0 lead.Then it was New Haven’s turn, getting the ball at their own 17. The first play was an eight-yard rush by Trevor Officer followed by a 24-yard rush by Mike DeCaro. After a conversion on the fourth down, the Chargers made it all the way to the Assumption 16-yard line, but went backwards due to a false start by Roshawn Wilson. A sack by Assumption’s Nick Valenti pushed them back to the 21 and they found themselves in another fourth down situation, but could not convert this time after an incompletion to DeCaro.
The second quarter got off to a bang as Assumption tried to add to their 7-0 lead with a field goal, but it got blocked by New Haven’s Tad Beuchert, and this momentum would lead to the first New Haven touchdown as quarterback Ronnie Nelson hooked up to Courtney Moshood for 27 yards, but the extra point was blocked. This lead to halftime, where Assumption was up 7-6, and New Haven had some adjustments to make.
The second half was a whole different story as New Haven scored first and took the lead after Nelson hooked up to Mike Flacco for a 17 yard score. After a two-point conversion, New Haven took a 14-7 lead.
The fourth quarter started with an Assumption field goal right away making the score 14-10, but with the very next drive, New Haven scored on a one-yard touchdown run by Nelson, putting the Chargers up 21-10. Assumption did not go away though; with six minutes left, they blocked a New Haven punt placing them on the New Haven four yard line and scoring on the very next play on Matt Heriveaux’s four yard run.
After a two-point conversion, the score was 21-18 New Haven, with about 6:11 minutes left on the clock. New Haven played the clock well and wasted four and a half minutes giving Assumption 1:42 to score. On the first play of the drive they went deep and got intercepted by Najae Brown, deleting any hope of coming back and helping New Haven walk away with a 21-18 victory.
Nelson finished the game 16-24 passing with 217 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He ran for 48 yards and had a touchdown. Moshood finished the game with 93 receiving yards and a touchdown and Flacco had 31 yards and a touchdown.
This win was New Haven’s twentieth straight NE-10 conference win. This puts them at 4-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall. Assumption falls to 2-2 in conference play and 2-3 overall. New Haven returns to action at Merrimack on Saturday, Oct. 12 in North Andover, Mass. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
