Saint Anselm Drops Season Finale at Southern Connecticut, 52-21

New Haven, Conn. -- In the 2010 season finale, the Saint Anselm football team dropped a 52-21 final to Southern Connecticut on Saturday afternoon at Jess Dow Field. The Owls jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter of play, en route to the 31-point victory.

Southern Connecticut got on the board just 1:21 into the first quarter as J.W. Forte returned a punt 49 yards up the near sideline for a touchdown and the 7-0 lead. On the ensuing Hawk drive, the Owls intercepted Saint Anselm quarterback Michael Pierce (Andover, Mass.) and capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Nick Mandich for a 14-0 advantage with 7:14 left. Southern Connecticut capped off the first quarter scoring with under five minutes to go in the period as Rashaad Slowley rumbled 76 yards for the 21-0 lead.

Slowley added his second touchdown of the game 57 seconds into the second quarter as he got around the end and up the near sideline for a 34-yard touchdown run and the 28-0 Owl lead. Saint Anselm got on the board though on its final possession of the first half as the Hawks engineered an 80-yard drive over 2:56 to cut the lead down to 28-7 at the break. On the scoring play, Pierce found freshman Eric Feehan (Bedford, N.H.) in the back corner of the end zone from 15 yards out for his second touchdown catch in as many games. The Hawks kept the driving going on the previous play on a Feehan reception, along with a Southern Connecticut personal foul penalty.

The Owls picked up where they left off in the third quarter as John Wiechmann hauled in a 23-yard pass from Kevin Lynch, followed by a third Slowley touchdown, to make it a 42-7 score late in the quarter. The Hawks closed out the third-quarter scoring as Pierce scored on an eight-yard keeper to make it 42-14. After a Southern Connecticut field goal, freshman Brandon Gomes (Riverside, R.I.) pulled in an 18-yard touchdown from Pierce for the final score of the game for Saint Anselm. The Owls scored the final touchdown of the game, a 70-yard run by Wiechman with 9:16 left in the game.

Pierce led the Hawk offense with 287 passing yards and two touchdowns, along with another one on the ground. Freshman Justin Bernard (Cambridge, Mass.) led all receivers with seven receptions for 96 yards, narrowly missing his second straight 100-yard game. Freshman Keith Charles (Laurel, Md.) finished with 75 yards of total offense as well as he ran for 33 yards and caught five passes for 42 yards.

Senior Jason Nguyen (Methuen, Mass.) was the leading tackler for the Hawks with 11 total tackles and an interception.

With the loss, Saint Anselm ends the season at 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the Northeast-10. Southern Connecticut finishes its season at 6-4 overall and 6-2 in league play.