GAMEDAY CENTRAL: Stonehill Hosts Assumption for Easton Appreciation and Senior Day - Stonehill

Tickets: $7.00 (Adults); $4.00 (students & senior citizens); 12 and under are free.
Easton residents admitted free of charge with proper ID

Stonehill Spotlight: Senior DL Clark Leger

Coach's Corner with Robert Talley

The Game: Stonehill College looks to string together another late season winning streak as it hosts Assumption College for a Northeast-10 Conference matchup at Timothy J. Coughlin (COG-lin) Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium this afternoon. The Skyhawks look to build off last weekend's 41-27 triumph over Saint Anselm College in the Battle for the Ol' Bronze Hawk in Manchester, N.H., while the Greyhounds try to bounce back from a 35-21 setback to Bentley University last Friday night. Assumption opened the year with four-straight wins, but had dropped three of its last five.

Saluting Our Seniors: This afternoon marks the final home game for Stonehill's 11 seniors who will be recognized prior to kickoff. This year's senior class includes: quarterback Kevin Brooks (Westwood, Mass.), offensive lineman Tom Carey (Weymouth, Mass.), safety Steven Good (Green Harbor, Mass.), offensive lineman Brandon Joseph (Mattapan, Mass.), fullback Ryder Kern (Garden City, N.Y.), defensive lineman Clark Leger (Waltham, Mass.), defensive lineman Brenden Taylor (Stoughton, Mass.), defensive back Anthony Tomasz (Hopkinton, Mass.), running back Eddie Vachon (Newton, Mass.), linebacker Nick Vardaro (Woburn, Mass.) and defensive lineman Brad White (Bangor, Maine).

Easton Appreciation Day: The Stonehill athletic department is holding its fourth annual Easton Appreciation Day at today's game. Prior to kickoff there are a number of interactive activities for children around W.B. Mason stadium. Skyhawk student-athletes will be conducting athletic related stations for kids to meet, greets and play their favorite sports. Many local clubs and organizations around Easton are present to give out informational materials about their institutions and talk about any important updates they might have. Stonehill is also honoring a number of cadets from Stonehill's ROTC program with a contracting ceremony at halftime and have invited military personal all around the Massachusetts area to join us in celebrating such an accomplishment. Today is also its football campers from this past summer for a camper reunion day.

Media Info: Live video of today's game is available on a pay-per-view basis ($6.99) via www.stonehillskyhawks.tv. Charlie Bergeron, the voice of the Skyhawks, is back for his 13th season of broadcasting the action powered by Pack Network. WSHL 91.3 FM will also be broadcasting the game with Craig Riotto and Nick Toyas calling the action for the radio broadcast.

The Series: This afternoon marks the 23rd meeting all-time between these two programs. Stonehill holds a 16-6 advantage in the all-time series having won each of the last three meetings, including a 22-14 triumph in Worcester last fall. The Skyhawks have won five of the last six encounters and are 7-3 all-time in Easton, with a 1-1 clip here at W.B. Mason Stadium, including a 31-7 win here in 2008. Head Coach Robert Talley is 3-0 in his career against the Greyhounds.

Stephan Neville

Special Teams Player of the Week: Stonehill junior cornerback/return specialist Stephan Neville (Foxborough, Mass.) earned his second-straight Northeast-10 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week award by the league office on Monday. He had a clear impact on Saturday's 41-27 win at Saint Anselm despite touching the ball just twice on special teams by returning two kicks for 85 yards (42.5/return) including a game-clinching 79-yard touchdown return right after Saint Anselm had closed within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to seal the win. In an effort to try to keep the ball out Neville's hands, Saint Anselm squib kicked the ball on kickoffs all afternoon, providing the Skyhawks with an average starting field position of midfield on its five kickoffs for the day. Neville also added six tackles (four solo), an interception and three pass breakups on defense for Stonehill on Saturday..

Rookie of the Week: Freshman safety Tim Bennett (Fillmore, Calif.) was named the Northeast-10 Conference's Rookie of the Week for the second time this season on Monday. He helped lead the Stonehill defense in Saturday's 41-27 win at Saint Anselm as he posted five tackles (four solo), including 1.5 for a loss of four yards, two pass breakups and an interception that he returned 30 yards for a touchdown. The pickoff was his team-leading fourth of the season and the touchdown put the Skyhawks up 34-20 midway through the third quarter and marked the program's first interception returned for a TD since Greg Sanzari had a pick six against Pace University here at W.B. Mason Stadium on October 10, 2009. Bennett also earned Rookie of the Week honors following the Skyhawk's week two win over Pace when he contributed four solo tackles and a pass breakup on the defensive side of the ball.

Iannucci

They're Honored: Junior safety Matthew Iannucci (Oakland, N.J.) and sophomore running back Jermetrius Troy (Mattapan, Mass.) were both selected to the Northeast-10 Conference's weekly honor roll on Monday for their efforts in Saturday's win at Saint Anselm. Iannucci led the Skyhawks defense with nine tackles (four solo), an interception and pass breakup. His pickoff came two plays after Stonehill scored its first touchdown of the day after trailing 13-0 early in the second quarter and led to a game-tying touchdown. Troy carried the ball 14 times for 63 yards and a career-best three touchdowns to help lead the offense on Saturday. Troy scored three of the Skyhawks first four touchdowns on the afternoon, scoring on a pair of two yard runs before adding a 14-yard score in the third quarter to put the team up for good (27-20).

Record Breaking Eddie: Senior captain Eddie Vachon (Newton, Mass.) added another record to his growing list on Saturday as his first of a career-high 31 carries at Saint Anselm made him Stonehill's all-time lead for rushing yardage. His 135 yards give him a record 2,834 yards, surpassing the previous mark of 2,701 set by Tyrone Jefferson from 1998-2000. Vachon, who also holds school records for career all-purpose yards (4,470), career rushing attempts (600), career rushing touchdowns (25) and total touchdowns scored (32), enters today's game just one touchdown away from matching the program's single season record of 13 set by Mike Plichta in 2005 and his ten rushing touchdowns this year is just one shy of Mike McSharry's single season record of 11 set in 1995.

He. Could. Go. All. The. Way!: Junior Stephan Neville (Foxborough, Mass.) has matched a pair of NCAA Division II records after returning his school-record fourth kickoff return for a touchdown to seal Saturday's win at Saint Anselm. Neville, whose four TD returns have all come in the last five weeks - including each of the last two weekends, has matched the NCAA Division II single-season record for kickoffs returned for touchdowns set by Merrimack College's Andrew Jackson in 2005. Neville also matched the NCAA Division II career record of eight kickoffs returned for a score set by Winona State University's Dave Ludy from 1991-94. Neville is two kickoff returns for a score shy of the NCAA All-Divisions record of six set by Bashir Levingston from Eastern Washington University in 1998 and three shy of the NCAA All-Divisions career record of 11 held by Florida A&M's LeRoy Vann from 2006-09. Neville leads the NE-10 (2nd nationally) for the second-straight year by averaging 32.2 yards per return and surpassed teh 2,000-yard plateau for return yards on Saturday, entering today's game with 2,076 career yards on 62 returns (33.5/return). He led Division II in 2009 by averaging 36.7 per return - leading a Stonehill return corps which led NCAA Division II by averaging 26.7 yards per kickoff return.

Getting Social: Fans and media members of Stonehill athletics now have two social media outlets to get updates on all 20 varsity programs. The department launched its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stonehillskyhawks at the end of August and you can also follow @SkyhawkTalk on Twitter!

On Deck: Stonehill closes out its 2010 season next weekend when it visits rival Bentley University next Saturday at noon. Please note the new start time as the teams moved the game up an hour over the course of the season.