GAMEDAY CENTRAL: Stonehill and Rival Bentley Square Off in Earliest Meeting in Series History

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Week Three Game Notes (PDF)

Coach Talley Speaks at Wednesday's New England Football Writers Luncheon

Bentley Assistant Coach Sean Walsh at Wednesday's New England Football Writers Luncheon

Tickets:
$7.00 Adults
$4.00 (students & senior citizens)
12 and under are free.

The Game: One of the best small college rivalries in the country takes center stage tonight as Stonehill College hosts Bentley University for the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both at Timothy J. Coughlin (COG-lin) Memorial Field at W.B. Mason. Both teams are looking to bounce back from week two losses after winning their season openers. The Skyhawks dropped a tough 23-20 overtime decision at Pace University on Saturday, while the Falcons fell to West Virginia Wesleyan University, 28-23, in Waltham, Mass., Saturday afternoon.

Media Info: Live video of tonight'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 14th season of broadcasting the action powered by Pack Network. WSHL 91.3 FM will also be broadcasting the game with Craig Riotto and Tim Culverhouse calling the action for the radio broadcast.

The Series: Tonight marks the 26th meeting all-time between these two longtime New England football rivals. Bentley holds a 19-5-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back beyond the first varsity encounter in 1988. The Skyhawks have won two of the last three encounters despite a 27-17 setback to the Falcons in Waltham last fall. Stonehill has won the last two meetings here at W.B. Mason Stadium, including a 23-21 victory in 2009, but Bentley is 10-3-1 all-time in Easton. Head Coach Robert Talley is 2-3 in his career against the Falcons. 


Neville

Special Teams Player of the Week: Senior All-America kick returner Stephan Neville (Foxborough, Mass.) has been named the Northeast-10's Special Teams Player of the Week by the Conference office. Neville, who earns the weekly award for the first time this season (third career), set an NCAA Division II record with his ninth career kickoff return for a touchdown in Saturday's 23-20 overtime setback at Pace University. His 88-yard return for a score answered Pace's first field goal of the afternoon and gave the Skyhawks a 7-3 lead just before the end of the first quarter. He averaged 52.3 yards on his three kickoff returns and totaled 12 yards on three punt returns, while chipping in on defense with five tackles (three solo), including 0.5 for a loss of a yard and a pass breakup. Neville also earned Ace's Stonehill Male Student-Athlete of the Week honors for his efforts.

He's Honored: Junior defensive back Jareed Gaines (Lumberton, N.J.) has named to the Northeast-10 Conference's weekly honor roll for the second-straight week on Monday. He led a Skyhawks defense at Pace with a career-high matching 13 tackles (eight solo), including 1.5 for a loss of two yards, and an interception that he returned 13 yards.

He. Could. Go. All. The. Way!: Senior All-American Stephan Neville (Foxborough, Mass.) broke an NCAA Division II record with his ninth career kickoff return for a touchdown last weekend at Pace. The 88-yard return surpassed the previous record of eight set by Dave Ludy from Winona State (1991-94). Neville, who broke the record at the site of his first career return for a score against the Setters on September 13, 2008, is now just two returns for a score shy of the NCAA all-divisions record of 11 set by Florida A&M's LeRoy Vann from 2006-09. Neville ranks second in the NE-10 with 38.4 yards per return (6th nationally) through two weeks.


Meyer

Passing Fancy: Sophomore quarterback Logan Meyer (Ventura, Calif.) broke a school record with his 315 yards passing at Pace on Saturday. Meyer completed 20-of-42 passes to surpass the previous record of 314 passing yards set by Stonehill Hall of Famer Tony Dello Iacono when he completed 18-of-50 passes against Sacred Heart in 1993. Saturday marked the first 300-plus yard passing day for a Stonehill quarterback since Cruz Parsons passed for 312 yards in an overtime loss at Iona in 2008. Meyer, who leads the NE-10 in passing yards per game after his first outing of the year, enters today's game with 1,261 career passing yards - just 90 yards shy of Paul O'Keefe for ninth on the program's career passing list.

He's Blogging: Stonehill junior defensive back Mickey Miela (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) is maintaining a weekly blog for the Northeast-10 Conference on its website during the 2011 season. The website will offer an insight into life as an NE-10 football student-athlete and will appear on www.northeast10.org and www.stonehillskyhawks.com.

Coach's Corner: www.stonehillskyhawks.com, the official website of Stonehill athletics will have weekly interviews with head coach Rob Talley throughout the season. Coach Talley will recap the previous week's game every Tuesday and then there will be a preview of the coming week's game each Thursday or Friday. Each interview is approximately ten minutes long and will give fans an inside look at each game this season. There will also be regular interviews with Skyhawks student-athletes as well. 

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's Facebook page is www.facebook.com/stonehillskyhawks, and you can also follow @SkyhawkTalk on Twitter!

On Deck: The Skyhawks are home against next weekend when they host American International College on Saturday as part of Alumni Weekend festivities at 1 p.m.