First Time For Everything: Big Plays, Defense Spark First-Ever Win Over C.W. Post
Brookville, N.Y. - In the previous 10 meetings between Stonehill and C.W. Post, the Pioneers were undefeated, holding a 334-92 scoring advantage. Saturday, the Skyhawks started a streak of their own, taking advantage of two lost Pioneer fumbles en route to a 12-7 win at Hickox Field, the first-ever win over its Northeast-10 rival.
Sophomore wideout David Pringle (West Haven, Conn.) hauled in a 54-yard touchdown pass from Cruz Parsons (Signal Hill, Calif.) early in the second quarter and Parsons and J.J. Niamkey (Quincy, Mass.) hooked up on a 24-yard scoring strike six minutes later to give the Skyhawks all the scoring they would need.
Midway through the third, the game tightened with a 1-yard plunge from the Pioneers' Anthony Lazarus, but on their next two possessions, the Stonehill defense denied the C.W. Post offense on fourth down deep in Skyhawk territory. On the first of those possessions, Sean Donahue (Plymouth, N.H.) stopped Joe Dickson three yards short on fourth down. On the following possession, Post advanced to the Skyhawk 20 before Mike DeBye (Burlington, Mass.) dropped Josh Amaro for a three-yard loss setting up a fourth down and long that wasn't converted.
The Pioneers had their chances to take the lead early on, but a field goal attempt was blocked by Chris Palmer (Santa Barbara, Calif.), and after driving the length of the field following Donahue's first missed field goal of the season, Kevin Deane (Brockton, Mass.) forced and recovered a fumble in the Skyhawk redzone. Stonehill capitalized, when after four straight runs, Parsons connected with Pringle for 15 yards and then the scoring play on the next snap.
The second Skyhawk scoring drive was a mix of pass and run, including a key 16-yard completion by Parsons to Jeremy Roberts (Topsfield, Mass.) on third and four and a 12-yard run by freshman Eddie Vachon (Newton, Mass.). On the next play, Parsons found Niamkey for his third touchdown catch in the past two contests.
Parsons was extremely efficient under center, going 10-for-15 for 200 yards with two touchdowns on a day when Stonehill failed to get its running game untracked (42 carries, 74 yards). Vachon led the Stonehill ground game with 51 yards on 17 carries, while Jeffery Payne (West Haven, Conn.) added 33 more.
A week after Niamkey became the first wide receiver since Mike Plichta in 2005 to go over the century mark, Pringle grabbed five balls for 128 yards.
C.W. Post outgained Stonehill by a 429-274 margin, including a 179-67 edge in the second half, but they were victimized by a pair of lost fumbles and a 1-for-4 performance inside the red zone.
DeBye led a trio of Skyhawks with double-digit tackles, posting 15 stops, 12 of them solo. He added a sack, a pass breakup and four tackles for loss. Jeff Cuqua (Walpole, Mass.) had 11 tackles, while Chris Regan (Hanson, Mass.) had his second straight stellar performance, this time collecting 10 stops.
The win marks only the second time in the program's 20-year history that they have started a season 3-0 overall and Robert Talley becomes the first Skyhawk football coach to start a career win more than two straight wins. The three consecutive wins are the most in a row for Stonehill since a six game stretch in 1996.
Stonehill will step out of Conference play next week when it hosts Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) Iona at 7 p.m. on Saturday at W.B. Mason Stadium.