Bobby Martinez – Sports Writer
NEW HAVEN — As fans filled up Jess Dow Field for the Owls men’s football homecoming game, the Owls were hawking for their fourth straight win against Stonehill College who is tied with Southern with a record of 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
The Owls on both sides of the ball have been hitting on all cylinders. Averaging 41 points on offense and 27 points allowed on defense, the Owls continued their air attack in the first half. Running back Vaughn Magee gave the Owls the first point of the game with a 6 yard run with 4:35 left in the first quarter.
Despite a defensive battle in the first quarter, it wasn’t long until the Owls continued where they left off three minutes into the second quarter scoring a touchdown. Owls full back, Michael Johnson, led the Owls a 14-0 lead with a one yard run into the end zone.
Senior wide receiver, Vito Fornarelli, was the story in the first half. Fornarelli caught six passes from senior quarterback Jacob Jablonski for 134 yards. Head coach, Rich Cavanaugh, said Fornarelli has been important to his offense this year.
“Vito is fabulous,” said Cavanaugh, “ he makes some of the best catches I’ve ever seen.”
With the Owls up 14-0, Stonehill’s quarterback Logan Meyer, connected with wide receiver Nate Robitalle for a touchdown cutting the lead to just 7. Junior wide receiver Gary Williams responded back with seven seconds remaining by receiving a deep corner pass from Jablonski. Owls headed into the half with 21-7 lead over Stonehill.
As the second half kicked off, momentum started to build for Stonehill. Four and half minutes into the third, Stonehill’s kicker Steve Grzywacz connected on a 38 yard field goal that trimmed the deficit 21-10 Owls. Before the end of the third quarter, Meyer threw his second touchdown of the day and cutting the score 21-17. The Owls offense did struggle in the third and was held scoreless heading into the fourth quarter.
Minutes into the fourth quarter, Stonehill grabbed the lead with a field goal and was up for the first time 23-21. The Owls defense began to takeover with numerous forced turnovers which gave the Owls offense the chance to capitalize.
Coach Cavanaugh said his defense has played well all season and he sees improvements day in and day out.
“ Our defense,” said Cavanaugh, “ I think our defense has played good all year and they keep getting better and better.”
With ten minutes left in the game, Jablonski came out the game due to a hand injury and backup quarterback Michael Eckrote took over. The Owls offense was shut down the entire second half and Cavanaugh said his offense didn’t finish the game strong.
“We,” said Cavanaugh, “needed to get our offense going. We needed to get something going from a momentum standpoint and we just didn’t do that and I think that hurt us.”
The Owls went on to lose 23-21 giving them a record of 3-3 and a 3-2 conference record. The Owls players didn’t speak after the game and are focusing on their next opponent is an away game will be against Assumption College at 6 pm.
Assumption is 3-3 with a conference record of 3-2. The Owls will then head back home and take on University of New Haven at Jess Dow Field at 7.p.m. University of New Haven is currently on a four game win streak and has an overall record of 5-1 and 5-0 in the conference. This will be the last home game of the season for the Owls who will then hit the road and face Bentley University followed by American International College.
