Football beats AIC in Friday Night Clash

By Matt Cain

Contributor

photo | Carly Russell
Football team enters the field vs AIC led by tight end Jack Hennessy, a junior.

The Owls defeated the American International College, AIC, Yellow Jackets 35-21 with their dynamic offensive weapons.

Quarterback Keith Ridley Jr., a graduate student, racked up 194 passing yards and connected with three different receivers. Ridley also matched his career high in touchdowns with four.

The Owls also showed off their unique and powerful run game, using three running backs throughout the game. E’Lijah Gray, a senior, led all running backs with 132 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Following Gray would be Kieran Falzon, a sophomore, with 49 yards and Shawn Martin, a senior, with nine yards.

This is the first time the Owls used three of their running backs effectively. The Yellow Jackets had no answer for the powerful run game that the Owls displayed. Offensive Coordinator John Weiss threw the Yellow Jacket defense off its game and exploited the holes in the run game.

“When the gameplan calls for heavy run, we run. It calls for heavy pass, we pass,” Coach Weiss said. “Whatever is necessary to win the game and get us the win, we will do.”

With the Owls jumping out to the early lead, the defense played a big factor in the win. Keeping the AIC offense contained had a lot to do with the pass rush from the Owls.

Linebacker Joe DiGello, a senior, and defensive end Youseff Gamel, a senior, put pressure on the opposing quarterback, making him run out of the pocket and forcing an interception early in the game.

“Our defense did well last week. This week, they showed up, but there are still some things we need to clean up,” Head Coach Tom Godek said.

Godek was happy with the defense but was not satisfied. The Owls racked up two penalties on the defensive side of the ball in the second half. Luckily for the Owls, this did not slow down the momentum, as they scored 14 points in the third quarter.

This game will not be counted as a conference matchup.

In NE10 football, each team will play one other NE10 team twice in the season. The Owls will see AIC again later in the year.

The Yellow Jackets and SCSU have been a rivalry for some time, in fact the longest-running rivalry in both schools’ history.

The Owls know the task at hand when facing the Yellow Jackets. This game was different because of the new defensive coordinator the Yellow Jackets picked up in the offseason. With the new coordinator not having enough film to study, the Owls came in with a gameplan set.

“They showed a lot of switches throughout the game. We did a good job of capitalizing on that,” Ridley said.

This win put the Owls at 1-1 and built momentum into their next game against Bentley University which will be the first conference game of the season. The Owls showed chemistry and leadership on the field.

The next game will be the same it will also be under the Friday Night Lights.