By Julian Markese
Sports Editor
After their comeback victory against Pace University, the football team returned home to face the Hawks of Saint Anselm College on Saturday, Oct. 25. Saint Anselm was riding a four-game win streak.
The five previous matchups between the two teams were all decided by one score. The Owls put a stop to the Hawks’ win streak and won by a large margin. The final score was 37-13.
“We rallied together. We played as one,” linebacker Cooper Dayton, a graduate, said. “It was a phenomenal performance by everyone.”
The game was frenetic to start. The teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter.
Quarterback John Giller, a freshman, took a deep drop, then one hitch, before throwing on a rope to wide receiver Divine Edwards, a senior, for a 57-yard touchdown.
The Hawks responded with a touchdown pass of their own. The Owls blocked the extra point, their sixth blocked extra point of the season, leaving Saint Anselm with 13 points in the first quarter.
The 13 points were the only points Saint Anselm scored all day. From the second quarter on, the Owls’ defense was impenetrable.
“Around the second quarter, we knew they didn’t really want to play,” Dayton said. “We had to keep the pressure going, and we did.”
Offensively, the pressure man was running back Kieran Falzon, a junior. With the Owls still trailing in the second quarter, Falzon burst through the line and ran for 33 yards up the middle to set up first and goal.
Falzon’s run allowed Giller to throw for his second touchdown pass. From an empty set, with the defense expecting a run, Giller faded to his right and threw a jump pass to wide receiver Seth Westover, a senior.
The extra point gave the Owls a lead that they would not give up.
The rest of the game was ruled and defined by Falzon. Before the half was over, Falzon found paydirt. He ran five straight times inside the 20, finally plunging home on a one-yard run.
“We are a great rushing team. We believe that the best way to win a game is on the ground,” Offensive Coordinator John Weiss said. “The guys put that into action today.”
Linebacker LaRawn Robinson, a freshman, ignited the crowd and his teammates and punctuated the Owls’ first half effort with the hardest hit of the game. He finished with a team-high seven tackles.
“It was a phenomenal game by him,” Dayton said. “The young buck really stepped up.”
After a field goal, the Owls led 24-13 at halftime. The Owls stifled the Hawks’ offense to start the second, then turned back to Falzon.
On just their second offensive play of the half, Falzon cut through the defensive line and galloped untouched for a 53-yard touchdown, giving the Owls an 18-point lead.
“It’s a beautiful feeling to be able to run through and score touchdowns,” Falzon said. “I just want to thank the offensive line.”
It was part of a career day for Falzon. He finished with 204 yards on the ground, a personal best for him, and the most by an Owls running back since last season.
Falzon is in his third season with the team, but this year has been his first chance to lead the backfield. After an injury to fellow running back John Amaning, a graduate, Falzon has dominated. He rarely left the field against both Pace and Saint Anselm.
“He’s a great kid and a hard worker. He has waited his turn over the last couple years, but he’s had this ability since he’s been here,” Weiss said.
Feeling pressure, the Hawks turned away from their run game. They were plagued by penalties, dropped snaps and general miscues.
They muffed a punt in the third, which was recovered by defensive back Jason Hunt, a junior, and the Owls capitalized quickly.
With the entirety of the Hawks defense cued in on Falzon, Giller’s fakes were highly effective. Giller was able to find running room himself, scampering for 17 yards down to the goal line, which set up Falzon to score his third touchdown of the game.
Falzon’s touchdown made the final score 37-13.
Giller finished with over 100 yards both in the air and on the ground. It was his second win as the starting quarterback of the Owls.
In the fourth, defensive end Joe Garbowski, a graduate, squeezed the last dying breaths out of the Saint Anselm offense. He sacked the quarterback and rightfully blew a kiss to the crowd.
The Owls sustained a seven-minute drive to salt away the game.
“We put our heart and soul on the field every day, and we battle. And today, that battle took us to win,” Falzon said.
The win positions the Owls well in the NE10. They currently sit third in the standings. Their next test comes Saturday, Nov. 1 against Assumption University, who leads the conference with a 5-0 record.
A win against Assumption would put the Owls in clear contention for the NE10 title.
“Coach talks about playing meaningful games at the end of the season,” Weiss said. “They just keep getting more and more meaningful.”
