ORONO- Sacred Heart scored a touchdown on three straight possessions stretching from the second quarter and into the third on Saturday afternoon, and spoiled the Coastal Athletic Association football home opener for Maine with a 24-16 win at Alfond Stadium.
In the first half, the Black Bears shuffled quarterbacks in and out between Eddie Buehler and Caden Drezek before Drezek took over for good later in the game. The offense sputtered despite given a short field twice, and settled for three field goals from Samuel Tremblay with the third one making it 9-0 with 10:17 left in the second quarter. The Pioneers would then put together two touchdown drives to take the lead for good before the break. The first one was capped off by a 3-yard run from Dean Hagey, while an 11-yard scoring pass from Jason Palmieri from Poochie Snyder with 19 seconds left made it 14-9 Sacred Heart at the half.
The guests went 75 yards on 12 plays with Brendan Errity catching a 6-yard TD from Snyder on the first possession of the third quarter. The Maine defense made a stand to start the fourth, as Bryce Purnell and Noah Carpenter (Leavitt) combined for a sack on Snyder on 4th down at the Black Bears 31 yard line to turn it over on downs. The hosts rode that momentum to get into the endzone for the only time on the day. The key play was a Drezek pass to Kenyon Concepcion, who made a great catch along the sideline for a 30 yard gain to the Sacred Heart 7. On 3rd and goal, Nick Laughlin (Cape Elizabeth) would get in for six on a 2-yard run to cut the deficit to 21-16. A 40-yard field goal from Ryan Bocklet extended the Pioneers lead back to eight with just under seven minutes left to play. Maine had two chances with the ball over the those final minutes, but would have their drives stall at the Sacred Heart 32 and 47 yard line and the second turnover on downs allowed SHU to run the clock out to pick up the road conference victory.
Snyder went 21-27 passing for 207 yards and two touchdowns in the Sacred Heart win. He was sacked four times, but also did it with his legs picking up 73 yards on 15 rush attempts. The Pioneers (2-3, 2-2 CAA) rushed for a total of 175 yards. Palmieri hauled in six receptions for 73 yards and a score, while Hangey had the rushing TD while also catching seven passes for 58 yards. Drezek finished 12-28 passing for 141 yards in the Maine loss. Rashawn Marshall had 67 yards on 13 rush attempts, while Corey Rideout led in receiving yards with three for 47. Laughlin also snagged four catches for 22 yards, while running in the lone touchdown for his team. They also struggled on 3rd down conversions again going 4-14, and is near the bottom in that category in the entire country (30-91, 32.9%). Jeremiah McGill and Sam Oppenheimer led the defense with 10 total tackles. Carpenter and Jamaree Gibson had nine total, with Carpenter also recording 1.5 sacks. Tremblay is now 8-8 on field goal attempts on the season (17-18 in his Black Bears career). Maine drops their fifth straight contest overall falling to 1-5 (1-2 in the CAA). They will have next week off before hosting Bryant on Saturday, October 17th at 1 p.m.
