University of New Hampshire Athletics
Defensive tackle Elijah Lewis and Oleh Manzyk get to QB Davis Cheek just after he gets rid of the ball. (David O'Brien photo)
Photo by: Dave O'Brien
10/6/2019 3:10:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
Pressure, Pick-Sixes Lead 'Cats to Homecoming Win Over Elon
DURHAM, N.H. – Here's another way to look at what the University of New Hampshire football team's defense pulled off in its 26-10 turnover-filled triumph over Elon for a huge Homecoming win in front of a Wildcat Stadium crowd of 17,132 on Saturday.
Elon junior quarterback Davis Cheek had been intercepted exactly one time in the first 130 passes he had attempted this season. More impressively, he had thrown 240 straight passes without an interception before he had that one picked off a week ago against James Madison.
UNH grabbed three interceptions against Cheek in the first half alone and added another in the third quarter.
Best yet for the Wildcats, they ran back two of the picks for touchdowns: true freshman linebacker Oleh Manzyk had one for 55 yards and junior safety Evan Horn the other for 55 yards.
The interceptions, coupled with a fumble recovery for a grand theft total of five takeaways powered the Wildcats to a third straight win, pushing their overall record to 3-2 and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
"Turnovers themselves are going to help us win the game," Horn said. "Once you get a turnover and a touchdown the percentage of winning that game is so much higher. Things like that really spark you and then you get two. I can't imagine a team getting two defensive touchdowns and not winning the game. It was really big for us to get that today."
The turnovers and victory give UNH added momentum heading into a tough stretch of road games starting next Saturday at No. 24 Stony Brook at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats play at No. 19 Delaware on Saturday, Oct. 19.
They have the weekend after that off and then return home to face Villanova on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. for their STEM Day game. Group tickets for the Villanova game, including options that include all-you-can-eat barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents adjacent to the south end zone, are available at www.unwhildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000.
UNH scored five defensive touchdowns last year – three in the last three games of the season – to rank among the leaders in the country in that category.
The defense did not have a turnover through the first two games of this season, came up with one in their third game and a couple in their fourth and was getting eager for more, Horn said.
The defensive line and linebackers cranked up the pressure on Cheek and his offensive line – the Wildcats had six sacks on Saturday, three by Manzyk – and went to work.
"A real tribute to it was our defensive line getting to the quarterback," Horn said. "Six sacks. The whole time, I don't think he ever felt comfortable tonight. That's what we want to do to these quarterbacks."
Getting pressure, while stopping the run, was the message defensive coordinator John Lyons stressed to his team.
"I told the guys we had to play really well up front because they had had success running the ball," Lyons said. "They're very patient and they hit these little creases. . . . One thing we had to was we had to get after the quarterback. I think he's really good. I think he's very smart. I think he really understands their offense. And we just had to get him off his mark."
That they did.
No play better summed up the day than Manzyk's pick-six, set up by a charging Josh Kania, a senior defensive end who got to Cheek.
"I was in spy and I saw the quarterback slide to his left," Manzyk said. "All I saw was Kania did a great job getting off that line. I just seeing him coming like a madman. It's a sure sack. All I saw was the ball here and green grass and I just went.
Lyons loved the way the play came together.
"The thing that was nice there, we have a check when they go empty," Lyons said. "We just say the heck with it. You've got five protectors, we're rushing six guys. . . . Somebody has a direct shot at the quarterback and it was Josh this time because the tackle turned out on one of our other guys. He just shot right up in there."
Time is of the essence.
"The ball's coming out quick," Lyons said. "That's what we tell our guys. We usually say you've got eight yards and get your eyes on the quarterback. He's got to catch it, turn or he's getting smoked."
Cheek barely got that one off. Right to Manzyk.
Playing in his fifth contest as a true freshman, Manzyk had a monster game.
"As he gets more and more confident and understands things better, he's going to be a really good player," Lyons said. "He's really smart for a young kid. He can really accelerate. There were a couple of those plays that looked like he shot out of a cannon. He shot up in there. We hit him around pretty good, the quarterback."
They got the six sacks, the five turnovers, held Elon's rushing game (80 yards) in check, shut out the Phoenix from early in the second quarter on and led UNH to another win.
"I was just checking, I wanted to see how many big plays we gave up," Lyons said. "I know they hit us on one or two, but I thought the kids played really good. It was great."
The overall effort moved the Wildcats moved into the top spot in the CAA in scoring defense. They have allowed 16.6 points a game, just in front of James Madison at 16.8.
NEXT UP
HOME AGAIN
QUOTABLE
"(Max) hurt his ankle and he was banged up a little bit from last week. We felt depending on the flow of the game we wanted to get Bret in there a little bit as well. It kind of timed up perfectly for that. I was proud of Bret and how he came in and hadn't really played since week one, acclimated himself and made a big third down throw. Led the offense. It looked like he handed it off most of the time, but some of those were designed potential runs for him and he made the correct read so he did a good job. Really proud of him."
Interim head coach Ricky Santos on quarterbacks Max Brosmer and Bret Edwards
Ricky Santos
"It's good. The first two games they were what they were. We're moving along. We're not down on ourselves. We're motivated. We know we can play on this level and we can compete. It's really good. I like where we are right now."
Senior captain and running back Evan Gray
"He was tremendous. He caved in that edge the entire day and Cheek didn't have anywhere to go except step up into the rush and take some sacks."
Santos on junior defensive end Gunner Gibson
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Elon junior quarterback Davis Cheek had been intercepted exactly one time in the first 130 passes he had attempted this season. More impressively, he had thrown 240 straight passes without an interception before he had that one picked off a week ago against James Madison.
UNH grabbed three interceptions against Cheek in the first half alone and added another in the third quarter.
Best yet for the Wildcats, they ran back two of the picks for touchdowns: true freshman linebacker Oleh Manzyk had one for 55 yards and junior safety Evan Horn the other for 55 yards.
The interceptions, coupled with a fumble recovery for a grand theft total of five takeaways powered the Wildcats to a third straight win, pushing their overall record to 3-2 and 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
"Turnovers themselves are going to help us win the game," Horn said. "Once you get a turnover and a touchdown the percentage of winning that game is so much higher. Things like that really spark you and then you get two. I can't imagine a team getting two defensive touchdowns and not winning the game. It was really big for us to get that today."
The turnovers and victory give UNH added momentum heading into a tough stretch of road games starting next Saturday at No. 24 Stony Brook at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats play at No. 19 Delaware on Saturday, Oct. 19.
They have the weekend after that off and then return home to face Villanova on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. for their STEM Day game. Group tickets for the Villanova game, including options that include all-you-can-eat barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents adjacent to the south end zone, are available at www.unwhildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000.
UNH scored five defensive touchdowns last year – three in the last three games of the season – to rank among the leaders in the country in that category.
The defense did not have a turnover through the first two games of this season, came up with one in their third game and a couple in their fourth and was getting eager for more, Horn said.
The defensive line and linebackers cranked up the pressure on Cheek and his offensive line – the Wildcats had six sacks on Saturday, three by Manzyk – and went to work.
"A real tribute to it was our defensive line getting to the quarterback," Horn said. "Six sacks. The whole time, I don't think he ever felt comfortable tonight. That's what we want to do to these quarterbacks."
Getting pressure, while stopping the run, was the message defensive coordinator John Lyons stressed to his team.
"I told the guys we had to play really well up front because they had had success running the ball," Lyons said. "They're very patient and they hit these little creases. . . . One thing we had to was we had to get after the quarterback. I think he's really good. I think he's very smart. I think he really understands their offense. And we just had to get him off his mark."
That they did.
No play better summed up the day than Manzyk's pick-six, set up by a charging Josh Kania, a senior defensive end who got to Cheek.
"I was in spy and I saw the quarterback slide to his left," Manzyk said. "All I saw was Kania did a great job getting off that line. I just seeing him coming like a madman. It's a sure sack. All I saw was the ball here and green grass and I just went.
Lyons loved the way the play came together.
"The thing that was nice there, we have a check when they go empty," Lyons said. "We just say the heck with it. You've got five protectors, we're rushing six guys. . . . Somebody has a direct shot at the quarterback and it was Josh this time because the tackle turned out on one of our other guys. He just shot right up in there."
Time is of the essence.
"The ball's coming out quick," Lyons said. "That's what we tell our guys. We usually say you've got eight yards and get your eyes on the quarterback. He's got to catch it, turn or he's getting smoked."
Cheek barely got that one off. Right to Manzyk.
Playing in his fifth contest as a true freshman, Manzyk had a monster game.
"As he gets more and more confident and understands things better, he's going to be a really good player," Lyons said. "He's really smart for a young kid. He can really accelerate. There were a couple of those plays that looked like he shot out of a cannon. He shot up in there. We hit him around pretty good, the quarterback."
They got the six sacks, the five turnovers, held Elon's rushing game (80 yards) in check, shut out the Phoenix from early in the second quarter on and led UNH to another win.
"I was just checking, I wanted to see how many big plays we gave up," Lyons said. "I know they hit us on one or two, but I thought the kids played really good. It was great."
The overall effort moved the Wildcats moved into the top spot in the CAA in scoring defense. They have allowed 16.6 points a game, just in front of James Madison at 16.8.
NEXT UP
- No. 24 Stony Brook gave No. 2 James Madison all it could handle before losing 45-38 in overtime at home on Saturday night.
- The game marked Homecoming for the Seawolves.
- Stony Brook has won two straight against the Wildcats.
- The Seawolves took last year's game, 35-7, in Durham and won the year before in Stony Brook, 38-24.
- UNH's last win at Stony Brook came in 2013, 31-13.
- Stony Brook beat Bryant, 35-10, in its opener and lost its FBS game at Utah State, 62-7.
- The Seawolves then won three straight games over Wagner (26-10), Fordham (45-10) and Rhode Island (31-27) before falling to James Madison.
- Stony Brook had 436 yards of total offense on Saturday night and JMU had 547.
- The Seawolves had 318 passing yards and 118 yards on the ground.
- James Madison rushed for 329 yards.
- Redshirt freshman running back Ty Son Lawton led Stony Brook with 108 yards and three touchdowns.
- Senior wide receiver Nick Anderson had seven catches for 154 yards and a touchdown.
- Junior quarterback Tyquell Fields passed for 318 yards and a couple of scores.
- Fields has completed 65 of his 126 passes for 1,256 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions.
- Stony Brook is fifth in the league in scoring at 30.3 points a game and second in rushing at 240.2 yards a game.
HOME AGAIN
- UNH plays its next home game Saturday, Nov. 2 against Villanova in a STEM Day contest at 1 p.m.
- The program will celebrate college football's 150th anniversary with the STEM Day contest.
- A pregame science, technology, engineering and math fair will be held for kids.
- Winners of the 'Cats Got the Mouse mousetrap car race will be recognized at halftime.
- Tickets for Stem Day and all home games are available at www.unhwildcats.com and at 603-862-4000.
- The Villanova game is one of two home games remaining in the regular season.
- The Wildcats also play Maine for Senior Day in the battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.
- Individual and group tickets, with options including all you-can-eat-barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents, are available for all home games.
- Group tickets start at $9.
QUOTABLE
"(Max) hurt his ankle and he was banged up a little bit from last week. We felt depending on the flow of the game we wanted to get Bret in there a little bit as well. It kind of timed up perfectly for that. I was proud of Bret and how he came in and hadn't really played since week one, acclimated himself and made a big third down throw. Led the offense. It looked like he handed it off most of the time, but some of those were designed potential runs for him and he made the correct read so he did a good job. Really proud of him."
Interim head coach Ricky Santos on quarterbacks Max Brosmer and Bret Edwards
Ricky Santos
"It's good. The first two games they were what they were. We're moving along. We're not down on ourselves. We're motivated. We know we can play on this level and we can compete. It's really good. I like where we are right now."
Senior captain and running back Evan Gray
"He was tremendous. He caved in that edge the entire day and Cheek didn't have anywhere to go except step up into the rush and take some sacks."
Santos on junior defensive end Gunner Gibson
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Junior tight end Nick Lorden scored on a 6-yard TD pass from Brosmer for UNH's first TD.
- It was the first touchdown catch for Lorden, who has been limited by injuries, since his redshirt freshman season.
- Brosmer completed 15 of his 25 passes for 135 yards and the touchdown and was intercepted three times.
- Edwards completed two of his three passes for 12 yards and led the offense to the two field goals by junior Jason Hughes.
- Greg Liggs had all three Stony Brook interceptions.
- Hughes had the two field goals, including a 45-yarder that matched his career long.
- He has seven field goals in the last three games and nine-for-12 in field goals for the season.
- The nine field goals is the most the Wildcats have had for a season since they had 11 in 2015.
- Gray rushed 15 times for 89 yards, including a bruising 30-yard run late in the game.
- Carlos Washington Jr. had 18 carries for 73 yards.
- Gray is third in the league at 82 yards rushing a game.
- He has 45 carries for 410 yards, an average of 9.1 per carry.
- Washington is sixth in the league at 68.8 yards per game.
- True freshman receiver Griffin Helm led UNH with six catches for 56 yards.
- UNH is second in the CAA in total defense with 336.8 yards allowed per game.
- The Wildcats are third in rushing defense at 124.4 yards allowed per game.
- UNH's six turnovers in the game were its most since six in a 35-24 win over James Madison on Nov. 3 last season.
- The Wildcats returned two interceptions for touchdowns in that game, too.
- Horn had one of them on a 75-yard return.
- He had a pick-six the next week at Albany as well and has four for his career.
- Saturday's six sacks were the most since the Wildcats had seven against Albany on Nov. 10 last season.
- Senior receiver Malik Love and senior tight end Justin Malone-Woods left the game with injuries.
- Redshirt freshman Dylan Laube did not play after an injury in warmups.
- Santos was named interim head coach on Aug, 26 when it was announced that Sean McDonnell was taking a leave of absence for medical reasons.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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