Game 8 Report: Tale of a Second-Half Surge

Dylan Laube's two TD catches from Max Brosmer led UNH past No. 11 Villanova on Saturday.

Dylan Laube's two touchdown catches from Max Bromser led UNH past No. 11 Villanova On Saturday. (Dave O'Brien photo)

11/3/2019 4:30:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider

'Cats Notch an Upset, Play at No. 2 JMU on Saturday

By: Allen Lessels

DURHAM, N.H. – The first half was rough.

The University of New Hampshire football team opened Saturday's game against No. 11 Villanova in Wildcat Stadium with a nice scoring drive, but things went sour from there.

By halftime, the home team appeared to be in big trouble in a game it desperately needed to win.

But some adjustments during the break – both in scheme and attitude – turned the game around and UNH roared back for a 28-20 triumph, setting up another huge game, this one at No. 2 James Madison University on Saturday at 3:30 in Harrisonburg, Va.

The Wildcats are 5-3 overall and have a 4-1 record in the Colonial Athletic Association. James Madison, which did not play this weekend, has won eight straight games and is 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the CAA.

UNH is down to its last three regular season games. The Wildcats play at Albany on Saturday, Nov. 16 and then return home to close out the regular season with a Senior Day Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, against Maine for the Brice-Cowell Musket on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.

Individual and group tickets, with options featuring all-you-can-eat barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents adjacent to the south end zone of Wildcat Stadium, are available for the Maine game by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000. Group tickets start at $9.

Interim head coach Ricky Santos, none too happy with how the first half played out against Villanova, sprinted off the field when it ended.

The visitors led 20-7 at the break and were receiving the ball to open the second. UNH had not trailed by more than three points at the half in any game this season and had not been behind at the half at all since the second game of the season.

One of the few bright spots was that an interception in the end zone late by junior safety Evan Horn had kept the margin from being even greater.

The Wildcat coaching staff had some work to do on tweaking its game-plans for the second half and Santos had a message to send.

"It was more challenging the guys," Santos said. "Are we really going to let them come into our place and play harder than us? Nobody in the locker room was going to allow that to happen. They all looked me in the eye and were like, we're going to go for it, we're going to forge this thing ahead and going to compete our butts off, and that's what we did."

There were a few X's and O's thrown in as well.

"We just decided to pound the rock and as an O-line, we love that," said junior offensive lineman Jack Carroll. "That got us going."

Sophomore Carlos Washington Jr. broke away for a 31-yard scoring run- after a couple of 15-yard passes by freshman quarterback Max Brosmer had moved the chains – and the Wildcats were on their way.

The defense adjusted, too.

"They did a really good job in the first half showing us things we hadn't seen them do before," said defensive coordinator John Lyons. "It was like we were one step behind them. We were always trying to catch up to them and fix things that were causing us problems. At halftime we were able to try to come with a decent plan for something we hadn't prepared for at all. It's hard. It's really hard. We kept talking about it, but there's a lot of stuff going on. We were just able to finally settle our kids down and then made a couple of adjustments."

Those tweaks were delivered with a message as well.

"You've got to fix things," Lyons said. "But it was more, this is what they're doing This is what we've got to do. And then it's, C'mon, man. Let's start playing. Guys have got to make plays. Nobody was making any plays in the first half. We were catching. We were back on our heels."

The first series to open the second half was crucial. Junior defensive tackle Elijah Lewis stuffed a running back for a loss of three yards. Villanova gained 12 yards on a pass play and it was 3^rd and 1. Lewis again came up with a big stop for no gain and Villanova had to punt.

"I think we got a little bit of confidence and we started going after them and we started believing we could do it," Lyons said.

The offense, mixing run and pass plays, turned that possession into Washington's touchdown run.

Another defensive stop and another offensive drive set up a Brosmer pass to redshirt freshman running back Dylan Laube that resulted in a 31-yard touchdown for the lead.

Brosmer and Laube struck again in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.

Brosmer completed 25 of his 32 passes for 276 yards and three scores with career days in completions, yardage and TDs.

The defense tossed a second half shutout and overall the Wildcats had their fifth win in their last six games and kept their playoff hopes alive and well.

Winning their last three games would assure UNH of a spot in the playoffs. Two wins would give the Wildcats a strong case for an at-large bid.

For this week, James Madison will be plenty to worry about.

NEXT UP

James Madison had a bye this weekend.
The Dukes lost their opener to FBS school West Virginia, 20-13.
They have won their last eight games.
The are 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the CAA.
They beat Towson, 27-10, in their last game on Oct. 26.
UNH beat No. 3 James Madison, 35-24, last year in Durham on Nov. 3.
The Wildcats had six takeaways and scored two defensive touchdowns in that game.

HOME AGAIN

UNH's final regular season home game is Saturday, Nov. 23 vs Maine at 1 p.m.
Individual and group tickets, with options including all you-can-eat-barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents, are available for the Maine game at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000.
Group tickets start at $9.
The Maine game marks Senior Day and the battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket.
The Border Battle of UNH vs. Maine is presented this year by Buffalo Wild Wings.
Buffalo Wild Wings steps up to make sure Wildcat fans have the ultimate place to watch the games, eat wings, and get rewarded at select New Hampshire restaurants when the Wildcats win.
Visit UNHWildcats.com/borderbattle for details and participating locations.

QUOTABLE

"These two guys up here (Max Brosmer and Evan Horn) played great all night. Really proud of Max. Having the (interception) right before the half, that goes one of two ways. You can take that and it can affect you for the second half. Or you can internalize it and you use it as fuel: 'That's not going to stop me. I'm going to use make some plays.' He did a great job putting us in the end zone in the second half."

                                                                     Interim head coach Ricky Santos

"It was completely erased out of my head. It happens. I made a bad throw. I didn't want to sulk on it and have it effect my second half. I knew my team needed me, too."

                             Brosmer on an interception late in the first half

"I think the receivers did an amazing job. It looks like that's the highest percentage of completions we've had, the most yards and the most touchdown passes. I think they did a great job of making contested catches. That's a really good defense, a really good secondary. They blitzed us from all different angles. You've got to give credit to the offensive line. They hung tough all day. Max hung in there and made some really, really good throws. I think if we can continue to do that and be balanced in the run game as well, I think it's going to bode well for some success down the road."

                                                                        Ricky Santos


UNH BY THE NUMBERS

James Madison leads the CAA with a 5-0 record in league play.
UNH and Richmond are at 4-1.
UAlbany is at 3-2 in the league and 5-4 overall.
UNH is second in the league in scoring defense at 16.6 points allowed per game.
James Madison is right behind at 16.9.
Villanova came in averaging 203.2 yards rushing a game. It had 90 on Saturday.
Horn's two interceptions Saturday give him a team-leading four for the season.
It was the first time in his career with two interceptions in a game.
Senior cornerback Prince Smith Jr. has three picks.
Horn and Smith each have 11 career interceptions.
Washington leads the team with three rushing touchdowns.
Laube has three passing touchdowns and one rushing TD.
Sophomore Brian Espanet caught a 15-yard pass from Brosmer to open the scoring on UNH's first drive.
Espanet had four catches for 79 yards Saturday.
He has 20 catches for 288 yards this season.
Five of his catches have been for scores.
Senior Malik Love had seven catches for 60 yards Saturday.
He leads the team with 29 catches for 345 yards.
Six players have 15 or more catches.
James Madison quarterback Ben DiNucci has thrown for 15 touchdowns with four interceptions.
JMU leads the league in scoring at 38.9 points per game.
UNH is 12^th at 20.1 points a game.
Laube is fourth in the league in all-purpose yards at 120.9 per game.
Horn leads the Wildcats with 51 tackles. Sophomore safety Pop Bush is right behind with 50 and Smith has 45.
Sophomore defensive end Gunner Gibson leads the team in tackles for loss with eight and has 3.5 sacks.
Freshman linebacker Oleh Manzyk leads in sacks with four.
Junior Jason Hughes is second in the league in field goals per game with 1.5.
His 12 field goals are the most for a Wildcat since Mike MacArthur was 15-for-20 in 2013.
UNH's record for a season is 18 by Tom Manning in 2009.
Santos was named interim head coach when Sean McDonnell announced on Aug. 26 he was taking a leave of absence to deal with health issues.