University of New Hampshire Athletics
Nelson Thomas (34) and the Wildcats celebrate a winning field by Jason Hughes. (Andrew Yourell photo)
9/22/2019 2:38:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
'Cats Get 1st Victory, Family Weekend Test up Next
DURHAM, N.H. – All of a 14-point fourth quarter lead was now gone and the University of New Hampshire football team had exactly 90 seconds to hustle and keep its Saturday night home and Colonial Athletic Association-opening game against the University of Rhode Island from going to overtime.
No problem.
True freshman quarterback Max Brosmer, playing in his third collegiate game after making his second collegiate start, calmly marched the team down the field to set up a 29-yard field goal by junior Jason Hughes for a 27-24 triumph.
Watch Postgame Video Recap with Natalie Noury
The Wildcats stormed the field and celebrated their first win of the season, the first victory for interim head coach Ricky Santos and the team's 14th win in its last 15 home openers in front of a crowd of 7,519.
"That was an incredible win," Santos said in his post-game press conference. "I thought the fortitude and the resilience of our team was unbelievable."
UNH, paced by a balanced offense that produced 229 rushing yards and 413 yards overall, improved its record in Wildcat Stadium to 14-5.
Santos liked the resiliency his team showed in its first two games, but the end results were losses at Holy Cross and Florida International University.
He absolutely loved the resiliency this time around with the bonus that the Wildcats were able to close out the game with a win.
UNH will seek to ride the momentum from the dramatic victory – its first decided by a field goal in 17 years – into a game against Duquesne University out of Pittsburgh on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Wildcat Stadium (1 p.m., NBC Sports Boston).
Duquesne is the second of three straight homes game and marks Family Weekend at UNH. Group tickets, with options including all you-can-eat-barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents, are available by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000. Group tickets for the game start at $9.
Redshirt freshman Dylan Laube set up the final drive with a 27-yard kickoff return, giving UNH a first down on its own 28-yard line with 1:25 to go.
Brosmer had one goal.
"I said I'm going to trust Hughesie here and I'm going to get the ball down the field no matter what," Brosmer said. "Whatever happens here, the ball has to be down the field in field goal range and I'm going to trust Hughesie and what he can do with his leg."
Facing a 3rd down with four yards to go for a first, Brosmer ran and got it. On the next play, he hit Brian Espanet with a long pass down the middle and the sophomore spun and fought for a few extra yards.
"That was a great call (by the coaches)," Brosmer said. "I was really hoping we were going to call something down the middle of the field because they were playing cover two and cover four, which is two high safeties. Brian got to a really good spot and made an unbelievable catch. I threw it a little behind him. He saved the drive."
UNH was on the Rhode Island 17 and the Rams called a timeout. Brosmer picked up six yards on a keeper to get a little closer. He carried again to the middle for better field position.
Three seconds remained and UNH took another timeout and sent Hughes and the field goal team out.
There was a lot of trust going around.
"You're trying to block out the noise," Hughes said. "Can't do it without everybody else. You've got to trust that everyone's going to do his job. The line, the center, the hold. You've just got to trust them."
Rhode Island called another timeout in an attempt to "ice" the kicker and get him off his game.
"You stay focused," Hughes said. "Can't lose focus. Can't let that effect you. You've got to stay locked in and trust everything."
Hughes put his kick through the uprights. Celebration on.
It was the first final seconds field goal for a Wildcat win since Connor McCormick beat Richmond, 20-19, with a 27-yarder with 16 seconds left on Oct. 12, 2002.
Brosmer completed 12 of his 23 passes in the game for 184 yards and a pair of scores and also ran for his first TD.
The first touchdown pass was to senior Malik Love and came on the second play of the game and covered 78 yards.
Brosmer made it 14-0 UNH when he faked a handoff and ran two yards for a score in the second quarter. Espanet made a nice catch in the left corner of the end zone for a 2-yard TD on a 4th and goal in the third quarter.
That made it 21-7 with 9:09 left in the third. URI's A.J. Carrick and Hughes, from 34 yards, traded field goals and it was 24-10 just 37 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Rams rallied from there.
Brosmer, Hughes and the Wildcats had time to finish.
Senior Evan Gray led the potent UNH ground attack, with his 100-plus yard game as a Wildcat.
"Third week in a row that our offensive line has done a tremendous job leading from the front," Santos said. "Those guys were unbelievable. They were blowing holes open all day. That's a very senior laden, competitive defense that we went against and they were pressuring us and blitzing us and we did a great job finding gaps and really giving our playmaking guys at the running back position a chance to get into the second level. You look at the stats here and we were 35 carries 229 yards. If we can do that consistently, continue to get Max and our young quarterbacks up to speed, we have a chance to be pretty special."
NEXT UP
HOME SWEET HOME
QUOTABLE
"As far as the defense went tonight, those three are as talented at receiver as we're going to see at this level. Aaron Parker, that kid is going to play on Sundays. We're a team that likes to pressure. We like to play man coverage so we put our safeties and corners on islands all day. That's a trust we have in our guys to make plays. Kudos to them for making some plays and ultimately we made the stops when we needed to."
Interim head coach Ricky Santos
"It's always hard to get the first one. I think this is going to give us a ton of momentum going into Duquesne."
Ricky Santos
"I came here was a kicker and receiver. Things happen and the opportunity presented itself for me to become the kicker and I took it. The main reason I love kicking here is the whole team. They support you no matter what. You miss one, they say get the next one. It's just the atmosphere really that keeps me going and I love it."
Junior kicker Jason Hughes
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
No problem.
True freshman quarterback Max Brosmer, playing in his third collegiate game after making his second collegiate start, calmly marched the team down the field to set up a 29-yard field goal by junior Jason Hughes for a 27-24 triumph.
Watch Postgame Video Recap with Natalie Noury
The Wildcats stormed the field and celebrated their first win of the season, the first victory for interim head coach Ricky Santos and the team's 14th win in its last 15 home openers in front of a crowd of 7,519.
"That was an incredible win," Santos said in his post-game press conference. "I thought the fortitude and the resilience of our team was unbelievable."
UNH, paced by a balanced offense that produced 229 rushing yards and 413 yards overall, improved its record in Wildcat Stadium to 14-5.
Santos liked the resiliency his team showed in its first two games, but the end results were losses at Holy Cross and Florida International University.
He absolutely loved the resiliency this time around with the bonus that the Wildcats were able to close out the game with a win.
UNH will seek to ride the momentum from the dramatic victory – its first decided by a field goal in 17 years – into a game against Duquesne University out of Pittsburgh on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Wildcat Stadium (1 p.m., NBC Sports Boston).
Duquesne is the second of three straight homes game and marks Family Weekend at UNH. Group tickets, with options including all you-can-eat-barbecue seating in the Touchdown Tents, are available by CLICKING HERE or by calling 603-862-4000. Group tickets for the game start at $9.
Redshirt freshman Dylan Laube set up the final drive with a 27-yard kickoff return, giving UNH a first down on its own 28-yard line with 1:25 to go.
Brosmer had one goal.
"I said I'm going to trust Hughesie here and I'm going to get the ball down the field no matter what," Brosmer said. "Whatever happens here, the ball has to be down the field in field goal range and I'm going to trust Hughesie and what he can do with his leg."
Facing a 3rd down with four yards to go for a first, Brosmer ran and got it. On the next play, he hit Brian Espanet with a long pass down the middle and the sophomore spun and fought for a few extra yards.
"That was a great call (by the coaches)," Brosmer said. "I was really hoping we were going to call something down the middle of the field because they were playing cover two and cover four, which is two high safeties. Brian got to a really good spot and made an unbelievable catch. I threw it a little behind him. He saved the drive."
UNH was on the Rhode Island 17 and the Rams called a timeout. Brosmer picked up six yards on a keeper to get a little closer. He carried again to the middle for better field position.
Three seconds remained and UNH took another timeout and sent Hughes and the field goal team out.
There was a lot of trust going around.
"You're trying to block out the noise," Hughes said. "Can't do it without everybody else. You've got to trust that everyone's going to do his job. The line, the center, the hold. You've just got to trust them."
Rhode Island called another timeout in an attempt to "ice" the kicker and get him off his game.
"You stay focused," Hughes said. "Can't lose focus. Can't let that effect you. You've got to stay locked in and trust everything."
Hughes put his kick through the uprights. Celebration on.
It was the first final seconds field goal for a Wildcat win since Connor McCormick beat Richmond, 20-19, with a 27-yarder with 16 seconds left on Oct. 12, 2002.
Brosmer completed 12 of his 23 passes in the game for 184 yards and a pair of scores and also ran for his first TD.
The first touchdown pass was to senior Malik Love and came on the second play of the game and covered 78 yards.
Brosmer made it 14-0 UNH when he faked a handoff and ran two yards for a score in the second quarter. Espanet made a nice catch in the left corner of the end zone for a 2-yard TD on a 4th and goal in the third quarter.
That made it 21-7 with 9:09 left in the third. URI's A.J. Carrick and Hughes, from 34 yards, traded field goals and it was 24-10 just 37 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Rams rallied from there.
Brosmer, Hughes and the Wildcats had time to finish.
Senior Evan Gray led the potent UNH ground attack, with his 100-plus yard game as a Wildcat.
"Third week in a row that our offensive line has done a tremendous job leading from the front," Santos said. "Those guys were unbelievable. They were blowing holes open all day. That's a very senior laden, competitive defense that we went against and they were pressuring us and blitzing us and we did a great job finding gaps and really giving our playmaking guys at the running back position a chance to get into the second level. You look at the stats here and we were 35 carries 229 yards. If we can do that consistently, continue to get Max and our young quarterbacks up to speed, we have a chance to be pretty special."
NEXT UP
- UNH has never played Duquesne in football.
- The Dukes play in the Northeast Conference.
- There will be $1 hot dogs for sale at concession stands and the first 500 UNH students will receive an exclusive UNH t-shirt courtesy of The Cottages of Durham.
- The Dukes improved to 2-1 with a 35-31 win at Dayton on Saturday.
- Mark Allen, a 5-foot-7 and 185-pounder, carried 30 times for 168 yards and a pair of scores Saturday.
- Allen is a grad transfer from Penn State where he played a couple of seasons behind New York Giants star Saquon Barkley.
- Senior running back A.J. Hines is on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award that goes to the best offensive player in the FCS.
- Hines carried 28 times for 140 yards and two scores in Duquesne's first two games.
- He did not play against Dayton.
- The Dukes beat Div. 2 Walsh, 44-3, in their opener and fell at Youngstown State, 34-14, on Sept. 14.
- Duquesne finished 9-4 overall last season and was 5-1 in the Northeast Conference to win a share of its fifth title.
HOME SWEET HOME
- The Duquesne game is the second of three straight home contests for UNH.
- The Wildcats play their Homecoming game against Elon on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 3:30 p.m.
- Group tickets starting at $9 are available for all UNH home games at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling 603-862-4000.
- Group ticket options include all-you-can-eat-barbecue end zone seating in the Touchdown Tents.
- Halftime at the Homecoming game against Elon will be presented by Dr. Pepper and will include a contest in which students can compete for tuition money.
- UNH's other home games are against Villanova for STEM Day on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. and against Maine for Senior Day and the battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.
QUOTABLE
"As far as the defense went tonight, those three are as talented at receiver as we're going to see at this level. Aaron Parker, that kid is going to play on Sundays. We're a team that likes to pressure. We like to play man coverage so we put our safeties and corners on islands all day. That's a trust we have in our guys to make plays. Kudos to them for making some plays and ultimately we made the stops when we needed to."
Interim head coach Ricky Santos
"It's always hard to get the first one. I think this is going to give us a ton of momentum going into Duquesne."
Ricky Santos
"I came here was a kicker and receiver. Things happen and the opportunity presented itself for me to become the kicker and I took it. The main reason I love kicking here is the whole team. They support you no matter what. You miss one, they say get the next one. It's just the atmosphere really that keeps me going and I love it."
Junior kicker Jason Hughes
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Santos was named interim head coach when Sean McDonnell announced Aug. 26 that he was taking a leave of absence to deal with a medical issue.
- Turns out Brosmer is not the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Wildcats.
- Jeff Allen earned the starting job as a freshman midway through the 1974 season and proceeded to have a record-breaking career.
- On Saturday, the Wildcats had 229 yards rushing.
- They rushed for over 200 yards twice last season.
- They were over 100 yards only once in the first seven games a year ago.
- Last year, UNH was 10th in the CAA at 108.3 yards per game rushing.
- The Wildcats are sixth in the league at 179.7 yards rushing a game so far.
- UNH is tied for the lead in the CAA in least sacks allowed with two through three games.
- URI had one sack.
- Senior Jeff Carter, juniors Jack Carroll and Matt Mascia and sophomores Patrick Flynn and Riley Burns again started on the offensive line.
- UNH had 413 yards of offense Saturday.
- The Wildcats were called for two penalties for 14 yards.
- They were called for 7.5 penalties for 64.5 yards per game in the first two contests.
- Hughes has made four of his five field goals this season with a long of 41 yards.
- He made his last three field goals last year.
- Senior cornerback Prince Smith, Jr. had a career-high 13 tackles.
- Sophomore safety Pop Bush came up with the defense's first takeaway of the season.
- He returned his third quarter interception 29 yards to set up the first field goal by Hughes in the fourth quarter.
- True freshman linebacker Oleh Manzyk, making his second start, had 2.5 tackles for loss, one of UNH's two quarterback sacks and seven tackles.
- Junior safety Evan Horn had the other sack among his nine tackles.
- Senior linebacker Cameron Brusko and Bush each had eight tackles.
- Laube is fourth in the CAA in all-purpose yards with 135 per game.
- URI's Aaron Parker had nine catches for 144 yards and Isaiah Carter had 10 catches for 105 yards.
- Vito Priore completed 28 of his 38 passes for 312 yards with one interception and one touchdown.
- The Rams had 432 total yards of offense.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
S
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
WR
/ Football
OL
/ Football
RB
/ Football
S
/ Football
K/P
/ Football
RB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
OL
/ FootballSaturday, October 17
Sunday, October 04
Saturday, September 19
Sunday, September 13