University of New Hampshire Athletics
Nick Lorden (19) and Brian Espanet each had a first half touchdown catch Saturday against Maine.
11/22/2021 12:28:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
'Not the Season Anybody Envisioned for Us'
DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire football team owned all the momentum and had Maine backed up a bit early in the second quarter.
But then sophomore linebacker Oleh Manzyk went down with an injury and was taken from Wildcat Stadium by ambulance (he was treated and later released in the day for an upper body injury from a local hospital) after a long delay.
Maine immediately grabbed control of the momentum and the game and rolled on to a 33-20 win over the Wildcats in this Border Battle rivalry, collecting the Brice-Cowell Musket as its reward.
"We were right there, right there and 'Boom' they get a play," said senior captain and safety Evan Horn.
It was pretty much the story of the season, too.
"We couldn't wrap it all together this year," Horn said. "It's frustrating."
UNH started the season with consecutive wins over Stony Brook on the road, Towson at home – in Sean McDonnell's 100th Colonial Athletic Association triumph – and at Lafayette.
The Wildcats, stunningly, did not win another game.
They lost at Pittsburgh, 77-7, in their FBS game against a team that wanted to make a statement after being upset at home the week before.
They played very well, especially on defense, against No. 3 James Madison, but lost 23-21 on Homecoming.
Still, they sat 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the CAA and goals of competing for the CAA title and getting back to the FCS tournament were well within reach.
But then came a 38-21 loss at home to Dartmouth and a 24-10 defeat at Elon and 35-21 setback at Richmond and the Wildcats were down to November and championship season and there would be no run at a championship and the next playoff bid would have to wait at least another season.
In the end, UNH lost its last eight games and finished 3-8 overall, 2-6 in the CAA.
"Obviously it's not the season I envisioned for us," said senior receiver Nick Lorden, another of the team's captains. "I don't think it's the season anybody envisioned for us."
Certainly not.
The Wildcats know well the history. The 14 consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs from 2004 to 2017. The deep runs in that tournament, including making it to the semifinals in 2013 and 2014.
They embrace the expectations, savor the traditions. They desperately wanted to win Saturday and keep the musket in their locker room for another year. Instead, it headed up Interstate 95 and they will need to travel up to Orono next November in a bid to get it back.
"It hurts me knowing I came into the program that had made the playoffs 14 times in a row and we made it my true freshman year, when I didn't play, and in my redshirt freshman year we made it, but it's been downhill ever since," Horn said. "It's something I wanted to help fix this year but just wasn't able to do it."
It was a whole team issue. The Wildcats struggled putting offense, defense and special teams efforts together enough to sustain success.
That sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer, who started the last 10 games in 2019 and the team's lone game last March, was lost to a knee injury in preseason camp certainly didn't help.
There's much work to be done to get back to where things were, coach Sean McDonnell told his team after the game.
There were highlights to the season: The fast start coming off a long, COVID-caused delay, was exciting, and McDonnell's milestone win were a couple of them.
The beginning of Saturday's game, with senior Tommy Herion – who was supposed to be a grad assistant coach this year and ended up starting his first career game in the finale – chucking the ball around for touchdown passes to Lorden and Carlos Washington Jr. and Brian Espanet, with the Wildcats jumping all over Maine, brought what-could-have-been thoughts.
But then came the rest of the game.
The emergence of freshman defensive end Josiah Silver as a disruptive force as the season went on was fun to watch. He had a couple more quarterback sacks and a forced fumble against Maine, following up on his four sacks, leading to two fumbles, against Rhode Island the week before.
Silver finished with 12.5 sacks, one shy of Bryan McNally's team record for a season set in 2010. He forced five fumbles in the last three games and six for the season, which was tied for second-best at the FCS level and one short of the country's best mark.
At 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds out of Hampton, Va., Silver is a prime candidate for various postseason honors, including the Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award, presented to the top freshman in FCS.
"He had a heck of a year and the last two games he has been out of his mind," Horn said. "He'll be real good. He's a great kid and hopefully they can get on the back of him and ride it and see what happens."
Horn trusts that what happens will turn out to be okay.
"They'll be all right," he said. "They've just got to put it all together, something we weren't able to do this year."
QUOTABLE
"Obviously a tough way to end the season for us in a lot of different ways. Went out and jumped on them early. Played very, very well in the first quarter and a little bit into the second quarter and then they responded. Probably just like they responded in their whole season when they started 1-4 and bounced back the way they did. Pretty impressive what that football team did this year the way they came back."
UNH coach Sean McDonnell
"Tommy got thrown into the fire and it was an interesting situation and he attacked it. . . He's been focused all year, coaching the quarterbacks and practicing with us. Unfazed. He came in and let it fly and gave us our best opportunity to win the game."
Senior receiver Nick Lorden on Herion
"We got it going pretty well. We did some things we looked at and felt we could take advantage of on tape. We hit a couple. I thought Dylan and Carlos both had a great week or practice and it showed up in the game."
McDonnell on the running game
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
But then sophomore linebacker Oleh Manzyk went down with an injury and was taken from Wildcat Stadium by ambulance (he was treated and later released in the day for an upper body injury from a local hospital) after a long delay.
Maine immediately grabbed control of the momentum and the game and rolled on to a 33-20 win over the Wildcats in this Border Battle rivalry, collecting the Brice-Cowell Musket as its reward.
"We were right there, right there and 'Boom' they get a play," said senior captain and safety Evan Horn.
It was pretty much the story of the season, too.
"We couldn't wrap it all together this year," Horn said. "It's frustrating."
UNH started the season with consecutive wins over Stony Brook on the road, Towson at home – in Sean McDonnell's 100th Colonial Athletic Association triumph – and at Lafayette.
The Wildcats, stunningly, did not win another game.
They lost at Pittsburgh, 77-7, in their FBS game against a team that wanted to make a statement after being upset at home the week before.
They played very well, especially on defense, against No. 3 James Madison, but lost 23-21 on Homecoming.
Still, they sat 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the CAA and goals of competing for the CAA title and getting back to the FCS tournament were well within reach.
But then came a 38-21 loss at home to Dartmouth and a 24-10 defeat at Elon and 35-21 setback at Richmond and the Wildcats were down to November and championship season and there would be no run at a championship and the next playoff bid would have to wait at least another season.
In the end, UNH lost its last eight games and finished 3-8 overall, 2-6 in the CAA.
"Obviously it's not the season I envisioned for us," said senior receiver Nick Lorden, another of the team's captains. "I don't think it's the season anybody envisioned for us."
Certainly not.
The Wildcats know well the history. The 14 consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs from 2004 to 2017. The deep runs in that tournament, including making it to the semifinals in 2013 and 2014.
They embrace the expectations, savor the traditions. They desperately wanted to win Saturday and keep the musket in their locker room for another year. Instead, it headed up Interstate 95 and they will need to travel up to Orono next November in a bid to get it back.
"It hurts me knowing I came into the program that had made the playoffs 14 times in a row and we made it my true freshman year, when I didn't play, and in my redshirt freshman year we made it, but it's been downhill ever since," Horn said. "It's something I wanted to help fix this year but just wasn't able to do it."
It was a whole team issue. The Wildcats struggled putting offense, defense and special teams efforts together enough to sustain success.
That sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer, who started the last 10 games in 2019 and the team's lone game last March, was lost to a knee injury in preseason camp certainly didn't help.
There's much work to be done to get back to where things were, coach Sean McDonnell told his team after the game.
There were highlights to the season: The fast start coming off a long, COVID-caused delay, was exciting, and McDonnell's milestone win were a couple of them.
The beginning of Saturday's game, with senior Tommy Herion – who was supposed to be a grad assistant coach this year and ended up starting his first career game in the finale – chucking the ball around for touchdown passes to Lorden and Carlos Washington Jr. and Brian Espanet, with the Wildcats jumping all over Maine, brought what-could-have-been thoughts.
But then came the rest of the game.
The emergence of freshman defensive end Josiah Silver as a disruptive force as the season went on was fun to watch. He had a couple more quarterback sacks and a forced fumble against Maine, following up on his four sacks, leading to two fumbles, against Rhode Island the week before.
Silver finished with 12.5 sacks, one shy of Bryan McNally's team record for a season set in 2010. He forced five fumbles in the last three games and six for the season, which was tied for second-best at the FCS level and one short of the country's best mark.
At 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds out of Hampton, Va., Silver is a prime candidate for various postseason honors, including the Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award, presented to the top freshman in FCS.
"He had a heck of a year and the last two games he has been out of his mind," Horn said. "He'll be real good. He's a great kid and hopefully they can get on the back of him and ride it and see what happens."
Horn trusts that what happens will turn out to be okay.
"They'll be all right," he said. "They've just got to put it all together, something we weren't able to do this year."
QUOTABLE
"Obviously a tough way to end the season for us in a lot of different ways. Went out and jumped on them early. Played very, very well in the first quarter and a little bit into the second quarter and then they responded. Probably just like they responded in their whole season when they started 1-4 and bounced back the way they did. Pretty impressive what that football team did this year the way they came back."
UNH coach Sean McDonnell
"Tommy got thrown into the fire and it was an interesting situation and he attacked it. . . He's been focused all year, coaching the quarterbacks and practicing with us. Unfazed. He came in and let it fly and gave us our best opportunity to win the game."
Senior receiver Nick Lorden on Herion
"We got it going pretty well. We did some things we looked at and felt we could take advantage of on tape. We hit a couple. I thought Dylan and Carlos both had a great week or practice and it showed up in the game."
McDonnell on the running game
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Silver led the Wildcats in tackles with 80.
- His 1.1 sacks per game ranked sixth in the country.
- He was one of only two freshmen who were in the top 30 in sacks.
- The other freshman had 10.5 sacks to Silver's 12.5.
- Silver had 20.5 tackles for a loss.
- Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury led the team with three interceptions.
- He was fourth in tackles with 62.
- Redshirt freshman linebacker Ryan Toscano was second on the team with 67 tackles.
- Sophomore linebacker Bryce Shaw had 65.
- Horn, senior safety Pop Bush and sophomore defensive back Randall Harris had two interceptions each.
- Junior defensive end Gunner Gibson had two sacks against Maine and finished the season with 10 tackles for a loss and seven sacks.
- Sophomore Dylan Laube led the CAA with 47.4 all-purpose yards per game.
- Washington carried nine times for 101 yards against Maine.
- Laube carried 11 times for 100.
- It was the first time the Wildcats had two 100-yard rushers in a game since Towson on Oct. 21, 2017.
- UNH's 238 yards rushing against Maine was its best total of the season.
- Washington had 547 rushing yards for the season, averaging 4.7 yards per carry with one rushing touchdown.
- Laube averaged 6.3 a carry with 501 yards and four rushing scores.
- Espanet had 34 catches for 454 yards and seven touchdowns.
- Junior Sean Coyne caught 35 passes for 324 yards and three scores.
- Sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards was injured and did not dress for the Maine game.
- He completed 62.3 percent of his passes for 1,565 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions.
- Redshirt freshman punter Aidan Cadogan was second in the CAA with a 41.12-yard average on his 43 punts.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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