University of New Hampshire Athletics
The defense closes in on UAlbany's Karl Mofor on Saturday.
Game 9 Report: Building Back
11/7/2021 3:03:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
'Cats Hope to Ride Momentum from Late Rally into URI
ALBANY, N.Y. – A couple of consecutive drives by the UAlbany football team – one going into halftime and other coming out of the break – spelled trouble for the University of New Hampshire on Ford Field in Albany on Saturday afternoon.
The Great Danes scored a touchdown on the first drive and had to settle for a field goal on the second, but rode the momentum of the two possessions to a 20-7 Colonial Athletic Association victory.
The loss was the sixth straight for the Wildcats and leaves them at 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the CAA with a pair of games left.
They play at Rhode Island on Saturday at 1 p.m.
They finish up at home for Senior Day against Maine on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. in a Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, with the Brice-Cowell Musket on the line.
Fans can purchase tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).
"We're playing for pride," said sophomore tight end Kyle Lepkowski, who caught a career-high six passes for a career-best 70 yards. "No one likes losing. We just have to find a way to turn it around."
Albany came into the game winless and came out at 1-8 overall and 1-6 in the CAA. The Great Danes had lost five games by a touchdown or less.
"Hat off to them," said UNH head coach Sean McDonnell. "That's a team that has been struggling all year to find a way to win, they've been close a bunch of times. We've got to get back to doing the little things well, playing smart, conscientious football."
The Great Danes served up too much Karl Mofor, 5-foot-8 and 224 pounds, for the Wildcats. He ran the ball 45 times for 222 yards.
Mofor scored a 1-yard touchdown to end the drive right before the first half, after the UNH defense had stopped him a couple of times from the 1, to put his team up 10-0. He was the workhorse on the drive coming out of the half as well.
That one took 16 plays and ate up 10 and a half minutes before Dylan Burns kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 13-0 lead with 4:34 left in the third quarter.
"They had all those third downs on that drive and I felt we were really close to getting them off the field," said redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury, who had one of the UNH defensive highlights with an interception in the second period. "I feel that kind of set us back a little, the fact we had so many opportunities to get them off the field, but they just executed better than us."
In succession, the Great Danes had a 3rd and 5 and got five yards, a 3rd and 5 and got six yards and then a 4th and 11 and got 12 yards, before kicking their field goal.
UAlbany pushed the lead to 20-0 early in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats rallied from there.
Sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards entered the game and led a scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard pass to sophomore tight end Thomas Splagounias. Edwards started the first eight games of the season, but the Wildcats switched to freshman Brody McAndrew for this one.
"We made the change early in the week to go to Brody and Bret went out and practiced well and handled everything like all of our quarterbacks have done in the past," McDonnell said. "When he went in there, he executed some things. He did what he's done for us all year. When it's been open, he's hit the seam ball and he hit Kyle (Lepkowski) twice pretty good. He scrambled a couple of times and hit some checkdowns. He hit Nick Lorden on a scramble."
Lepkowski especially liked the TD pass to Splagounias.
"It's two routes," he said. "I've got a corner. He's got a flat. They've got to choose who to cover."
Edwards hit an open Splagounias for the TD and a Sean Lehane conversion kick made it 20-7.
"Splags is one of the grittiest kids I know," Lepkowski said with a smile. "He doesn't say much. He does his job every day. I was real happy to see him get one. I think he was a little surprised, too. It's nice to see his hard work pay off. That kid, he blocks his butt off. I was so excited for him. It was awesome."
The Wildcats nearly recovered an onsides kick and the defense held and forced a punt and Edwards and the offense went to work again. They marched right down the field and got to the Albany 10-yard line.
Edwards scrambled and threw a pass that deflected off a receiver and into the hands of a defender for an interception that ended the UNH threat with 1:20 left in the game.
The Wildcats will look to make use of the late rally.
"Hopefully it's something we can build off of," McDonnell said.
Rhode Island will be a tough test. The Rams won their first five games of the season, lost three straight and on Saturday beat Massachusetts, an FBS team, 35-22.
At 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the CAA, Rhode Island is in the hunt for a berth in the FCS tournament.
HOME AGAIN
NEXT UP
QUOTABLE
"The season hasn't been going the way we want it to go. We just need to rally for these next couple of games and play our football and have fun doing it."
Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury
"It just shows out team is not going to quit. We've got to get that energy the whole game."
Sophomore Kyle Lepkowski on the late rally
"Another tough one. We didn't take advantage of some situations early in the game. We had a little bit of momentum. I thought as they game went on, they did some things that they do pretty well. They ran the football, they wore down the clock, they executed some things."
UNH coach Sean McDonnell
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
The Great Danes scored a touchdown on the first drive and had to settle for a field goal on the second, but rode the momentum of the two possessions to a 20-7 Colonial Athletic Association victory.
The loss was the sixth straight for the Wildcats and leaves them at 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the CAA with a pair of games left.
They play at Rhode Island on Saturday at 1 p.m.
They finish up at home for Senior Day against Maine on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. in a Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, with the Brice-Cowell Musket on the line.
Fans can purchase tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).
"We're playing for pride," said sophomore tight end Kyle Lepkowski, who caught a career-high six passes for a career-best 70 yards. "No one likes losing. We just have to find a way to turn it around."
Albany came into the game winless and came out at 1-8 overall and 1-6 in the CAA. The Great Danes had lost five games by a touchdown or less.
"Hat off to them," said UNH head coach Sean McDonnell. "That's a team that has been struggling all year to find a way to win, they've been close a bunch of times. We've got to get back to doing the little things well, playing smart, conscientious football."
The Great Danes served up too much Karl Mofor, 5-foot-8 and 224 pounds, for the Wildcats. He ran the ball 45 times for 222 yards.
Mofor scored a 1-yard touchdown to end the drive right before the first half, after the UNH defense had stopped him a couple of times from the 1, to put his team up 10-0. He was the workhorse on the drive coming out of the half as well.
That one took 16 plays and ate up 10 and a half minutes before Dylan Burns kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 13-0 lead with 4:34 left in the third quarter.
"They had all those third downs on that drive and I felt we were really close to getting them off the field," said redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury, who had one of the UNH defensive highlights with an interception in the second period. "I feel that kind of set us back a little, the fact we had so many opportunities to get them off the field, but they just executed better than us."
In succession, the Great Danes had a 3rd and 5 and got five yards, a 3rd and 5 and got six yards and then a 4th and 11 and got 12 yards, before kicking their field goal.
UAlbany pushed the lead to 20-0 early in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats rallied from there.
Sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards entered the game and led a scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard pass to sophomore tight end Thomas Splagounias. Edwards started the first eight games of the season, but the Wildcats switched to freshman Brody McAndrew for this one.
"We made the change early in the week to go to Brody and Bret went out and practiced well and handled everything like all of our quarterbacks have done in the past," McDonnell said. "When he went in there, he executed some things. He did what he's done for us all year. When it's been open, he's hit the seam ball and he hit Kyle (Lepkowski) twice pretty good. He scrambled a couple of times and hit some checkdowns. He hit Nick Lorden on a scramble."
Lepkowski especially liked the TD pass to Splagounias.
"It's two routes," he said. "I've got a corner. He's got a flat. They've got to choose who to cover."
Edwards hit an open Splagounias for the TD and a Sean Lehane conversion kick made it 20-7.
"Splags is one of the grittiest kids I know," Lepkowski said with a smile. "He doesn't say much. He does his job every day. I was real happy to see him get one. I think he was a little surprised, too. It's nice to see his hard work pay off. That kid, he blocks his butt off. I was so excited for him. It was awesome."
The Wildcats nearly recovered an onsides kick and the defense held and forced a punt and Edwards and the offense went to work again. They marched right down the field and got to the Albany 10-yard line.
Edwards scrambled and threw a pass that deflected off a receiver and into the hands of a defender for an interception that ended the UNH threat with 1:20 left in the game.
The Wildcats will look to make use of the late rally.
"Hopefully it's something we can build off of," McDonnell said.
Rhode Island will be a tough test. The Rams won their first five games of the season, lost three straight and on Saturday beat Massachusetts, an FBS team, 35-22.
At 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the CAA, Rhode Island is in the hunt for a berth in the FCS tournament.
HOME AGAIN
- After Rhode Island, the Wildcats return home to close out the season against Maine on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
- It's a Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, for the Brice-Cowell Musket.
- Tickets for home games are available by calling the UNH Box Office at 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
- UNH's home games may be viewed on NBCSports Boston and at www.FloFootball.com.
NEXT UP
- Rhode Island won its first five games over Bryant, 45-21, Albany, 16-14, Brown, 45-24, Stony Brook 27-20 in overtime, and Delaware, 22-15. ,
- The Rams then lost to Towson, 28-7, Villanova, 44-0, and Maine, 45-2.
- They beat Massachusetts, an FBS team, 35-22 on Saturday.
- It was the program's second win over an FBS team.
- Junior quarterback Kasim Hill passed for 169 yards and two TDs and ran for 32 yards and another two scores against UMass.
- Freshman Jaylen Smith carried 16 times for 111 yards, including a 72-yard score against the Minutemen.
- Hill has completed 107 of his 204 passes (52.5 percent) with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions.
- Evan Stewart leads the Rams with 78 tackles and Andrew Blackett has 77.
- Jordan Jones has five interceptions.
- Rhode Island went 2-1 in the spring with overtime wins over Villanova and Albany before losing to Delaware.
- UNH won the last game between the teams, 27-24, in 2019 in Durham.
- The Rams won the last game in Rhode Island, 24-21, in 2018.
QUOTABLE
"The season hasn't been going the way we want it to go. We just need to rally for these next couple of games and play our football and have fun doing it."
Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury
"It just shows out team is not going to quit. We've got to get that energy the whole game."
Sophomore Kyle Lepkowski on the late rally
"Another tough one. We didn't take advantage of some situations early in the game. We had a little bit of momentum. I thought as they game went on, they did some things that they do pretty well. They ran the football, they wore down the clock, they executed some things."
UNH coach Sean McDonnell
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Stansbury's interception was his team-leading third of the season.
- Freshman defensive end Josiah Silver and junior defensive end Gunner Gibson led the team with nine tackles each Saturday.
- Silver also forced two fumbles and recovered one.
- He and senior safety Pop Bush lead the Wildcats with three forced fumbles apiece.
- Silver leads the team with 6.5 sacks.
- Gibson is next with five.
- Silver and redshirt freshman Ryan Toscano lead with team with 57 tackles each.
- Stansbury has 54 tackles.
- McAndrew completed 12 of his 20 passes for 68 yards with two interceptions Saturday.
- Edwards was 12 for 17 for 170 yards with a TD pass and an interception.
- The TD catch for Splagounias was his first reception as a Wildcat.
- Running backs junior Carlos Washington Jr. and sophomore Dylan Laube missed the game with injuries.
- Redshirt freshman running back Isaac Seide caught six passes for 38 yards and rushed eight times for 28 yards.
- Redshirt freshman Aidan Cadogan averaged 44.7 yards per punt on three kicks.
- His 41.70 average per punt for the season is second-best in the CAA.
- Edwards has completed 150 of his 241 passes (62.2 percent) for 1,480 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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