'Cats Fall to Pittsburgh, JMU Up Next for Homecoming

Saturday, September 25

Pittsburgh, Pa.

12 PM

University of New Hampshire

Pittsburgh

Carlos Washington Jr. carried nine times for 91 yards against Pittsburgh.

9/25/2021 4:29:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Safety Noah Palm Makes 15 Tackles in first career start

PHOTO GALLERY

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Freshman safety Noah Palm (Lancaster, Pa.) collected 15 tackles in his first career start to lead the University of New Hampshire football team in a tough 77-7 loss to the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 41,048 at Heinz Field.

The No. 21 Wildcats dropped their first game of the season and fell to 3-1. Pittsburgh, an FBS school that plays in the ACC, improved to 3-1. The Panthers, after going on the road to knock off Tennessee in their second game, had been upset at home by Western Michigan last week.

UNH plays host to No. 3 James Madison for Homecoming, presented by Dunkin, at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 2 (3:30 p.m., NBC Sports Boston). Fans can purchase tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).

A limited number of parking passes for the Lot A tailgating area are on sale now; all parking passes must be pre-purchased, as there will be no parking passes sold on gameday.

The Boulder Field tailgating lot is sold out. For all Homecoming tailgating policies and the traffic flow map, visit the Homecoming Central page.

Junior, Carlos Washington Jr. (Fort Washington, Md.) led UNH with nine carries for 91 yards, including a 70-yard run late in the first quarter that set up the team's only touchdown. Junior Sean Coyne (Portsmouth, R.I.) caught a 4-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards (Lowell, Mass.) for the score, which came on the first play of the second period.

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, who passed on the NFL draft to return to school, completed 24 of his 28 passes for 403 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another. Pickett played through the first series of the second half. He passed for six TDs against Western Michigan and now has 15 touchdowns with one interception for the season.

Three of Pickett's touchdown passes were to sophomore Jordan Addison, who had six catches for 179 yards.

The speedy Panthers had a school record 707 yards of total offense and held UNH to 160 yards of offense.

Palm had seven solo tackles among his 15 total. Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury (Orange, N.J.) and sophomore linebacker Bryce Shaw (Raynham, Mass.) each had 10 tackles.

COMING UP

UNH faces James Madison in its Homecoming game next Saturday at 3:30 in Wildcat Stadium.
Season tickets and individual game tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000.
Wildcat home games may be viewed on NBCSports Boston.
Home and CAA games are also on FloSports, which may be accessed through www.unhwildcats.com.
The Wildcats are off on Oct. 9.
UNH resumes its in-state series against Dartmouth in Wildcat Stadium on Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. for Family Weekend.
Richmond is in Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. for Halloweekend.
UNH closes out the regular season with its rivalry game against Maine in the Border Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket at home on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
The remaining UNH road games are Oct. 23 at Elon, Nov. 6 at UAlbany and Nov. 13 at Rhode Island.

1^st QUARTER

The Wildcats got off to a rough start.
Pittsburgh earned a safety and 2-0 lead when Edwards was called for intentional grounding on the third play of the game.
Pickett ran for a 1-yard TD to cap Pittsburgh's first drive with 10:16 left in the period for 8-0.
Damarri Mathis then intercepted a pass by Edwards and returned it 35 yards for a 14-0 lead with 9:28 left in the period.
It was the first pick-six against the Wildcats since Oct. 13, 2018 against Stony Brook.
Washington Jr. provided the UNH highlight of the period with a 70-yard run to the Pittsburgh 5-yard line late.

2^ND QUARTER

Edwards passed to Coyne for the 4-yard score on the first play of the period.
Sean Lehane (Milford, Mass.) kicked the conversion and the lead was 28-7.
The Panthers got the lead up to 49-7 by the half.
Pickett had four TD passes in the half.

3^RD QUARTER

Pickett passed for his fifth TD to finish Pittsburgh's first drive of the second half and end his day.
He connected with Addison for the 46-yard score.
It was the third TD catch of the game for Addison.
Pittsburgh upped the lead to 70-7 by the end of the period.

4^th QUARTER

Rodney Hammond Jr. scored the last TD of the game on a 3-yard run with 8:48 left.
He had 17 carries for 100 yards and three rushing scores.

'CAT NIPS

Senior defensive tackle Elijah Lewis (New Castle, Del.) and junior defensive end Gunner Gibson (Hailey, Idaho) each sacked Pickett once.
Edwards completed nine of his 20 passes for 42 yards and the score.
He threw his first interception of the year and it was returned for a TD.
Edwards has eight touchdown passes.
Sophomore receiver Griffin Helm (Jacksonville, Fla.) caught a pair of passes for 24 yards.
Redshirt freshman Aidan Cadogan (Waltham, Mass.) averaged 42.1 yards on his seven punts.
Dylan Laube (Westhampton, N.Y.) returned four kickoffs for 71 yards.
UNH had two turnovers: the interception and a lost fumble.
Pittsburgh did not have a turnover.