Big First Half Leads Football Team To 28-7 Victory Over Assumption
Springfield, Mass. - The American International College football team evened its overall record at 3-3 and improved to 3-2 in the Northeast-10 after beating Assumption, 28-7, Saturday afternoon at John Homer Miller Field. The Greyhounds dropped to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in conference play. Senior running back Calvin Hall (Rochester, N.Y.) had 19 carries for 180 yards and scored one touchdown to lead the Yellow Jackets to their second consecutive win and the their third victory in four games.
Freshman quarterback Rob Parent (West Warwick, R.I.) completed 18-of-36 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown. He also gained 14 yards on the ground and had one rushing touchdown. Junior wide receiver Tyler Scaccia (Webster, N.Y.) had eight catches for 97 yards and scored one touchdown.
AIC jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on Hall's 54-yard touchdown run 1:08 into the first quarter. The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 14-0 with 2:54 left in the first half when Parent got into the end zone on a quarterback sneak after a pair of Assumption penalties, one for pass interference and one for being off-sides, placed the ball on the Greyhound one-yard line. Sophomore linebacker Terrence Holley (Bronx, N.Y.) picked off junior quarterback Taylor Humphrey (Lafayette, Calif.) on the ensuing possession and took it back 30-yards to put AIC up 21-0 at the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Scaccia caught an eight yard touchdown pass from Parent to give AIC a 28-0 lead. Scaccia made a tremendous adjustment after the ball was tipped by a Greyhound defender to make the catch and stay in bounds on the right sideline.
Assumption ended the Yellow Jackets bid for a shutout with 3:53 remaining in the contest when Humphrey ran the ball in from six yards out. He completed 12-of-23 passes for 105 yards and threw three interceptions and gained 35 yards on the ground. Freshman running back Lance Mitchell (Boynton Beach, Fla.) carried the ball 20 times for 73 yards, while senior wide receiver Jake Beers (Duxbury, Mass.) led Assumption with six catches for 51 yards.
Senior linebacker Michael Daley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led AIC with seven tackles on the afternoon, while sophomore defensive back Allen Bush (Newark, N.J.) and Holley registered six tackles and one interception each. Junior defensive back Ed Pierre (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished the game with four tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception.
Junior defensive back Chris Martino (Lincroft, N.J.) and sophomore linebacker Dustin Zitzman (Pinellas Park, Fla.) led the Greyhounds with 12 and 11 tackled, respectively. Assumption also blocked four kicks in the game. Junior defensive tackle Terry Stanford (Newark, N.J.) blocked all three field goal attempts by senior kicker Marek Prezbylek (Olsztyn, Poland), two in the second quarter and one in the fourth, and freshman linebacker Jeff Moore (Worcester, Mass.) blocked a Jonathan Thorpe (Longmeadow, Mass.) punt in the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets return to action Oct. 20th when
they travel to Pace University for a 12 p.m. Northeast-10 contest.