By By Patrick McHugh, News Staff

‘Essentially we shot ourselves in the foot.’
Those were the words of head football coach Rocky Hager following Northeastern’s 17-7 loss to the No. 20 Maine Black Bears Saturday in front of 1,528 at Parsons Field. Maine has now won six straight games in the series dating back to 2004.
The Huskies committed 10 penalties, eight in the second half, preventing them from erasing a three-point halftime deficit. The loss brings NU’s record to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), while Maine escaped for the second consecutive week with a close victory to push their record to 2-0, (1-0 in the CAA.)
Maine put the first points on the scoreboard less than three minutes into the game with a 37-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Jordan Waxman.
On their next possession, the Black Bears committed a fumble, one of four they had in the game, when Northeastern senior nose guard Mike Lukenda jarred the ball loose from Maine sophomore running back Derek Session’s hands. Junior safety Darryl Jones scooped the ball for the Huskies to give NU the ball at the Maine 33-yard line.
The offense wasted no time converting off the turnover. Junior receiver Greg Abelli came in motion and took an end around carry 33 yards down the sideline for Northeastern’s first touchdown of the season. An extra point from senior placekicker Mat Johnson made the score 7-3 with 8:02 left in the first quarter.
Senior linebacker Jason Vega, who had two blocked kick attempts and a fumble recovery in the game, said the defense improved its play from a week ago against Boston College and created turnovers.
‘Coming off last week we thought we had a lot to prove as a defensive unit,’ Vega said. ‘This week it was all about tackling, hitting our gaps, making sure we were in position. We have a young offense, with a young kid who has performed admirably, and we just want to give them as many opportunities to score as possible.’
The young offense was led by freshman quarterback Matt Carroll, who made his first career start in place of injured junior Alex Dulski, who sat out after injuring his shoulder and head Sept. 5 against BC. Carroll finished the day completing 15 of 24 passes for 112 yards that also included two costly interceptions.
Hager said although his signal caller made some mistakes he was pleased with his performance in his first career start.
‘Without looking at the video I would say that Matt managed the field pretty well,’ Hager said. ‘There are things that Matthew has a very good grasp of and a solid ability to execute those things. I’ve always been a coach that believes you need to give the player the space to allow some of his strengths to show through. I was proud of the way he was able to handle the challenge.’
While Carroll at times struggled to guide the NU offense down the field, the penalties’ stalled the Husky attack. Trailing 10-7 coming out of halftime, Northeastern committed four infractions on its first two possessions of the half that resulted in the offense moving backwards 29 yards on their first two set of downs.
‘Those are drive killers,’ Hager said. ‘We put ouself in a bind offensively because of it, and that’s not easily overcome if you have a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in your backfield, nor if you have a redshirt freshman back there for you,’ Hager said.
Maine pushed the lead to two scores in the third quarter as sophomore quarterback Warren Smith, who alternated series with starting senior Mike Brusko, found senior wideout Landis Williams down the middle of the field for a 47-yard touchdown strike that helped make the score 17-7 in favor of the visitors.
Northeastern had chances in the fourth quarter to get back in the game but could not convert in key spots.
Twice in the final three minutes, NU had the ball inside Maine’s 20-yard line, yet both times were unsuccessful in converting.
The first opportunity ended with a turnover on downs as Carroll could not complete a fourth down pass to senior tight end Ty Sibert. After the Black Bears fumbled the ball away on their next possession, the Huskies had one final opportunity, but again were denied as Carroll was sacked as time expired.
Hager said his team will use its practice time to improve their performance inside the 20 yard line.
‘Tuesday’s practice, Wednesday’s practice, and Thursday’s practice, the red zone is going to get worked on the offensive side for sure,’ he said.
The squad will take the field in search of their first win next Saturday at 1 p.m. as it plays non-conference opponent Youngstown State at Parsons Field.