By Chris Estrada
Heading into their Saturday game against each other, the Huskies had lost five in a row and Hofstra, four. Clearly, something had to give.
And on Saturday, the Pride clearly left no doubt about who was going to give. Racking up 523 yards of total offense (342 in the running game) and 28 first downs, the home team clobbered the Huskies, 42-14, in wet and windy conditions at Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y.
With a six-game losing streak now on their heads, the Huskies (2-9, 1-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association) have just one more chance to dodge the dreadful mark of 10 losses: Senior Day this Saturday at Parsons Field (1 p.m.; 104.9 WRBB, 890 ESPN, and online at their respective websites) against Rhode Island (2-9, 0-7), a team that came from behind to beat them last season.
“We didn’t play as well as we have in previous weeks,” said head coach Rocky Hager. “Some of it is on our behalf as coaches … we weren’t as consistent with the play selection on either side of the ball. We felt early that we had a chance, but the opportunities slipped between our fingers. Hofstra played inspired football. We occasionally had them in check, but then we’d deal with miscues, tipped balls, interceptions,” he said.
Northeastern got as close as 10-7 in the second quarter thanks to a three-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Alex Broomfield. But from there, Hofstra dominated the contest with an offense that chewed up the clock (42:33 time of possession) and constantly found ways to drive down the field.
For the Pride, the ground attack was their best one. Tailback Everette Benjamin led the way, rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown, while Brock Jackolski garnered 91 yards and two touchdowns.
“We overpursued a couple of times and those two gentlemen [Everette Benjamin and Brock Jackolski] did a nice job of seeing the cutbacks and breaking tackles. It’s not for a lack of effort…we’re running so hard to get in pursuit that we’ve been vulnerable on the cutback,” Hager said.
But quarterback Steve Probst also had a decent air game going for Hofstra, and went 16-for-22 for 181 yards and a pair of short touchdowns to receiver Aaron Weaver.
Despite all that, however, turnovers – and capitalizing on them – were the major elements in how the outcome was reached. After Husky sophomore defensive back Darryl Jones recovered a Probst fumble at the 24 yard line, the Pride got the ball back two plays later when defensive back Ray McDonough picked off senior quarterback Anthony Orio and returned the ball 20 yards to the Northeastern 16.
Hofstra got into goal-to-go, and on third down from the 2, Probst hooked up with Weaver to give them a 7-0 lead with 7:54 left in the first quarter.
Down 10-0 in the second quarter, NU got Probst to fumble again. After sophomore linebacker David Akinniyi delivered the sack to jar the ball loose, redshirt freshman defensive lineman Mike Laperriere recovered at the Pride 20 to help set-up Broomfield’s eventual touchdown with 10:51 to go in the half.
But Hofstra would push the lead back to two possessions on a 25-yard touchdown run by Benjamin with 2:11 on the clock. The extra point failed, but the Pride would get another chance to score before halftime thanks to another Orio interception – this time, at the hands of linebacker Deron Mayo on the Huskies 43.
They wouldn’t let that chance slip away. A 21-yard reception by Weaver to the 4-yard line would set up his second touchdown of the game, a four-yard pass from Probst to make it 22-7 with seven seconds remaining in the half.
The two-point conversion after that didn’t work, but on its opening drive of the third quarter, Hofstra made sure it didn’t matter. Probst engineered a seven-play, 72-yard drive that finished with a 19-yard scamper by Jackolski to the end zone with 11:04 left in the quarter. Another two-point try failed, but the blowout had begun thanks to the score by the freshman tailback.
Another Northeastern turnover on the ensuing kickoff gave the ball back to Hofstra on its opponent’s 45. The Pride drove to the 33, where on second-and-10, Jackolski carried the ball for 12 yards, and on the next play, ran it in for a 21-yard touchdown run and a 35-7 lead. NU was unable to convert on a fourth-and-5 on its next drive, and with 12:17 remaining in the game, the Pride made the Huskies pay again with a two-yard touchdown run by backup tailback Ray Bennett.
With 8:03 in the fourth, senior backup quarterback John Sperrazza took the controls and finally got NU past double digits on the scoreboard. Starting at the Huskies 47, he used short passes and got help from a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Hofstra to drive NU to the Pride 15. From there, he ran for 13 yards, and on the next play (first-and-goal from the 2), he used his feet to get into the end zone with 5:06 to go.
