WATCH | Live Stats | Game Notes
North Andover, MA - The Wagner College football team will travel to Andover, MD, for a Northeast Conference (NEC) clash at Merrimack. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as the NEC Game of The Week.
Staying Disciplined
With 25 penalties on the season, the Seahawks are first in the NEC and 25
th nationally for the fewest penalties in the country.
Wagner is 16
th nationally and second in the conference with 197 penalty yards on the season.
Kargman Returns In Style
In his return to the starting lineup, quarterback
Nick Kargman threw for a career-best 296 yards on a career-high 23 completions against Columbia. Kargman As a team, the Seahawks are 40
th in the country in yards per completion in the nation and first in the NEC with 12.68 yards per completion.
Simmons Shines Again
With his high school quarterback
Nick Kargman back under center, junior
Naiem Simmons delivered the second 100-yard game of the season, hauling in seven catches for 128 yards against Columbia. With 363 yards on the season, Simmons has already set a new career-high for receiving yards less than halfway through the season.
For his efforts, Simmons was named an NEC Prime Performer.
Simmons is among the nation's most dynamic playmakers, as he leads the NEC in yards per reception with 18.15 yards per catch, which also ranks 34
th nationally.
Olivier Making Plays
Nicholas Olivier was around the ball all game against Columbia, being credited with two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
For his efforts, Olivier was named an NEC Prime Performer.
The Series
Saturday's game marks the third-ever meeting between the Seahawks and Warriors and first-ever meeting between the two teams in Andover, MD.
Last year, the Seahawks combined for 367 yards on the ground, but it wasn't enough, as Merrimack earned the 35-26 victory.
Scouting The Warriors
Merrimack enters Saturday's matchup with a 4-2 overall record and 2-0 conference mark.
The Warriors have won three straight games, including consecutive NEC wins over LIU and Duquesne.
Leo Continues To Impress
Graduate student
Titus Leo is still averaging more than one tackle for loss per game.
Leo has been the recipient of numerous preseason awards, taking home HERO Sports First Team Preseason All-America, STATS Perform Second Team Preseason All-America, and Preseason All-NEC honors. Leo also earned a spot on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List, which Stats Perform presents to the national defensive player of the year in college football's Division I subdivision. Most recently, Leo was named to the watch list for the 2023 Reese's Senior Bowl. Leo joins an elite list comprised of the best seniors and graduate students across all of college football.
Following the 2021 season, Leo was named a Stats Perform FCS Third All-American, First Team FCS All-American by HERO Sports, and Third Team All-American by Phil Steele.
After earning his Bachelor's Degree in Sociology in May, Leo has re-enrolled at Wagner, where he is pursuing a Master's Degree in Business Administration.
Leo was also named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. No player has ever won the NEC Defensive Player of the Year award three times.
This marked the fourth straight season a Seahawk has won the highest honor for a defensive player in the NEC, as Leo follows Super Bowl LV Champion and former All-American
Cam Gill, who won the award in 2018 and 2019 and was a HERO Sports FCS Second Team All-American in 2019.
Wagner is the first school in NEC history to win four consecutive NEC Defensive Player of the Year awards. Leo, Gill and defensive lineman Bill Sommers, who earned the distinction in 1996, are the only Wagner players to earn NEC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The Schedule
Five more conference games will round out the 2022 schedule, with home contests against LIU (October 21) and Sacred Heart (November 12) and road games at Central Connecticut (October 29), Stonehill (November 5), and Duquesne (November 19).
