Fairfield, CT – The Wagner College football team opened Northeast Conference (NEC) play with a 17-10 victory at Sacred Heart on Saturday.
"This is a different team and the culture is changing," head coach Tom Massella commented after the game. "I believe if you play hard good things will happen and certainly for the second straight week our kids played extremely hard and they came out with a great road win to start off conference play. I tip my hat to all of our players."
Behind three interceptions, the Seahawks jumped out to a 10-0 halftime lead and never looked back. Senior
Justin Reilly, graduate student
John Gioia, and senior
Junior Wily all picked off the Pioneers in the first half, with Wily taking the interception back for a touchdown to open the scoring with 6:01 to play in the second quarter.
"Our defense played extremely well in the first half and hung in there in the second half," Masella added. "We reached our goal with three turnovers in a game and one of them was a pick six, which was probably the play of the game."
In the third quarter, the Wagner offense put together a 12-play drive that covered 56 yards and culminated in a 10-yard pass from quarterback
Steven Krajewski to senior
Justin Wolf to put the Seahawks up 17-0.
The Pioneers answered with a two-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the fourth quarter and added a field goal to make it a one-possession game with less than three minutes to play. The Green and White recovered the ensuing onside kick, but were forced to bring out the punting unit after three plays. On the punt by junior
Bailey Marzola, the Pioneers were called for roughing the kicker, allowing the Seahawks to run out the clock and earn the victory.
Senior
Lennox Lamar was tied for the team lead with 10 tackles, with Reilly also making 10 total stops, including one sack, along with his interception. Graduate student
Prince Hall and Gioia finished with eight tackles and one tackle for loss apiece.
Offensively, sophomore
Zachary Palmer-Smith led the Seahawks with 89 yards on the ground.
The win marked Wagner's first road win since earning a 41-7 victory over Robert Morris on November 17, 2018.
The Seahawks will be back in action next Saturday for Wagner's home opener against Merrimack, with kickoff set for 4:00 pm.
