By By Nick Pipitone
Football head coach Joe Gardi might have summed up the 2005 season best after the Pride season finale Nov.19, a 21-10 win over No. 7 University of Massachusetts, when he said he thought the team just “underachieved.”
Finishing at 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference, there is a very good case for Gardi’s assessment. The Pride placed a team-record 11 players on the all-Atlantic-10 team and played, at times, better than its record. However, in three of its four losses, all to top 25 opponents, the Pride was on the brink, but could not close the deal.
“The games we lost were devastating,” Gardi said. “Those types of games take a piece of your heart.”
The Blue & Gold suffered two losses in double overtime, 44-41, at Furman on Sept. 24 and 43-37 at Richmond Oct. 22, and then a 29-26 loss in the final minutes at home against New Hampshire Nov. 5. All three losses were against I-AA playoff teams and were winnable games, but the Pride made crucial mistakes that ended up costing the team its chance of a playoff-caliber season.
“We were a handful of plays away from the playoffs and possibly contention for the national championship,” senior WR and captain Devale Ellis said. “And that goes through my mind every day. In those terms I think we failed as far as what we set out to accomplish this season, but I think we still had a pretty good season.”
Out of all the losses, however, New Hampshire was the most critical. With only two games remaining, a win against the No. 2 Wildcats could have catapulted the Pride back into the top 25 and into the playoff picture. With under three minutes remaining, the Pride, down by three, drove the length of the field only to fumble at the two-yard line.
UNH recovered in the end zone and ran the clock down to hold on for the win. As soon as sophomore RB Kareem Huggins fumbled the goal line dive into the back of the end zone, the Pride chances fell with it. It was the story of its season.
“You look across that roster and you see guys that are just awesome athletes,” senior OT and captain Willie Colon said. “The talent level we had on this team to not be playing in the playoffs right now is probably a disappointment. But we did it to ourselves.”
One heartbreaking loss after another piled up on the Pride, eventually eliminating it from the competitive A-10 and leaving it with a successful, albeit unfulfilling, season. The Pride recorded its first winning record since 2001 and smashed plenty of individual records on its way to prolific offensive and a much-improved defensive numbers, but came up short when it mattered most.
Flash back to the second overtime at Furman, game tied at 38, and the Pride with a crucial third down at the Paladins 13-yard line. QB Anton Clarkson hit WR Devale Ellis on a screen pass that lost three yards and the Blue & Gold kicked a field goal.
On Furman’s next possession, the defense was unable to stop RB Jerome Felton. QB Ingle Martin snuck in from the 1-yard line for the 44-38 win. The Paladins finished the season at 9-2 and secured a spot in the playoffs. The Pride lost its first game and dropped six spots in the polls, losing 42-10 the next week at home against James Madison.
Then there was the game at Richmond. The Pride was riding a two-game winning streak and had re-entered the polls at No. 23.
Going into halftime, the team led 24-10 over the Spiders. In the second half, QB Stacey Tutt powered Richmond to 20 points and forced overtime, where the Spiders would eventually win, 44-41.
Richmond would go on to finish 8-3, share the A-10 championship with UNH and clinch a playoff berth. The Pride, conversely, would fall out of the polls for the rest of the season and squander a chance to gain ground on the top teams in the conference.
The final and most important loss of the season came on Nov. 5 at home against the Wildcats. The Wildcats came into the game ranked No. 2 in the country, featuring one of the most dangerous QB-WR tandems in I-AA. The Pride, with already two conference losses, could not afford to lose.
The Blue & Gold led 26-21 the entire fourth quarter until the 6:41 mark when QB Ricky Santos hit WR Aaron Brown from five yards out. Trailing 29-26 after UNH’s two-point conversion, QB Anton Clarkson led the team down the field, chewing up nearly four minutes and 72 yards. Then, at the UNH two-yard line with 2:51 remaining, Huggins fumbled, the Wildcats recovered and the Pride season essentially ended.

Devale Ellis led the Pride in receiving yards (943), receptions (74) and was tied for first with 5 TDs. (Photo Courtesy Athletic Dept.)
