By Andrew Scharff
If you’re a Hofstra football fan and you were paying more attention to the large flock of pigeons flying above James M. Shuart Stadium Saturday afternoon, that means you missed what was happening on the field, which was not much.
Hofstra, who extended their losing streak to six, lost 34-24 to the Huskies of Northeastern University (NU). Though they only lost by ten points the score does not tell the whole story. The Pride, who was given a gift of seven points by the NU special teams unit, struggled offensively and defensively in the first half and had to try to play catch-up for the second straight week.
“We were out coached and out played,” said Hofstra head coach Dace Cohen. “That’s all I have to say. We were out coached and out played.”
Just like last week Hofstra (2-8, 1-6) fell behind early as Northeastern wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as they took their opening drive 70 yards as second string running back Alex Broomfield (20 rushes, 155 yards and 2TD’s) scored on a nine yard scamper. That was that start of a NU (4-6, 2-5) rushing attack that could not be stopped.
After Hofstra went three and out on their first possession, NU got the ball back and started to drive down the field again. This time they wanted to score by way of the pass but one the bright spots on the Pride team all year stepped to make a play which enable the Pride to stay in the game. Freshman linebacker Luke Bonus stepped in front of an Anthony Orio pass which was intended for wide receiver Kendrick Ballantyne and downed it for a touchback.
On the following drive Hofstra drive they drove down field and they would have taken the lead but senior quarterback Anton Clarkson (24-38 228, 2TD’s and 1 INT) under threw a wide open Shaine Smith on a flea-flicker and the Pride had to settle for a Rob Zarrilli 39 yard field goal.
Then NU took over as the Pride defense could not stop the NU offense. Following the Pride field goal, NU scored right away as wide receiver Rob Conway threw a wide receiver pass to Ballantyne for 56 yards, then fullback Shane Hopkins ran it from two yards out.
With the Pride down 13-3, they had a chance to make a three point game, but they were unable to punch it in from the one. Cohen was going to go for it on 4th and 1, but brought out Zarrilli and field goal unit after a false start penalty.
“Two downs to get it in from the one and we didn’t,” Cohen said. “We would have taken the lead going into halftime if that would have happened.”
Zarrilli had his field goal blocked and the Pride came away with nothing.
But just before halftime the Pride caught a break as NU punter Jared White could not handle the snap. As he tried to rush the ball, Clarence Clanton hit White knocking the ball out his hands and Greg Vineyard recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.
But the Pride would not get any emotional uplifts from the botched punts on the Pride’s next possession after the half would result in a Clarkson fumble and lead to a Maurice Murray 2 yard touchdown run.
“Not as much I originally hoped for or anticipated,” Cohen said about the uplift that his team did not get.
The fumble was the icing on the cake for a tough week for Clarkson. Clarkson won the starting job in practice this week, but did not start because he violated team policy.
Then Murray struck again he ran it from 14 yards out giving NU a 27-10 lead.
The Pride could not stop Broomfield or Murray all day. The two running backs split the workload and combined for 263 yards and four touchdowns. NU Rocky Hager coach was not sure if Murray was going to be ready for Saturday’s game.
“We didn’t know if Maurice [Murray] would be ready until Thursday,” Hager said.
The fourth quarter welcomed back the Pride to football game, as they were able to get their leading receiver, Smith into open spaces. After Charles Sullivan caught three straight passes to lead the Pride inside the NU 10, Clarkson connected with Smith on 4 and goal.
Up by 10, NU put the game on ice as Broomfield ran it from 6 six yards out to make it 34-17. On ensuing drive Clarkson connected with Smith for a nine yard score which just made the score look better than it actually was.
Cohen did not put all the blame on his players. Cohen was certainly out coached today. Hager made a great game plan which certainly was about stopping Smith as he his named was rarely called in the first three quarters, and about stopping the running game of Hofstra which gained only 75 compared to the 235 of NU.
“We put together a plan and taught it well enough to our players,” Hager said.
Even though Cohen did take some blame for loss his players are no where near innocent. His defense failed to read many of the offensive packages NU used and both the defense and offensive line failed to win any battles in the trenches.
“They did a great job of executing. We did not get a push at all,” Cohen said. “We came out and just blitzed. We didn’t read anything. We blitzed and they had a lot of success.”
Cohen and the Pride will have to work and correct all their mistakes in practice this week, or they will be embarrassed again as next week they close out the season at 8-1 UMass.