By Tyler Amaral NEFJ Staff We’ve reached the final week of September. The football hierarchy across New England is starting to take shape. One common theme this week is the crossover games between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There are three of those matchups this week. The overall slate in Massachusetts isn’t quite what it has been in other weeks this year, but the top matchups are some of the best……
Rhode Island dropped to No. 7 in the AFCA Coaches Poll this week despite a pretty nice 28-7 win over a mediocre LIU team. The Rams are 4-0 and look like legitimate national title contenders through the first month of the season. This week, Rhody heads out to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on FBS opponent Western Michigan at 6:30 Saturday night. The Broncos are 1-3, beating Toledo 15-14 last week…
By Tyler Amaral NEFJ Staff As we enter the final week of September, there were minimal changes at the top of the top 25. The top three teams all won in convincing fashion. Springfield Central and King Philip swap places after the Golden Eagles dominated Mansfield on the road. Wellesley and Methuen fall out of this week’s top 25 after losing last week. Milton and Winchester debut this week at…
Image courtesy of CIAC Rob Gullo & Andy Close NEFJ Correspondents As the high school season continues, more and more drama builds with upsets, big wins, and teams exceeding expectations. Like Week 1 to Week 2, the Week 3 poll had some movement in all over the rankings. Here’s the Top 25 Poll heading into Week 3: 1. New Canaan (2-0) – No surprise here. After a dominant 47-0 win……
FOXBOROUGH – Gillette Stadium used to be a hard place to play. Now, it’s a welcoming abode for other teams looking to get things back on track. We’ll take your bags and make sure there’s a mint on the pillow. Sure, for almost all of the 20-year dynasty, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick gave the team an advantage even before opponents began prepping for the Pats that week, but a…
Image courtesy of NBCSports.com FOXBOROUGH – On a weekend where the past was honored with Bill Parcells and Julian Edelman inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame, Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh was a reminder of just how far removed we are from the good old days. New England’s defense held the Steelers to just 203 total yards – including only 139 yards passing for Aaron Rodgers – but the offense…
If you missed any of the games we covered this weekend, check out stories from UConn, Yale-Holy Cross, Dartmouth-UNH and Merrimack-CCSU on the home page. Here’s a recap of the rest of the action from around the region on Saturday: URI 28, LIU 7 The No. 6 Rams moved to 4-0 on the season with an impressive homecoming victory on Saturday afternoon. Devin Farrell was 19-32 for 193 yards, two…
Image courtesy of Merrimack Athletics By Zack Bellino NEFJ Correspondent NORTH ANDOVER – The Merrimack Warriors defeated the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils 16-14 on the strength of a Carlton Thai field goal with just one second remaining in the game on Saturday night. In a matchup of former NEC rivals, this game was a defensive slugfest before the final moments, when CCSU recovered a blocked field goal on the…
Image courtesy of UConn Athletics By Andy Close NEFJ Correspondent EAST HARTFORD – When the UConn offense needs a big play, they don’t have to look very far. Cam Edwards and Skyler Bell showed how special they are once again in Saturday’s 31-25 win over Ball State. Edwards scored on touchdown runs of 32 and 67 yards in the fourth quarter, and Bell had 14 receptions for 103 yards and…
By Chris Vogel NEFJ Correspondent EASTON – Despite a back-breaking last second field goal to give Penn a 24-21 win over Stonehill on Saturday, the contest continued a string of promising non-conference matchups to prepare the Skyhawks for NEC play. “We knew going into the season we had a tough out of conference schedule, Penn is a really good football team, ” Stonehill head coach Eli Gardner stated postgame. “I…