Boston Sports Then and Now

The Bentley Falcons finished the 2009 season with an 8-2 record and as tri-champions of the NE-10.

A 23-21 loss to Stonehill College in the season finale proved to be particularly costly as it knocked the Bentley University Falcons out of contention for the NCAA Division II Championship.

The Falcons seemed destined to earn a spot in the Division II Playoffs after being ranked fourth in the NCAA Super Region entering the final week of the season. However, they fell out of the top eight after their loss and did not receive one of the 24 bids to the NCAA Playoffs.

Bentley’s omission means that the NE-10 did not have a team advance to the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the first time since 2002. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference received four bids into the playoffs.

Bentley finished the 2009 season with an 8-2 record. Both of their losses came by two points. They shared the NE-10 championship with Merrimack and Southern Connecticut.

Matt Zahoruiko has 111 tackles for the season, just four shy of the school single season record. He ranks second in Division II in tackles.

Last week the Falcons had a bye week, which allowed them the time to get players healthy.  Although Bentley didn’t play, they were able to climb in both the regional rankings and AFCA Division II Poll.  Bentley has moved back to fourth in the NCAA Division II Super Region One and 24th in the American Football Coaches Association Division II Coaches’ Poll.

The regional rankings are used to determine the seedings for the NCAA Division II playoffs, with the top two teams in each region receiving a first round bye and the next two hosting first-round home games.

Although Bentley clinched a piece of the Northeast-10 title Friday night when Southern Connecticut fell to Merrimack, Bentley has nothing else on their mind except beating Stonehill and winning the league out right.

Bentley has not and will not change the way they prepare for each game. The Falcons take each game one at a time, never looking to the future.  Don’t be surprised by Stonehill’s record, 4-5, as the Skyhawks always come prepared to play the Falcons.

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Sporting an 8-1 record, the Bentley Falcons can win the NE-10 title and earn a spot in the NCAA Playoffs with a win at Stonehill on November 7th.

The Bentley Falcons have now put their own destiny in their hands after winning 24-20 last Saturday against the Assumption Greyhounds to improve to 8-1 on the season.  This week the Falcons are resting up and getting ready for their last opponent, Stonehill Skyhawks, on November 7.

Last week the Falcons got back to their game plan as the offense had 314 total yards and ate up 30 minutes of clock.  Bryant Johnson connected with John Malone twice and Kelley Rowe once for scores in the second half.  Then Tyler McNamara made a 24 yard field goal early in the fourth.

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Bryant Johnson and the Falcons drove 91-yards in the final minutes to pull out a victory and improve to 7-1 on the season.

One thing that the Bentley Falcons learned last week is you cannot take a team lightly no matter if they are 0-6 or 6-0, but as all great teams do, the Falcons found a way to win the game.  With an impressive drive inside the last two minutes Bryant Johnson took the offense 91 yards to give the Falcons a 28-27 edge over the Setters.

Last Saturday both sides of the ball struggled throughout most of the game.  The offense brought in its usual numbers, 408 yards of total offense, but gave up three interceptions and two fumbles.

The defense had some troubles of its own, but when it counted Chris Carroll picked off the ball on the Bentley two-yard line and returned it to the nine with 2:30 left in the game.  Matt Zahoruiko had another great performance with 15 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble.

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Linebacker Matt Zahoruiko is second in Division II in tackles.

The Bentley Falcons are 6-1 after a great 17-14 win over the Southern Connecticut State Owls last Friday.  The win was enough to propel the Falcons up two notches to number 4 in the NCAA DII Football Super Regional One rankings.

Friday night was another rainy game for Bentley, but thanks to a superb performance from the defense the Falcons were able to pull another one out.  Chris Carroll tied a school record with three interceptions and Matt Zahoruiko matched his career best with 15 tackles on the night.  Addison Davids also had a pick on a much needed third down pass for the Owls.

The Bentley offense had no problems moving the ball up and down the field, but had trouble getting into the end zone.  The Falcon offense had a total of 310 yards of offense with 129 of it on the ground.

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The Falcons struggled to get into the end zone last Saturday against Merrimack at the drenched Warrior Field.  Although Bentley never got into the end zone they almost kicked enough field goals to win the game, falling by the score of 14-12.

Another great accomplishment was the Falcon defense holding the Warrior offense to 311 total yards.  This is quite an accomplishment as the Warrior offense had 600-yard offensive games the prior two weeks.

Darryl Laforest and Matt Zahoruiko led the Falcon defense with only allowing 14 points.  Zahoruiko had 13 tackles and Laforest had a career best 10 tackles.

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