New Hampshire Beats Stonehill 42-35 on Two Special Teams Scores
Take away the kickoff return and the blocked field goal return and Stonehill wins this game 35-28. New Hampshire scored touchdowns on both, 14 points on plays that were not offense, and held on for a 42-35 win.
Ryan Ricketti returned the opening kickoff 96 yards, and Shane Eason's 3-yard run tied it for Stonehill. Then Trevor Barry took a blocked field goal back 71 yards to make it 14-7 late in the first quarter. Jack O'Connell hit Kevin Sheridan from 16 yards to tie it 14-14, and that was the last time it was level. Jocquez Smith ran 26 yards for New Hampshire before the half, and Brooks Bentley's 5-yard pass to Ty Carlson made it 28-14 in the third.
Stonehill kept pushing. O'Connell found Jaylin Baker from 6 yards, and after Smith's 34-yard run made it 35-21, Baker caught another from 21 to open the fourth. Smith's 3-yard run answered it, and O'Connell hit Cole Clarke from 6 yards with 5:41 left to make it a seven-point game. That was the end of the scoring.
The yardage says Stonehill deserved better: 514 total yards (380 passing) to New Hampshire's 348, and no interceptions thrown. But Stonehill lost a fumble and New Hampshire sacked O'Connell five times. New Hampshire is 1-1, Stonehill is 1-2. New Hampshire led within 13 seconds of the opening kickoff, and Stonehill spent the rest of the game chasing.
For fantasy, O'Connell scored 44.5 points in a loss, and Smith had 30.2 on three rushing touchdowns, which is a good problem to have.