Robert Morris Beats Stonehill Behind Dominant Defensive Effort, Pair of Splash Plays on Offense

MOON TWP, Pa. — Robert Morris (6-5, 4-2) and Stonehill (4-7, 3-3) met up for a Northeast Conference showdown on a chilly November. The weather not only put a damper on fan attendance, but it also put a damper on both of the offensive units as the Colonials used a pair splash plays to walk away with a barn-burning 14-3 victory to keep them alive in the NEC title race.

The Colonials were also without their top-two pass catchers, Galen Combs and Jaqai Carter, which paved the way for some other wide receivers such as sophomore Kymone Brown, to step up and make game-changing plays in the crucial win despite the obvious handicap that they were playing with being without two key players.

Brown recorded his first-career catch which was a 41-yard touchdown in the third quarter that put the Colonials ahead of the Skyhawks for good.

“It wasn’t just [the weather] we got some key components that couldn’t play,” Robert Morris head coach Bernard Clark said. “We ran the ball as much as we could, threw the ball where we needed to, Carson [Haggard] made some good plays, and the team did what they needed to do to win the game so that was the most important thing.”

After consecutive punts from both the Colonials and Skyhawks, coupled with a tipped Carson Haggard interception, it looked as if the game would enter halftime scoreless.

The Skyhawks had other plans as they got to a Colonial punt deep in their own territory and blocked it which set them up at the 12-yard line with just over a minute left in the half. The blocked punt turned into a short 28-yard Dominec Scalese field goal and a 3-0 halftime lead for Stonehill.

Robert Morris forced a punt on the opening drive of the third quarter, which paved the way for the first of two second-half touchdowns. Haggard’s 200 passing yards in the game also moved him just 27 yards away from becoming the program’s single-season passing yard leader with at least one more game remaining.

“He knows exactly what to do,” Clark said about his quarterback. “When you are dealing with a guy with his type of leadership, a guy that’s a little bit older, he knows what needs to be done. That’s why he never gets rattled. He keeps himself calm and he plays well.”

The Colonials moved the ball past midfield with the legs of running back Keino Fitzpatrick II and then the first of three high-level throws from Haggard’s impressive second half happened as he floated a ball right into the hands of Brown at the goal line for the go-ahead touchdown.

Stonehill never recovered after the touchdown as the Skyhawks’ offense only managed to have two snaps of offense on the Colonials’ side of the field the rest of the game due to the crippling defense that Bernard Clark’s squad played with.

The Colonials’ defense allowed just 184 total yard of offense and only a field goal on a short field that was set up by a blocked punt on special teams.

“We’ve got to play sound defensively when you’re missing offensive components,” Clark said. “Our guys are playing hard. They’re getting after it and that’s what were enjoying about it.”

Robert Morris added onto its lead midway though the fourth quarter after Haggard went to wide receiver Noah Schaerli on the first play of the drive for a 65-yard completion. Schaerli could have easily scored on the play but he celebrated too early which allowed a Stonehill defender tackle him from behind.

Fortunately for the Colonials, Haggard found tight end Max Lopacienski on a roll-out pass three plays later for a 3-yard touchdown. Those handful of explosive plays were all that the Colonials needed to walk away victorious behind a second-consecutive defensive effort.

With the win over Stonehill, and Central Connecticut State’s loss to Long Island on Saturday, Robert Morris is still technically alive in the Northeast Conference title race with one week remaining. While the tiebreakers are unclear right now, it makes next week’s contest against LIU a must-win for the Colonials.

“It gives an opportunity at the end of the year [that] you didn’t know you would have,” Clark said about the other results around the NEC. “We have to take care of business next week and then we will see where the chips fall from there.”

At the very least, the Colonials will need to handle business against the Sharks next week, and will need Duquesne to defeat Central Connecticut State to create a three-way tie for first place.