NCAA Football Championship Series:
New Hampshire 41, Hampton 38

November 25, 2006

Hampton, Va. – The eighth ranked Pirates of Hampton University outscored New Hampshire 17-7 in the second half of Saturday’s NCAA Division I Football Championship first round game, but unfortunately for Hampton the Wildcats’ seven points came on a 4th-and-16 touchdown pass with under five minutes remaining to give UNH the 41-38 victory. The 25-yard touchdown pass from Ricky Santos to Chad Kackert prevented Hampton from winning its first Division I playoff game and ended the career of more than 20 Pirate seniors who depart as the second winningest class in school history with a four-year record of 38-9.

Hampton Photo

Hampton's Alonzo Coleman en route to a 65-yd TD.

“Both sides came out and put fourth an outstanding effort,” said Hampton head coach Joe Taylor the third winningest active coach in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision. “I knew it would come down to who had the ball last and it just came down to one play on fourth down. But I’m proud of our football team and the things we have accomplished.”

It was quite clear early on that the game would be a shootout as both teams combined for 34 points in the first quarter, with the longest drive by either team taking three minutes and 10 seconds.

The Wildcats took the opening drive and marched 75 yards in just 2:27 to go ahead 7-0 on a 1-yard pass from Santos to Aaron Brown. However, Kevin Teel returned the ensuing kickoff 69 yards to give the Pirates great field position at the UNH 21-yard line. From there HU quarterback Princeton Shepherd completed 4-of-4 passes, the last coming on a 4-yard touchdown to Marquay McDaniel to knot the game at seven.

A special teams breakdown led to the Wildcats’ next score when J.E. Frederickson broke free and blocked a punt by Hampton’s Jahmal Blanchard giving New Hampshire a 1st-and-10 at the Pirate 28. Santos threw his second TD of the day to Keith Levan who caught a pass in the flat and broke the tackle of Hampton’s Reginald Knox to go in for the 25-yard score. The extra point attempt was missed but the Wildcats held a 13-7 lead with 5:59 to go in the first.

Once again the Pirates wasted little time answering the challenge when on the first play from scrimmage, senior Alonzo Coleman reeled off his longest run of the year, a 65-yard touchdown to give Hampton its first lead at 14-13.

Hampton went on to add to the lead behind the arm of Shepherd. He directed an 80-yard drive to close out the first quarter, connecting with Onrea Jones and McDaniel for consecutive 16-yard completions. Shepherd followed that with a 21-yard strike to McDaniel, setting up a 4-yard TD run by Kevin Beverly who coasted in courtesy of a punishing lead block by fullback Curtis Lewis.

Looking to outdo his counterpart, Santos, the Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year completed his next six passes to bring New Hampshire to within 21-20 as he connected with record breaking receiver David Ball. Ball, who is the all-time leading receiver in Division I-AA history, surpassing Jerry Rice, out jumped HU cornerback Travarous Bain in the end zone for a 15-yard score.

The Pirates went three and out on their next possession and UNH took advantage when Santos connected with Ball for a go-ahead 7-yard touchdown pass with 6:44 remaining in the first half and the Wildcats in front 27-21.

It appeared that the half would end there, but again a special teams miscue by Hampton aided in the Wildcats’ momentum.

With 38 seconds on the clock and Hampton punting from its own 32-yard line, Pirate long snapper Maurice Riley sent the snap high forcing punter Jahmal Blanchard to leave his feet. By the time Blanchard gathered himself he was forced to run and was brought down at the Hampton 29.

A 19-yard completion to Levan and a pass interference penalty led to Robert Simpson’s 2-yard touchdown run and a 34-21 UNH lead at the half.

Hampton came out of the locker room with the focus clearly being to run the ball against a defense that came in allowing over 150 yards per game.

“They went back to what they do well,” added UNH head coach Sean McConnell of the Pirates’ second half ground attack. “”They threw more than we expected early, but with a back like Coleman I knew they would go back to the running game. He’s as good a back as we’ve seen all year.”

The duo of Coleman and Beverly rushed for 61 of Hampton’s 80 yards on the opening drive of the second half and Princeton Shepherd ran it in from six yards out after being flushed from the pocket. Andrew Paterini’s extra point brought Hampton to within six at 34-28.

The Hampton defense appeared to settle down, forcing the Wildcats to punt on their first possession and on the next Santos was picked of by HU strong safety Derius Swinton who returned it to the UNH 23-yard line before pulling up with what appeared to be a leg cramp.

The Shepherd to McDaniel (6 rec, 59 yds, 2 TD) combination hooked up again, this time on a 6-yard pitch and catch that gave the Pirates a 35-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Paterini booted a 43-yard field goal with just under nine minutes to play and the Pirates were closing in on that elusive playoff win. However, Santos and the battle-tested Wildcats would not go down easy.

Forced into a passing situation, Santos was sacked by Pat Preston and Kendall Langford on consecutive plays to put the Wildcats in a third and long situation. An 18-yard completion to Matt O’Brien made it 4th-and-5 at the UNH 33-yard line. The Wildcats lined up in a punt formation, but the up-back Maurice Duper took the snap and raced 19 yards to the Hampton 48.

The Wildcats made their way to the Hampton 25-yard line where they were again faced with a fourth down (4th-and-16) and their season on the line. Santos dropped back to pass and with Ball surrounded by HU defenders, he found Kackert coming out of the backfield. One-on-one with Pirate linebacker Jimari Jones, Kackert tracked down Santos’ pass in the back of the end zone for the 25-yard touchdown with 4:40 remaining.

A holding penalty and a sack put the Pirates in a 4th-and-23 situation as they attempted to drive down the field for a tying field goal or a winning touchdown, but Shepherd’s pass fell incomplete to give the Wildcats the win.

Santos finished the afternoon 27-of-40 for 315 yards and five touchdowns to four different receivers, including two to Ball (5 rec, 70 yds) as the Wildcats racked up 411 yards of total offense against an HU defense that came in ranked No. 1 in the country against the pass.

Shepherd threw for 186 yards and two scores while Coleman became just the sixth player in I-AA history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons, by running for 143 yards on 21 attempts. And in addition to his two touchdown receptions, McDaniel also became the all-time leader in I-AA in career punt returns with 144. He also holds the record for career punt return yards with 1,897.