Herbert Woodard leads Greyhound football past Saint Anselm, 16-7, in Fall Homecoming game

September 27, 2008

Assumption 16, Saint Anselm 7

WORCESTER, Mass. --- Sophomore running back HERBERT WOODARD (Salem, NJ/Salem) rushed 24 times for 105 yards and a touchdown as Assumption College defeated Saint Anselm College, 16-7, in a Northeast-10 Conference football game SATURDAY in the Multi-Sport Stadium.

The game marked the highlight of Fall Homecoming weekend for the Greyhounds.

Woodard become just the eighth Greyhound to reach 100 career points and just the third to accomplish the feat as a sophomore. He now has scored 17 touchdowns for 102 points in 14 games in his career.

On the other side, Saint Anselm freshman quarterback MARC WILSON (Farmington, CT/Bridgeton Academy) was a one-man show rushing an incredible 36 times for 149 yards. Saint Anselm is now 0-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

The Greyhounds, now 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, opened the scoring in the first period converting the opening kickoff into three points as freshman placekicker ZACK OKOLOWITCZ (Cranston, RI/Cranston West) kicked a 31-yard field goal---his first career field goal---to cap an eight-play, 39-yard drive.

Freshman return man GEOFFREY MOCK (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) returned the opening kickoff 33 yards to the Assumption 47. Sophomore quarterback JOSH RATACIK (Manchester, NH/Central) found senior wide out JOEY FABIANO (Westwood, MA/Westwood) for 19 yards and a first down and Woodard rushed 15 yards for another to highlight the short march.

The Greyhounds upped the advantage to 9-0 in the second period as sophomore D.B. HASEOTES (North Attleboro, MA/Moses Brown) tossed a 24-yard scoring strike to Fabiano on a fake field goal play with 11:57 left. Hawks' sophomore linebacker MICHAEL LADD (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth) blocked the conversion kick.

Saint Anselm marched the ensuing series 72 yards in 10 rushing plays for its only score. Sophomore running back JOE TRAN (Quincy, MA/Archbishop Williams) capped the drive with a 12-yard sprint off-right tackle. Junior MIKE BARROS (Ludlow, MA/Ludlow) kicked the conversion to cut the deficit to two points, 9-7. Wilson carried five times for 23 yards and Tran added 49 yards in five carries.

The Greyhounds drove for the game-clincher on their first possession of the third period going 53 yards in eight plays. Woodard did the bulk of the work carrying seven times for 34 yards, while the Ratacik-Fabiano duo team for a nine-yard advance and sophomore running back LANCE MITCHELL (Boynton Beach, FL/Pope John II) added a 12-yard sweep. Woodard capped the drive with a three-yard TD run, while Okolowitcz kicked the conversion point.

GREYHOUND NOTES: all-America offensive lineman J.P. BISCEGLIA ‘84 (Shrewsbury, MA) was inducted into the Alumni-Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday evening . . . Saint Anselm outgained the Greyhounds running 75 plays for 303 total yards to the Hounds' 62 plays for 277 total yards however Assumption held a five-minute advantage in time of possession (32:32-27:28) . . . post-graduate tight end JAKE LONGENECKER (Fernandina, FL/Manchester West) caught one pass for 11 yards in the third period however became the eighth Greyhound with over 1,000 yards receiving (81 receptions for 1,006 yards) . . . senior wide receiver JOEY FABIANO (Westwood, MA/Westwood) caught five passes for 63 yards and now has 21 receptions for 170 yards for the season and 82 receptions for 915 yards in his career . . . sophomore wide out MARCUS NICHOLS (Salem, NJ/Salem) had one reception for 43 yards and had another for 45 yards called back on a penalty . . . freshman punter GEOFF NOWAK (West Palm Beach, FL/Wellington) averaged 43.2 yards for six kicks . . . the fake field goal play with Haseotes and Fabiano is the second time this year that the duo has accomplished the ultimate result having done it at Sacred Heart (9/6/08) . . .

sophomore running back HERBERT WOODARD (Salem, NJ/Salem) now has 289 yards on 75 attempts this year and 1,255 career yards on 254 carries . . . he also has 604 yards of all-purpose yards (151.0 per game average) this year . . . sophomore wide out DOMINIQUE PRICE (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) had just two catches for 18 yards and has 23 for 218 yards for the season . . .

Defensively, sophomore defensive back KEITH BATES (Holden, MA/Wachusett) had a career game with 7-7--14 tackles, while senior defensive back DAN HICKEY (Auburn, MA/Auburn) had a superb game with 2-8--10 tackles . . . senior defensive back CHRIS MARTINO (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) ended with 6-3--9 tackles and now has 118-113--231 career tackles . . . junior linebacker DUSTIN ZITZMANN (Pinellas Park, FL/Dixie Hollins) finished with 1-6--7 tackles and now has 97-158--255 in his career . . . sophomore nose tackle MIKE FOLEY (Holden, MA/Saint John's) finished with 5-2--7 tackles, 2.5 quarterback sacks, 4.0 tackles-for-loss and three quarterback hurries . . . sophomore defensive back TYSON GARCIA (Charlton, MA/Shepherd Hill) got his first career interception along with two break-ups . . . the series with Saint Anselm is now even after 11 games at 5-5 1 with the Greyhounds dominating of late winning five of the last six meetings . . .

NEXT WEEK: the Greyhounds travel to Bentley College FRIDAY (Ocotber 3, 2008) for a Northeast-10 Conference game . . . kickoff is 7 p.m. . . the next home game is Saturday, October 11 with Pace University at 1 p.m. . .

CLICK HERE for Assumption-Saint Anselm box score