Welcome to www.Collegefootballfan.com

"Get off the couch and go to a game!"

The Goal - See 'em all!

Wagner Seahawks Soar over St. Peter's Peacocks. 52-25

(Thursday, Sept. 15)

Jersey City, NJ - Collegefootballfan.com took a step down to 1AA non-scholarship for the first time to see Wagner College defeat 52-25 St. Peter's College in a game that tied our mark for the most points scored in a non-division 1A game.  As a matter of fact, the 77-point mark tied the record which involved a game with Wagner in 1982, except that time, Wagner was on the losing end of a D-3 playoff game to St. Lawrence, 43-34.  Amazingly, Head Coach Walt Hamline has been in charge of the program on Staten Island for all these years!  His charges raised their record to 3-0 while the host team fell to 1-2 despite 126 yards by RB Sean Mayers who eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the third straight time.  Wagner dominated on the arm of SR QB John Sciarra who threw for 298 yards and 4 TD passes.  Sciarra, from LaCanada, CA, transferred from UCLA, and was on the bench for the Bruins when we saw the defeat Washington at the Rose Bowl in 2001.  We wonder if he's the son of the former UCLA QB of the same name from the late 70's.

      The Seahawks drew first blood when Sciarra threw a 23-yard TD pass on their first drive to WR Shaun Glover. PK Piotr Czech booted the extra point.  DT Thomas Davis recovered a bad snap at the Peacock 36.  Three yards later, Sciarra connected with WR Chris Turner to take a 14-0 lead halfway through the first. 

     In the second, St. Peter's got on the board next as QB Scott Bonnono connected with a wide-out on a fourth and eight from the Hawks' 32 to get to the six.  Bonnono snuck in from the one and Vince Privitelli converted to make the score 14-7.  No one score again until :59 remained in the half when Sciarra found Turner in the left corner for a 16-yard score to go up 21-7.  St. Peter's fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Wagner took advantage as Sciarra found Turner for a 28-yard score to take a 28-7 lead as the half ended.

    At half-time, Football Fred and Craig Burroughs of Don Hansen's College Football Weekly exchanged stories of the many different places they've traveled to see various college football games as well as future games they'll be attending.  Both have seen teams and leagues in Canada and Mexico as well as the US.  It was interesting to hear that VMI is starting a sprint football program.  CFF would like to see more universities enter into the sport, but we're sure budgets and Title IX restrictions make it prohibitive for most.  We're sure some schools have plenty of under-sized former high school players who are pretty good just itching to continue their football careers a few more years.  It could make for some fast, exciting games.

   St. Peter's DB Jahmar Reynolds intercepted a Sciarra pass and took it to the Hawks' 15.  Bonnono hit WR Brandon Edmonds for an 11-yard TD pass.  The kick was blocked and the score was 28-13.  Wagner came back right away for a 66-yard drive culminating in a 14-yard TD pass to Mike Malik.  The Seahawks' DB Chris Ferrara picked off a Bonnono pass on the next defensive series and the Hawks drove down the field with RB Marcus Wilson doing the honors with a 24-yard TD run.  Wagner dominated, 42-13, but the Cocks' Carl Cowart broke free on the kick return for a 90-yard TD.  The 2-point conversion was stopped and the lead was 42-19 15 seconds later.  Wagner got a good return to its 45 which resulted in a 40-yard FG by Czech with plenty to spare.  It was feast or famine for the Peacocks' kick return team, as they fumbled the kick-off for the second time this evening. 

   Wagner took over on the SPC 26 and Wilson carried it in from the 5 for a 52-19 lead.  Mayers would tally a 10-yard TD run with 9:00 remaining to close out the scoring at 52-25 and both teams emptied benches to give other palyers some game experience.

Extra points: St. Peter's Cochrane field is the first real Astro-turf we've seen in several years.  The turf doubles as its baseball field.  The bleachers are on one sideline which are outside the center field fence.  The home team is on the sideline opposite the bleachers and press box.

As far as we know, this is a record.  SPC OL Stanley Saint Germaine is 6'-3"weighs 416 lbs according to the program.  He started, and he moves his feet pretty well for such a big guy.

We've seen Wagner play twice in 1983 and 1984 against Montclair State, once home and once away.  Both games resulted in ties, 20-20 and 10-10.  We remember the beautiful view of New York harbor form the visiting bleachers at Wagner's field.  On a picture-perfect fall afternoon, we saw a big white cruise ship on the way out to sea.  Wish we had had a camera!

Don't know what the intention of the NCAA is regarding this division 1AA non-scholarship arrangement.  We know it has something to do with keeping basketball programs with non 1A football programs eligible for D1, but it precludes the football players in these programs from getting into post-season play.  The caliber we saw is definitely Division III.  These teams should be allowed to participate in their post-season.

The editor of CFF is more than twice the age of players on both teams, but if he had any eligibility left, he could be the starting punter for either one!

Note that in the four games we've seen Wagner, two are ties, and the other two are reverse digit scores.    Talk about trivial!