Saint A’s season opener spoiled by Vulcans, 59-13
As a team, one area of Friday’s game which needs correction was third-down conversions, something that every football team knows that if you cannot convert on third down, your team gets stuck in the mud for getting down the field.
A season ago, Saint Anselm Hawks suffered a six-game losing stretch to end the year, their lone victory of the season coming on homecoming weekend in October against American International, 29-21.
Friday night, the Hawks continued that streak to seven, as the Vulcans of California University (PA) made a solid first impression on the year with a 59-13 destruction on junior transfer quarterback Phillip Tran and his squad.
Tran, who was previously out on the West Coast at East Los Angeles CC, found his way over to Manchester to play for head coach Joe Adam in his fourth season.
Completing 30 of 49 passes for 285 yards, Tran was not statistically tanking, as the potential of what he could be for the rest of 2019 lies on the accuracy and decision making in the pocket. Throwing the lone touchdown for the Hawks to senior wide receiver Kimothy Bynum, who was only targeted once the whole game, he made his only catch count to help ease the bleeding of the growing deficit. On top of the touchdown, Tran struggled with throwing four interceptions, one of them led to a pick-six score by red-shirt senior linebacker Julian Cox. Four different Vulcans had an interception off Tran in total.
As a team, one area of Friday’s game which needs correction was third-down conversions, something that every football team knows that if you cannot convert on third down, your team gets stuck in the mud for getting down the field. Out of 14 possible opportunities, the Hawks were successful once, making it a 7 percent conversion rate. Tran and the team got stomped by the Vulcans in critical situations 13 other times.
As for getting down the field, Tran relied on 2018 starting quarterback Eric Fairweather, who lined up at wide receiver, recorded two catches for 82 yards, and his first reception went for 69 yards, the biggest pass play for the Hawks this season.
Utilizing Fairweather as a receiver is an intriguing setup which the Hawks will attempt again next Saturday, when they trek down to Assumption College, ranked second on the Northeast 10 preseason coaches poll.
