Chargers look to continue Elm City domination

NEW HAVEN — To say that the University of New Haven football team had shifted its focus to Southern Connecticut State as soon as the bus left the parking lot after a 36-10 win at Pace University on Saturday would be an exaggeration.

It was actually a lot sooner than that.

“We started talking about Southern Connecticut about 10 seconds after Pace was over,” UNH head coach Chris Pincince said. “As we talked on the field after the Pace game, our first thought was Southern and the importance of this week.”

That’s what rivalries are all about, as the 30th installment of UNH-SCSU unfolds on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Ralph DellaCamera Stadium, with the Elm City Trophy on the line. The game will be televised locally on MyTV9.

“I’ve never hid the fact that this is the most important game on our schedule, and has been since I started coaching here 24 years ago,” said Pincince. “It’s unique, because we’re so close to each other.”

Don’t say the word “rivalry” around Southern head coach Tom Godek, however. He’s a bit uneasy with the word in relation to this game, for a variety of reasons. One of those could be the fact that UNH has dominated the series, particularly recently. The Chargers are 22-6-1 overall against Southern and have won nine of the 10 meetings since they joined the Northeast-10 in 2009.

The teams enter the game coming from different directions. UNH (1-1, 1-0 NE-10) is trying to continue its momentum after dominating Pace.

On the flip side, SCSU (1-1, 0-1 NE-10) is trying to put behind the bad memories of its Sept. 7 loss at home to Bentley. The Owls dominated early and led 16-0 at halftime, only to allow 24 unanswered points at one point and fall, 24-22.