New Haven’s bid for NE-10 title falls just short

New Haven’s hopes for a Northeast-10 Conference championship came up a yard short on Saturday.

LIU Post stopped Brett Huber at the 1-yard line as time expired, giving the undefeated Pioneers a 17-13 victory and the 17 13 conference championship in Brookville, N.Y.

The Chargers and Pioneers both entered the game unbeaten in conference play. LIU Post finished the regular season 10-0 (9-0 NE-10). UNH fell to 8-2 (8-1 NE-10).

The Chargers will now await word of a possible postseason bid. They entered the week in the No. 4 spot in Super Region One with the top seven teams earning bids to the national tournament field. The NCAA selection show is slated for Sunday at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, LIU Post built an early 10-0 lead on a field goal followed by a 1yard touchdown run from Malik Pierre.

New Haven responded with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Ajee Patterson to Ju’an Williams with under a minute left in the first half to cut the lead to 10-7 at the break.

Michael Staleny connected on a pair of second-half field goals to put UNH up 13-10, but LIU Post’s Chris Laviano found Michael Richardson from 44 yards out for the go-ahead touchdown with just over 6 minutes remaining.

Patterson would be intercepted on UNH’s next possession, but the Chargers’s defense pushed the Pioneers back and forced a punt with just over 3 minutes to go.

Starting at the LIU Post 37, New Haven marched down the field and had a first and goal from the 8. After a pair of incompletions, Patterson connected with Huber, but he was stopped at the 1-yard line as time expired.

Patterson finished 32 of 49 passing for 366 yards and a touchdown for UNH while taking over the school record in career passing yards with 9,592, 20 more than Ryan Osieki (2009-12). Williams had 13 receptions for 217 yards and touchdown.

Pierre led LIU post with 151 yards on the ground and a touchdown, while Richardson had 6 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.