Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: Alex Pandolfi Mike LaStella is about to make a big 44 yard kickoff return

Sept. 8, Pleasantville- The Setters home opening football game a week ago Saturday, was not the prettiest of all, as they fell to the Pioneers of Long Island University (LIU)-CW Post 41-0. This was also the first conference match up the Setters have had this season.

The Pioneers did not wait too long to pounce on the Setters. In their second drive post running back, junior Anthony Lazarus ran four yards in for a touchdown giving them a 7-0 lead. It was also on this drive that Lazarus reached a career milestone of 2,000 rushing yards. Despite having 2,000 yards in his career, the Pace defense held him to 57 yards in the game.

Even though they didn't generate any points for the game, the Setters did not leave this game without some outstanding plays. One of those plays came during kickoff following the first Pioneer touchdown when Setters wide receiver Mike LaStella returned the kickoff for 44 yards. LaStella also lead the team in receiving yards on the day with 40 yards on three receptions. Unfortunately, the Setters could not get anything going after that big play.

CW Post went on to attach ten more points to the scoreboard before the half was all said and done. They went into halftime with a 17-0 lead.

The Pioneers would not give up on the Setters as they tagged on ten more points in the third quarter, giving them a 27-0 lead. During the third quarter another player for CW Post had a milestone. Junior kicker Andrew Kroell hit a career long 45 yard field goal which gave the Pioneers a 20-0 lead at the time.

Post in the fourth quarter still added more to their commanding lead as they scored two touchdowns to end it. One touchdown coming from senior running back Frank Prochilo with only seven seconds left in the game.

On the afternoon the Setters junior quarterback Jeremy Ducos had nine completions for 71 yards with five interceptions and senior running back Chris Castellano had 20 yards on the ground in ten attempts.

With the loss Pace will go 0-1 in the Northeast-10 conference (NE-10), and 0-2 overall stemming from a loss to Husson College on Aug. 31, where the Setters created some of their own milestones. A new school record was set when Setter defensive back junior Jonathan Jones had four interceptions (which is the most in a single game for Pace). Senior linebacker for the Setters Joseph Streany was named the NE-10's football defensive player of the week. Streany registered 27 total tackles, being only one shy of the school record set by Brian Pirone in 1997. Streany also had 19 total tackles this past weekend.

After the game against CW Post, Streany was asked if he was frustrated in the team's overall performance despite his great performance so far and he replied, "It's a team game so of course it's a little frustrating but, fighting with one another or putting the blame on one person won't solve problems. We got practice Monday so hopefully we can pull off a win next Friday."

First year Outside Linebackers coach and former Setter football player Mike Mattone was also asked how he felt about the Setters football team so far. He stated that, "This is a young team with not a lot of experience. The score does not reflect the improvement of the team from day one. We have faith in everyone and we will hopefully get together and start pulling some wins off soon."

The Setters continue to hold their heads up high, looking forward to this week's home game on Sat. Sept. 22 at 12 p.m., against NE-10 conference team Saint Anselm.

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