WORCESTER, MA – Jawara Loftis (Dorchester,
MA) caught two touchdown passes in his final collegiate
game as Merrimack cruised to a 34-7 win over Assumption College in
a non-conference matchup Saturday.
Loftis tallied three catches for 105 yards, including a 51-yard
touchdown pass 17 seconds into the third quarter that gave the
Warriors a 14-0 lead.
The game was scoreless until freshman James Suozzo
(Everett, MA) connected with classmate Quivari
Jackson (Lynn, MA) on a two-yard touchdown pass with 11
seconds remaining in the first half. Suozzo marched his team 80
yards in six plays over 1:19 with the big play a 54-yard pass on
third-and-five to Jackson bringing the visitors down to the
Assumption five yard-line.
The Warriors needed just one play on their first drive of the
third quarter as Suozzo found Loftis for the 51-yard score.
After Assumption cut the score to 14-7 on a Joey Fabiano touchdown
pass, the Warriors responded in five plays, with Suozzo finding
Loftis in the end zone from seven yards out, extending the lead to
21-7. With time winding down in the third, Suozzo and Jackson
combined on their second score of the day, as the freshman tallied
his second receiving touchdown of the day and third of the season,
this time from 17-yards out. Merrimack rounded out its scoring
behind a three-yard touchdown run from Jake Manning
(Dunstable, MA) early in the fourth quarter.
Suozzo finished with a career-high four touchdown passes on
24-of-39 passing for 338 yards, while Jeremiah Watts
(Clovis, CA) concluded a stellar season with nine more
catches for 101 yards. Watts finishes the season with 72 catches,
second-most in school history for a single-season, for 924 yards
and nine touchdowns. Jackson set a career-high with seven catches
for 87 yards and two scores, while Manning, with running backs
Richard Johnson (Brockton, MA) and Anthony
Smalls (Natick, MA) out of the lineup with injuries,
rushed for 60 yards on 19 carries.
Mike O’Brien (Marlboro, MA) tallied his sixth
interception of the season, while preseason All-American
Andrew Jackson (New Britain, CT) added a pick of
his own and also caught one pass for 32 yards offensively.
Dennis Works (Woburn, MA) and Shane
O’Connor (Bellarose, NY) each recovered a fumble, as
the Warriors’ defense tallied five sacks.
Picked to finish fifth in the conference in the preseason, the
Warriors finished third overall with a 6-4 record, 4-3 in the
Northeast-10. They were 4-1 on the road, with the lone blemish
coming against Division I-AA Bryant University.