Game Notes | NEC Front Row | Live Stats
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart football team returns to Campus Field this Saturday, hosting Robert Morris for a 1 p.m. game on Family Weekend.
Sacred Heart enters this week's contest at 5-1 after a 31-24 win at Cornell last week. Senior running back Nate Chavious made the most of a career-high 24 carries, posting a career-high 160 yards with two rushing touchdowns. On Monday, Chavious became the third different Pioneer to be named NEC Offensive Player of the Week. Defensively, Brendon Slade led SHU with a career-high 11 tackles. CJ Parvelus added nine tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and a pass breakup.
Quarterback RJ Noel had 206 passing yards at Cornell last week, pushing him past 10,000 career yards of total offense. He enters Saturday's game with 8,335 career passing yards. That puts him 468 away from tying Dale Fink for the SHU career passing yards record. With his two touchdown passes at Cornell, Noel has 75 career touchdown throws and 96 total touchdowns. In three games against RMU, Noel has 703 yards passing with seven touchdowns and two rushing scores.
Last week, the SHU defense had five sacks for the third time this season. The Pioneers are fourth in the nation in sacks at 3.83 per game, as well as ninth with 8.5 tackles for loss per game. SHU is also ninth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 18.8 points per game.
The Pioneers are 10-8 all-time against the Colonials. SHU has won four of the last five meetings in the series including each of the last three games. Last season, the Pioneers forced eight turnovers in a 26-13 win at Robert Morris. SHU had four interceptions and recovered four fumbles while holding the Colonials to -7 yards rushing. James Rentz led the defense with six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and an interception. Offensively, Noel was 21-for-40 for 221 yards and a touchdown while also adding a rushing touchdown.
Robert Morris is 1-6 on the season and 0-2 in the NEC after falling at Duquesne 31-24 last week. It was the Colonials' fourth loss this season by 14 points or less. RMU led 24-17 late in the third quarter before the defending conference champs scored 14 unanswered points to rally for the win. Despite being last in the conference in offense, the Colonials are third in the NEC in sacks with 19 and lead the league in red zone defense at 67.7%.
