FAIRFIELD, Conn. — For the second time in four seasons, the Sacred Heart University football team completed its home slate undefeated (6-0) following a 42-37 win that also secured a repeat Yankee Conference Championship on a beautiful Saturday at Campus Field. With the victory, the Pioneers improve to 8-3 overall. 

It was a back-and-forth battle until the third quarter when the Pioneers opened a double-digit lead on an 81-yard rushing touchdown and never looked back. It was a day for long touchdowns with three of the Pioneers' six touchdowns coming from 50+ yards out. In total, SHU finished with 521 total yards on offense, including a season-high 424 rushing yards. 
Highlighting the way individually was rookie running back Mitchell Summers, who racked up 147 rushing yards and, on the way, pushed over the 1,000-yard mark for a single season. Included in his 23 attempts was a 53-yard run to the house on the second play of the second half opening drive. 

Quarterback Jack Snyder and running back Trey Eberhart III also surpassed 100 rushing yards on the day, with Snyder leading all with 163 yards and Eberhart rounding out the day with 107 yards. Snyder also finished the day completing eight of his 11 passes for 97 yards with one touchdown.  

Defensively, SHU opened the game with a forced fumble on the first play of the game and racked up six tackles for loss. Kymari Latney and Maximus Mongelli led the Pioneers on the day with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. 

Final Score:
Sacred Heart 42
Merrimack 37

Records:
Sacred Heart (8-3)
Merrimack (3-8)

Top Performers:
Offense - 
Jack Snyder: Passing (8-11, 97 yds, 1 TD) | Rushing (8 carries, 163 yds, 2 TD)
Mitchell Summers: 23 carries, 147 yds, 2 TD
Trey Eberhart III: 6 carries, 107 yds, 1 TD
Jimmy Casey: 1 catch, 20 yards, 1 TD

Defense - 
Kymari Latney: 11 tackles, 1.0/1 TFL/Yds, 1 forced fumble
Maximus Mongillo: 10 tackles
Luke Hackett: 7 tackles, 1.0/2 TFL/Yds
Eli Jordan: 5 tackles, 1.0/2 TFL/Yds

How it Happened:
Merrimack wasted little time out of the gate, scoring on the second play of the game when Brendon Wyatt broke through for a 63-yard score. After empty drives for both teams, the Pioneers put their first points on the board just before the end of the first quarter when Snyder completed a six-play, 74-yard drive with a short right pass to Jimmy Casey in the back of the endzone for a 20-yard TD. 

The Warriors would go back ahead on their first drive of the second quarter, using a six-play, 47-yard drive to go ahead 14-7. The Pioneers answered right back and only needed 38 seconds as Snyder ran straight through the middle of the line and went untouched for 82 yards to knot the score at 14.

Merrimack would close out the first half scoring with a 26-yard field goal that provided a 17-14 margin at the break, despite having a chance to extend that lead with a 31-yard field goal attempt as time expired that sailed wide left. 

Coming out of the halftime break, the Pioneers relied heavily on Summers as he racked up 65 yards on a 75-yard drive, capping it off with a 53-yard touchdown down the home sideline. 
Merrimack responded on its next drive to regain the lead at 24-21 with a short run up the middle from Ayden Perreira. 

The Pioneers would answer with back-to-back touchdowns to close out the third quarter, the first of which was a one-yard dash up the middle for Summers before Eberhart broke through the middle of the line for 81 yards on a drive that needed just three plays and less than 90 seconds to complete. 

Merrimack pulled back within a single score on the first drive of the fourth quarter but was unable to convert on the two-point attempt and trailed 35-30. Sacred Heart responded with another Snyder touchdown as he ran in from 23 yards out to complete a seven-play, 52-yard drive and extend the lead to 42-30. 

The Warriors would try to make it interesting late as they used an 11-play drive to score with 33 seconds remaining, but the Pioneers recovered the onside attempt and would only need to kneel for the victory. 

Up Next:
The Pioneers will head on the road to close out the regular season next Saturday when they travel to Villanova for a 1 PM kick at Villanova Stadium. All of the action will be available live on FloCollege.