Sacred Heart Wins Spring 2021 NEC Football Championship Game Over Duquesne

Revenge can restore the balance of power between two opponents.

During the 2021 Spring regular season, Sacred Heart’s football team traveled to Duquesne back on March 7, and the Pioneers suffered a 30-27 loss.

A little over a month later, Sacred Heart would get their revenge against Duquesne in the first ever Northeast Conference (NEC) football championship game on Sunday as the Pioneers won in overtime 34-27 at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field.

After both teams could not score on their opening offensive drives of the game, Sacred Heart scored first on their second possession of the game. With 6:52 left in the first quarter, Pioneers quarterback Marquez McCray- completed 15 of 23 passes for two touchdowns and 180 yards - tossed the ball to wide receiver Naseim Brantley, who then threw a 6-yard reverse touchdown pass to offensive lineman Garrett Lynn to give the Pioneers a 6-0 lead. Noah Gettman missed the extra point.

Duquesne responded to Sacred Heart’s touchdown with a slow methodical drive down the field ending in a Billy Lucas 1-yard touchdown rush to give the Dukes a 7-6 with 0:11 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Duquesne’s third drive looked promising when Lucas - who rushed for 110 yards on 8 carries- rushed for 43 yards to the left side on the second play of the drive. However, Pioneers linebacker Myles Talley would gobble up Lucas for no gain on the next play. Talley then made another big play on the drive almost picking off Dukes quarterback Joe Mischler – completed 23 of 40 passes for three touchdowns and 335 yards- on second-and-11 at Duquesne’s 20-yard line. Even though the Dukes were in field goal range, the drive ended with Brian Bruzdewicz missing a 35-yard field goal wide to the right.

Sacred Heart stopping the Dukes to no points gave the Pioneers momentum as on the ensuing drive, McCray threw his first touchdown pass of the game to wide receiver Rob DiNota from 7 yards out. On the extra point attempt, the Pioneers holder Justice Seales fumbled the snap, and he tried running the ball in the endzone, but Dukes player Harvey Clayton Jr. pushed him out of bounds ending the drive with Sacred Heart leading 12-7.

With 0:45 left in the second quarter, Pioneers defensive back Randy Brito picked off Mischler as that turnover made sure the Dukes would not score any more points before halftime.

Mischler’s late first half interception did not negatively affect his game going into the third quarter. A 26-yard rush by Lucas on the Dukes opening second half drive led to Mischler throwing a 11-yard touchdown to a diving Joey Isabella, who recorded his first collegiate touchdown, to give the Dukes a 13-12 lead. The Dukes failed on the two-point conversion after Mischler’s pass was deflected by Pioneers defensive back Lamar Evans.

Later on in the third quarter, Sacred Heart would score 15 unanswered points as McCray threw his second touchdown pass of the day to running back Malik Grant from 2 yards away and running back Julius Chestnut- who rushed 173 yards on 25 carries- would bulldoze over Duquesne defensive back Leandro Debrito for a 6-yard touchdown.

The Pioneers 27-13 lead going into the fourth quarter looked comfortable, but it did not last long.

With 11:54 left in the fourth quarter, Mischler threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cyrus Holder- recorded 8 receptions for 131 yards- to trim the Pioneers lead to 27-20.

Then with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter, a punt by Pioneers player Noah Gettman pinned the Dukes at their own 2-yard line. However, the Dukes were able to travel 98 yards down the field tying the game at 27 as the drive ended with Mischler throwing another touchdown pass to Isabella- who recorded 6 receptions for 76 yards- from 35 yards away as he outran Pioneers cornerback Frank Alfano.

With the game tied at 27 going into overtime, the Dukes seemed to have a lot of momentum.

The Pioneers started with the ball in overtime and after an incomplete pass by McCray on second-and-8 and getting sacked on third-and-8, the team faced fourth-and-14 on Duquesne’s 29-yard line. Instead of trying to attempt a field goal on fourth down, Sacred Heart went for it and McCray threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Brantley giving the Pioneers a 34-27 lead in overtime.

Duquesne tried tying the game in overtime, but that did not turn out so well when Mischler ran with the ball on first-and-3 and fumbled the football at the 1-yard line which resulted in Alfano recovering the ball in the endzone for the Pioneers ending the game.

For Sacred Heart, the last time the team won a share of the NEC Championship was in 2018. The conference championship win over Duquesne puts Sacred Heart in the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2014.