WALTHAM, Mass. – A first-quarter pick-six by graduate safety Aaron Racki (Tampa, Fla./Cambridge Christian HS) gave Bentley University a 14-0 lead and the Falcons went on to post a 27-9 Falcon Weekend win over Pace University in Northeast-10 Conference football Saturday afternoon on the Bentley football field.

Bentley, which crammed all of its scoring into the first half, squared its overall record at 3-3 and improved to 2-1 in conference play.  Pace dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-3 NE10.

Graduate quarterback Mark Waid (Cortland, Ohio/Girard HS), who accounted for 249 of Bentley's 300 yards of total offense, staked the Falcons to a 7-0 lead with a two-play, 58-yard drive near the midpoint of the first. After the Falcon defense forced their second three-and-out, Waid broke a 31-yard run to the Setter 27. On the next play, he found junior Rashon Bradford (Rahway, N.J./Rahway HS) in the endzone for his seventh TD pass of the season.

Pace drove the ball on its next possession, moving inside the Falcon 30. Setter redshirt freshman QB Aidan Kennedy (Lakewood, N.Y.), trying to escape a sack by graduate linebacker Salvatore Lupoli Jr. (Chelmsford/Chelmsford HS), unloaded the ball into Racki's waiting arms and he took it the distance.

Lupoli Jr., last week's D2Football.com National Defensive Player of the Week, had another outstanding game as he amassed 17 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Over the last three weeks, he has been in on 55 tackles.

The lead grew to 27-0 in the first nine-plus minutes of the second quarter as senior tailback Vinnie Holmes (Mansfield/Mansfield HS) and Waid both took the ball into the endzone. Holmes finished an 11-play, 66-yard drive with a two-yard run and Waid scored on a one-yard keeper to complete a 10-play, 77-yard march.

Pace accounted for the only scoring of the second half. A safety on a mishandled fumble late in the third spoiled the shutout bid and sophomore Nasir Robinson (Penns Grove, N.Y.) completed an outstanding game with a 36-yard TD run with 2:24 to play. Robinson, who also had a 52-yard gain, finished with 177 yards on 21 carries.

Waid scrambled for 79 yards on 19 carries and completed 16 of 28 passes for 170. Bradford and Holmes each caught four passes for the Falcons.

The Falcon D limited Pace to 234 net yards, with virtually all coming on the ground. The Setters only threw three passes all day, all before intermission.

Lupoli Jr. was one of three Falcons who reached double-digits in tackles. Junior corner Rene Nunez (Secaucus, N.J./Bergen Catholic HS) and senior linebacker Nick Pucillo (Acton/Acton-Boxborough Reg. HS) were each credited with ten stops.

Next Saturday, Bentley will play a noon game at American International.