WALTHAM, Mass. – Northeast-10 Conference action for the Bentley University Falcons gets underway this Saturday when coach Bill Kavanaugh's team travels to Manchester, N.H. to take on Saint Anselm College. Kick off at Grappone Stadium is set for 4 pm with a webcast available at www.saintanselmhawks.tv.

Bentley will head to the Granite State looking to bounce back from a difficult season-opening loss to a very good West Chester University squad, one that has lost only six regular season games since the start of the 2013 campaign.

Against the Golden Rams, Bentley had the lead for over 40 minutes but saw the visitors return an interception 35 yards for a tie-breaking and game-winning TD with 3:29 left for a 31-24 victory. West Chester, down 10 heading into the final 15 minutes, struck for 17 unanswered points in the final stanza to deny the Falcons.

The fourth quarter, one that saw the Falcons manage only two first downs on five possessions and never cross midfield, was played significantly different from the first three.

During the game's first 45 minutes, Bentley ran 56 plays from scrimmage and amazingly, 37 of those came over the 50 on West Chester's side of the field.

While the Falcons led 24-14 after three, they had the opportunity to have a bigger advantage. There was a missed field goal early in the contest and late in the second, there were two pivotal plays that proved costly. A fumble at the Golden Ram 30 ended a potential scoring drive and on the ensuing possession, a personal foul for leaping during a West Chester punt kept the ball in the visitor's hands. Six plays later, they were in the end zone and the Bentley lead was down to three.

Notable performances in the opener were turned in by a pair of seniors, free safety Sam McDonald (Norfolk/King Philip Reg. HS) and return man Matt Montalto (West Yarmouth/Dennis-Yarmouth Reg. HS), along with sophomore Drew Mahoney (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield Academy).

McDonald picked off a pair of passes, one of which he returned 26 yards to the WC 26 to set up Bentley's first scoring of the game, a 28-yard field goal by freshman Grant Buchanan (Holliston/ Holliston HS). The two gave him 16 for his career, a total no other active Division II player can match, and only two shy of the Bentley and NE-10 career marks, set by Gregg Albano in 2002.

Montalto had an impressive day returning kicks as he amassed 150 yards, most by a Falcon since 2008, on five kickoff returns. He opened the game with a 45-yarder and later took one back 39 yards to midfield.

Mahoney turned in the longest play from scrimmage in Bentley's 29 varsity seasons, rushing 92 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. Coming from the slot, he took the handoff and headed for the sideline before turning up field and sprinting untouched to the end zone. The previous longest scrimmage plays in program history were a pair of 89-yard passes, and the former record for the longest running play had been 78 yards by Bobby Tarr five years ago.

 Senior CJ Scarpa (Andover/Andover HS) started at quarterback for Bentley and wound up playing most of the game after junior Mack Lowrie (Foxborough/Roxbury Latin School) was injured in the second. Scarpa finished 18 of 33 for 165 yards, one TD and one interception while Lowrie, during his two series in the second quarter, was five of seven for 85 yards through the air. He also gained 29 yards on the ground.

The two spread the ball around with five different players pulling in at least three of their pass attempts.

Included was graduate student Chris Calvanese (Norfolk/Xaverian Brothers HS), who caught six for 66 yards, including a TD reception in the third quarter. He's seven away from reaching the 100-reception plateau for his career. Matching him in catches against the Golden Rams was Mahoney.

Saint Anselm will also head into its conference opener looking to claim win number one following a 38-16 road lost to Division I Wagner. The Hawks had a 10-3 lead late in the second quarter before yielding 35 unanswered points.

Saint Anselm converted 9 of 17 third downs and controlled the ball for nearly 35 minutes in Joe Adam's debut as head coach, but was hurt by three turnovers. The Hawk defense yielded 488 yards, better an eight a play, including 312 on the ground.

Yianni Gavalas, who threw for over 3,300 yards in 2014 before missing most of last year due to injury, returned to action as the Hawks' QB. He threw for 263 yards and one score while completing 22 of 40 passes. His primary target was Zach Bartak, with 13 catches for 122 yards to begin his senior season.              

Eric Fairweather, Saint Anselm's QB for most of last year, ran for 14 yards and completed one of four passes.  As a freshman in 2015, he threw for 1,058 yards and ran for 716.

Senior linebacker Josh Garrett leads the Hawk defense. He had 92 tackles last year and kicked off this season with two at Wagner. Defensive back Isaiah Douglas was one of three Hawks with six tackles in the opener and he also had an interception.

Bentley and Saint Anselm have played 16 times previously, with the only Hawk win in the series coming in the Falcons' last trip to Manchester, 38-34 in 2014. In that one, the Hawks scored the final 14, including the game-winning TD with 2:13 to play.

Last year was also a one-possession game, one that saw Bentley running back George Craan (Hyde Park/Concord-Carlisle Reg. HS) take it in from two yards out with 44 seconds left for the game-winning score. That finished a 91-yard, six-play drive that took exactly 100 seconds and featured a 65-yard pass from Montalto, then the Falcon QB, to Calvanese.

Following the trip to Saint Anselm, Bentley will prepare to host Merrimack on Sept. 16, the only home Friday night game of 2016.

BENTLEY BRIEFS: Falcon freshman corner Peter Thorbahn was named the NE-10 Rookie of the Week on Tuesday for his play against West Chester, which included an interception and four solo tackles … Bentley has three players on the roster from New Hampshire: senior punter Tyler Ford (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan HS), junior defensive lineman Andrew Crane (Amherst, N.H./Lawrence Academy) and sophomore d-back Jesse Clauss (Nashua, N.H./Nashua South HS) … Ford was fifth in Division II in punting last year and owns the Bentley and NE-10 career and season punting records (43.0 last year, 40.3 career) … Crane is a starter for the Falcons this season … In addition to McDonald, senior linebacker Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/Barnstable HS) and senior strong safety Junior Chery (Waltham/Waltham HS) also had eight tackles against West Chester.