Worcester, Mass. (November 2) -- On Senior Day at the Multi-Sport Stadium, the Assumption College football team saw its three-game winning streak come to an end as the Greyhounds dropped a 31-21 final to visiting Merrimack College in Northeast-10 Conference play.

Prior to the start of the game, the Assumption College football program recognized 25 seniors who were playing in their final regular-season home game for their contributions to the program during their careers.

Merrimack took advantage of the second Assumption turnover of the game midway thru the first quarter as Warriors kicker Nick Zwaan connected on a 24-yard field goal for the 3-0 lead with 8:31 on the clock. Merrimack got the ball following a fumble on a punt return by the Hounds, with the Warriors recovering the ball at the Assumption 30-yard line.

On their next possession, the Warriors used a long run on third down by quarterback Joe Clancy to get to fourth and four at the 16, but a pass breakup by senior Erik Abramson (Deerfield, Mass./Frontier Regional) forced the turnover on downs. Merrimack extended the lead with 8:45 left in the second quarter as Jere Brown pulled down a 10-yard touchdown pass from Clancy in the right side of the end zone for the 10-0 lead. The touchdown capped a nine-play, 89-yard drive that took just 3:16.

Assumption, which struggled at times offensively in the opening half with 124 yards of offense, got on the board in the final seconds of the period as senior Raheem Kelly-Reid (Springfield, Mass./Chicopee) picked up a blocked field and took it back 65 yards for a touchdown as time expired. Kelly-Reid pushed thru a crowd and won a foot race to the far pylon for the 10-7 halftime margin in favor of the Warriors.

Merrimack struck first in the second half as well as Armond McRae scored on a 16-yard slant pass up the middle that capped off a four-play, 41-yard drive for the 17-7 lead with 8:16 left in the third.

With just over five minutes left in the third, the Hounds had a fourth down and seemed poised to punt, but a fake attempt resulted in a 26-yard pass by Patrick Tyler (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) to Mike Bates (Holden, Mass./Wachusett) to get down to the Merrimack 34-yard line. The Hounds turned that into seven points from one yard out later in the drive as junior Matt Heriveaux (Everett, Mass./Malden Catholic) scored his team-best eighth rushing touchdown of the season for a 17-14 margin with 1:35 left in third.

The Warriors answered though in the first minute of the final quarter as Clancy found Shane Ferguson from seven yards out on fourth down and goal to extend the lead back to double digits at 24-14 with 14:04 on the clock. Clancy connected on a fourth touchdown of the day with 8:45 remaining as he found Zach Ingalls from seven yards out to account for the 31-14 score in favor of the visitors.

A wild day for the Hounds continued with 4:07 left as sophomore Kevin O'Connor (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) picked off Clancy and returned the ball 45 yards up the near sideline for the touchdown to make it a 31-21 final.

Senior Bobby Jordan (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) finished with 169 yards as he completed 14-of-30 passing attempts, while senior All-American Scott Simonson (Red Bank, N.J./Middletown South) had three catches for 54 yards.

Defensively, Abramson led the Hounds with 12 tackles, along with 11 from Bates and 10 from Kelly-Reid.

For Merrimack, Clancy threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns as he completed 33-of-52 passing attempts to lead the offense. Ferguson was the top receiver for the Warriors as he pulled down 12 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown, along with an 84-yard rushing effort by McRae. On defense, Jimmy Holland led the Warriors with an eight-tackle outing.

With the loss, Assumption falls to 5-4 overall and 5-3 in Northeast-10 play, while Merrimack improves to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the league.

Today's game will be re-broadcast on Saturday evening on Charter TV 3 in Worcester, for those within the local viewing area in Central Massachusetts, with Kevin Shea and Andy Lacombe calling the action.

Assumption closes out the regular season on Saturday, November 9th as the Hounds hit the road to LIU Post for a Noon start in Brookville, N.Y. A win would give the Hounds a perfect 5-0 record on the road in Northeast-10 play for the season.

For the latest on Assumption College Athletics, follow the Hounds via social media on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For more information, contact the Office of Athletic Communications at 508-767-7240.