This comes from staffer Henry Chisholm

University of New Haven All-American quarterback Ryan Osiecki said he was invited to the New England Patriots rookie mini camp and will have a chance to play for a contract.
“It’s an introduction to the playbook and there are 12 hour days, a lot of on the field stuff and a lot of meeting room stuff,” Osiecki said.
The quarterback, who passed for 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, said he thinks he might be the only quarterback who was invited. He said he will find out in the coming days.
“They didn’t draft any and I checked, they didn’t sign any either,” he said. “As far as my odds go, I’m the only one going, unless they invite other quarterbacks.”
Osiecki joins defensive lineman Raheem Stanley and wide receiver Jason Thompson, who will both attend mini camps.
Stanley was invited to the Kansas City Chiefs camp and Thompson agreed to a three-year contract with the Washington Redskins, according to their agent Tom Kline.
“I’m still in shock a little bit,” Thompson said. “It’s a dream. It’s a dream come true.”
Meanwhile, Stanley said he is proud of his fellow Chargers and looking forward to mini camp.
“I can’t even put into words how proud I am,” he said. “Jason is one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen and Ryan, his arm is ridiculous. I’m happy for both of them to get a chance to live their dreams.”

This is from the UNH web site. The Chargers are off to Winston-Salem for the Super Region One finals next week.

WEST HAVEN, Conn. -The No. 5 nationally ranked University of New Haven football team advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 44-37 win over No. 6 Kutztown University in an offensive showdown on Saturday afternoon at DellaCamera Stadium. The Chargers tallied 538 yards of total offense behind the stellar play of Ryan Osiecki (Seymour, Conn./Seymour / Univ. of Louisville) and Jason Thompson (Stuart, Fla./South Fork ). The two connected on four touchdowns as Osiecki threw for 433 yards on 23-of-31 passing with five touchdowns while Thompson hauled in four touchdowns with 214 yards on six catches.

The Chargers are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Super Region One and improved to 11-1 on the season. Kutztown was the No. 3 seed and concludes the 2011 season with an overall mark of 11-2. UNH advances to take on Winston-Salem State University in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday.

Kutztown received the ball first after New Haven won the toss and deferred to the second half. After the opening kickoff went out-of-bounds, the Golden Bears gained possession at their own 40-yard line. Nine plays later, they capped off a 3:27 drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Mashall Vogel to Josh Mastromatto.

On New Haven's next two possessions, the Chargers drove to the goal line but couldn't find the endzone. Instead they settled for 23- and 21-yard field goals to cut the deficit to one with 4:08 remaining in the first quarter.

The Chargers began the second quarter with the ball and took advantage. After completions to Josh Smart (New Haven, Conn./Hamden ) and Kameel Lashley (Boston, Mass./Boston Comm. Leadership Academy) on the drive, Osiecki finished the possession with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Thompson as New Haven went ahead, 13-7.

The two teams exchanged scores all throughout the first half. Kutztown scored on another touchdown pass from Vogel to reclaim the lead before Osiecki and Thompson connected on a five-yard score with 4:55 remaining in the half to take a 20-14 lead.

The Golden Bears regained possession and began the drive with several rushes by Robbie Frey and Josh Mastromatto. After success on the ground, Kutztown went back to the air and eventually scored on a six-yard pass to Colby Tuell as they went up 21-20 with 17 seconds remaining and a sure lead heading into the break.

However, the Chargers retaliated and with their drive starting at the New Haven 38-yard line, Osiecki completed consecutive passes to Thompson and Smart for 12 and six yards to set up a hail mary opportunity. With four seconds remaining and the ball at the Kutztown 44-yard line, Osiecki threw the ball to the back of the endzone as Thompson pulled it down with several Golden Bears opponents surrounding him. The score marked his third touchdown of the half and after a failed two-point conversion, New Haven took a 26-21 lead at halftime with the momentum in their favor.

After an offensive showdown from both teams in the first half, the third quarter featured an entirely different game as both defenses stepped up. The Chargers received the ball but had to punt for the first time in the game. Kutztown regained possession at the New Haven 44-yard line. Eight-plays later, Mastromatto scored on a 34-yard pass to give the Golden Bears a two-point advantage, 28-26.

After a scoreless third quarter for New Haven, Kutztown added to their lead on a 19-yard field goal. Despite giving up three points, the Chargers defense held strong and stopped the Golden Bears at New Haven's own two-yard line.

Trailing by five with 12 minutes to go, New Haven began their next drive at their own 29-yard line. After a nine-yard pass to Anthony Tillman (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), the Chargers were faced with a third-and-two. Osiecki found Smart for a 13-yard reception to keep the drive going and two plays later, Mike DeCaro (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay ) juked several defenders on his way to a 45-yard score after catching a short pass from Osiecki.

After Raheem Stanley (Hartford, Conn./Weaver ) sacked Vogel on third-and-10, the Chargers got the ball back after a quick three-and-out. On the first play of the possession, Osiecki found Thompson down the middle of the field on a play-action that resulted in the eventual game-winning touchdown as Thompson ran 64-yards untouched into the endzone.

J.D. Chalifoux (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) picked off Vogel seven plays later as New Haven was well on its way of advancing to the NCAA Quarterfinals. They added another field goal and Kutztown scored a touchdown with one second to play as the Chargers won, 44-37.

Thompson's career game featured 214 yards on six catches and four touchdowns. Osiecki was 23-of-31 for 433 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also rushed for 38 yards on six carries with a long of 15 yards. Kicker Chris Scifo (Coral Springs, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas / Central Connecticut State University) was also a perfect 3-for-3 with kicks from 23, 21 and 19-yards out.

Defensively, Desmond Anderson (Jacksonville, Fla./Edward H. White / Becker College) and Mike Gomes (Brockton, Mass./Brockton ) each had a game-high of 12 tackles. Anderson also recorded an interception and broke-up two passes. Robert Hill (Suffield, Conn./Suffield / Dean Junior College) was a force on the defensive line. He had three tackles-for-loss including two sackes. Charlie Hatchet (Bridgeport, Conn./Stratford / Santa Monica College) also picked off Vogel and added six tackles.

New Haven will now face the No.1 seeded Winston-Salem State in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Saturday, December 3 in the NCAA Quarterfinal Round. The Rams are ranked No. 3 nationally and are coming off a 35-28 win over fifth-seeded California (Pa.). Complete game details will be made available on Monday, November 28.

After Southern loss to New Haven 59-38 on Friday night, I asked SCSU defensive back Steven Teague what was the difference.
He talked about a couple of missed assignments and then gave New Haven a lot of the credit.
"They're a good team," Teague said. "(Ryan Osiecki's) a good quarterback."
You can say that again.
Osiecki was clearly the difference in the contest and he was picture perfect on his deep balls.
New Haven stayed away from the middle of the field probably trying to avoid SCSU's great linebacker corps. And they threw over the top of Southern's fantastic secondary where the taller UNH receivers made the grabs.
It was a fantastic show by Osiecki and his receivers.
"We're a good team, too," Teague added. "And we'll be back to prove it."

Here was Saturday's game story:

NEW HAVEN — For three quarters the only thing bigger than the hype were the numbers on the scoreboard.
Two teams, separated by a mere couple of miles, displayed the promise of the region’s top Division II programs in a tense battle royale.
But when it was all said and done New Haven quarterback Ryan Osiecki turned a game of “Anything you can do, I can do better” into his personal highlight reel.
Osiecki threw for 423 yards on a precision-like 29-for-37 effort, including three touchdowns, and ran for another score as New Haven rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to clobber Southern Connecticut State 59-38 at Jess Dow Field Friday night.
While the conference implications were heightened by the heated rivalry, which was reflected in a pre-game scuffle well before kickoff, it was the Chargers who took a stranglehold on the Northeast-10 Conference lead and gained an inside track to an NCAA playoff berth.
No. 21 New Haven improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference with its second straight win in the series while Southern falls to 4-2 and 3-1.
New Haven leads the battle for the Elm City Trophy 15-6-1.
“We watched a lot of film on them,” Osiecki said. “As an offense and when it comes to passing, we feel like when we’re clicking we’re extremely hard to stop. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.
“These are the best games to be a part of. To come out and go back and forth, that’s football. That’s why I love playing it.”
The 12 touchdowns in the game was a new conference record and the majority of them came from the New Haven side. Southern took a 30-17 lead scoring on its first possession of the second half but New Haven went on to outscore them 42-8 the rest of the way to turn a taut affair into a rout.
The turnaround was stunning.
“Osiecki was outstanding,” SCSU coach Rich Cavanaugh said. “We could have played better and I thought our kicking game let us down but Osiecki played so well. You really have to give them credit. We had protection problems with our offensive line but their defensive line played really well.
“We couldn’t sustain anything in the second half and we had to match their scoring. We didn’t do it.”
Osiecki threw a flurry of passes for over 30 yards on the night hitting his tall receivers on deep routes as they towered over the smaller but talented SCSU secondary. Jason Thompson finished with
See UNH, B3
seven catches for 179 yards and Demetrius Washington-Ellison had four catches for 84 yards.
“(Their height) definitely helps,” Osiecki said. “But they’re just complete receivers.”
Said New Haven coach Pete Rossomando: “I think they may have been a little banged up in the secondary. We had Jason Thompson, who just caught fire and Ryan really liked some things out there. We were able to protect him.”
New Haven also got two touchdown runs from tailback Mike DeCaro. Subbing for the injured Victor Jones, DeCaro returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and then scored on runs of 2 and 7 yards in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Osiecki, who had two of New Haven’s four turnovers in the first half with two interceptions, connected with Thompson on touchdown passes of 29 and 12 yards. But it was his 17-yarder to Washington-Ellison in the corner of the end zone at the 11:38 mark of the fourth quarter that gave New Haven the lead for good.
Southern led the game 30-17 early in the third quarter after Rashaad Slowley capped a quick drive with a 22-yard run. Slowley finished with three touchdowns and ran for 184 yards on 24 carries.
“They’re a run, play-action team and it helps when you can make them one-dimensional at times, which wasn’t easy,” Rossomando said. “Slowley is a heck of a running back. He broke a lot of tackles. But we contained him enough that we were able to make plays and get Lynch out of his comfort zone.
“We like to play better defense. But they’re a good offense. They have a good quarterback and their receivers are outstanding. So we knew we were going to have to score some points to win.”
SCSU quarterback Kevin Lynch was battered by the blitzing New Haven defense. Lynch was inaccurate at times and hurried most of the other and threw for 220 yards on 15 of 36 passing. In the wild affair in front of a crowd of 4,204, Lynch threw just one touchdown pass, an 18-yarder to tight end Jerome Cunningham.
It was a forgettable night for the senior signal-caller. Twice Lynch fumbled the ball on sacks and Robert Hill returned one of the fumbles 48 yards for a score that gave New Haven a 31-30 lead. In all Lynch was sacked five times and forced to pull the ball down and run with it on several other occasions.
Osiecki made it 38-30 with a 12 yard keeper late in the third quarter. Southern responded with Slowley’s third touchdown of the game on a 10-yard run and Lynch dove into the end zone to tie the game at 38 with the two-point conversion.
Contact Bill Cloutier at 203-789-5653. Follow Bill on twitter @BillCloutier

Bentley beat New Haven 23-15. It was the Chargers first home game in five years.
Quarterback Bryant Johnson led Bentley with 212 yards and two touchdowns on 21-of-32 passing.
His counterpart, Ryan Osiecki threw for 245 yards and a touchdown on 23-of-38 passing. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked six times.
Bentley kicker Tyler McNamara kicked three field goals.