NEW HAVEN – The Yale soccer workforce’s 41-24 victory over Merrimack on Saturday afternoon was greater than a comeback win in its residence opener.
It was an emotional tribute and a chance for the Bulldogs to start therapeutic a day after former coach Tony Reno, who led Yale for 14 years, died at age 52
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His son, Yale’s junior quarterback Dante Reno, determined to play Saturday to honor his father, and he did so in unbelievable style, ending the sport 22 of 39 for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns.
He threw landing passes of 9 and 10 yards to Jaxton Santiago, a 2-yarder to Graham Smith after which a 20-yarder to Garon Kemp.
Santiago completed with 5 catches for 100 yards, whereas Lucius Anderson had game-high totals of seven catches and 116 yards.
Operating again Hugo Djeumeni Kemeni additionally scored a landing and completed with 132 yards on 30 carries as Yale improved to 2-1.
The Bulldogs scored the sport’s remaining 17 factors after it was tied 24-24 with 5:16 to play within the third.
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Kemp made an excellent second-effort catch ultimately zone on third-and-goal from the 20-yard line to provide Reno his fourth TD go of the sport and put Yale forward 31-24 with 12:50 to play.
On the earlier play, Reno was stopped on the 6-yard line on a third-and-goal run, however offensive holding was referred to as. Merrimack had a selection of taking the results of the play and making it fourth down or pushing Yale again 10 yards and giving the Bulldogs one other attempt at a landing from 20 yards away.
Coach Mike Gennetti took the penalty, and Yale made him pay by scoring the landing.
Then, after a three-and-out compelled by the Bulldogs’ protection and an enormous 28-yard go from Reno to Santiago, Yale took its first two-score lead of the sport, 34-24, on a 38-yard subject purpose by Noah Piper with 9:30 remaining.
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The Bulldogs then saved their momentum rolling on their subsequent possession, scoring on a 9-yard landing run by Djeumeni Kemeni to take a 41-24 lead with 4:07 to play.
Yale opened the second half with an eight-play, 72-yard drive to take a 24-21 lead on a 2-yard landing go from Reno to Graham Smith. Reno accomplished all three passes he tried on the drive, together with a 28-yarder to Santiago and a 21-yarder to Reid Jones.
Merrimack got here proper again to tie the rating, nonetheless, on a 25-yard subject purpose by Guytano Bartolomeo on a 10-play, 70-yard drive, after which had an opportunity to take the lead moments later when Yale turned the ball over at its 21-yard line on a fumbled handoff trade.
The Bulldogs’ protection did not yield, nonetheless, and Bartolomeo missed extensive proper on a 35-yard subject purpose try.
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The sport remained tied 24-24 after three quarters.
Yale struck first because the Bulldogs drove the ball 72 yards in seven performs, with Reno finishing 4 of his first 5 passes, together with a 9-yard landing go to Santiago.
Merrimack responded on the second play of its subsequent possession, nonetheless, with a 79-yard landing go from AJ Hairston to Kenyon Massey to tie the rating 7-7.
The Warriors took the lead with 2:21 to play within the first quarter on a Reno interception that linebacker Will Claude returned 73 yards for a landing.
Merrimack prolonged its result in 21-7 halfway by way of the second quarter with a powerful seven-play, 92-yard drive culminating in a 40-yard landing go from Hairston to Dennis Morgan.
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Yale fought again by scoring the ultimate 10 factors of the half on back-to-back drives. The primary was a 13-play, 56-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard subject purpose by Noah Piper. Three performs earlier than the kick, it appeared that Reno had scored on a 13-yard run, however Yale was referred to as for a holding penalty ultimately zone to negate the TD.
Reno had his finest collection on the Bulldogs’ subsequent possession. He accomplished passes to Santiago for 25 yards, Cuttler Adams for 15 and at last 10 yards to Santiago for a landing to drag Yale inside 4, 21-17, going into halftime.
The Bulldogs weren’t shy about throwing the ball within the first half, as Reno was 13-for-26 for 113 yards and in addition drew two pass-interference penalties.
Former head coach Jack Siedlecki, who employed Reno in 2003, mentioned that he at all times knew Reno could be a extremely profitable coach as a result of he possessed all of the attributes.
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“Whenever you rent an assistant soccer coach, a whole lot of guys have specific abilities that they’re actually good at,” Siedlecki mentioned. “Some guys are actually good coaches on the sphere. Some guys are actually good evaluators of expertise. Some guys are nice recruiters. Some guys develop gamers very well. Some guys have nice relationships on campus.
“Tony had the entire bundle, and that’s the reason he was as profitable as he was as the top coach. He might do every thing.”
Siedlecki mentioned that Reno’s best qualities have been that he was an amazing household man first, and that, when it got here to soccer, his real nature allowed him to construct nice, reliable relationships along with his gamers.
“He was very caring and really involved for his gamers well-being,” Siedlecki mentioned. “Gamers at all times know in case you are real and in case you are not. With soccer, the toughest factor about it’s that you’re coping with over 100 youngsters and there are solely 22 starters and 40-45 guys taking part in in a recreation. To really have a relationship with all of these youngsters and care about all of these youngsters and be real is admittedly, actually necessary, and Tony had that high quality.”
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Siedlecki mentioned that folks on the skin will all merely view Reno as a very profitable coach as a result of his report of 83-49 tells that story, alongside along with his 5 Ivy League championships within the final eight years he coached, together with final 12 months’s historic 9-3 workforce that turned the league’s first consultant within the FCS playoffs.
What the sheer numbers do not present is how Reno went about constructing Yale again right into a contender. After taking up from Tom Williams (2009-11), Reno spent 5 years meticulously planning and dealing to revive the championship satisfaction.
“It wasn’t like he was the miracle employee, and rapidly every thing was profitable,” Siedlecki mentioned. “He went by way of the battle. I believe he was one thing like 2-8 his first 12 months. Whenever you do this and construct this system from scratch, there may be a whole lot of satisfaction however you need to have a whole lot of completely different abilities to be that profitable.”
A giant a part of his rebuilding of the workforce was hiring nice coaches like all the fellows who helped him succeed final season whereas he was battling sickness. Kevin Cahill, who coached beneath him for 10 seasons (2012-22), returned to take over this system this 12 months as head coach.
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This text initially printed at Yale soccer rallies for emotional win as Dante Reno honors late father with 4 TDs.