Home was not where a victory was for the Setters.
The Setters fell in their final game of the year to the Skyhawks of Stonehill College by a score of 43-7. Pace finished the year without a win for the second time in four seasons, despite 1,800 cheering fans in the stands.
Homecoming doubled as senior day for a fraction of the football team. The 13 seniors were honored with collages of their accomplishments and bouquets, yet the loss was the final time that they would ever dawn blue and yellow jerseys.
Early on, the Setters were able to make a stand defensively. A Stonehill drive was ended immediately as a result of an interception at the three yard line by sophomore criminal justice major Chris Jimenez. However, the Setters two-play drive consisted of an offensive penalty and a safety to give the Skyhawks an early 2-0 lead.
Stonehill scored on their next two offensive possessions to take a 16-0 lead, but Pace responded.
The Setters put together a ten-play, 70-yard drive that was orchestrated by junior criminal justice major Jordan Raynor. The drive was capped off by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Raynor to junior business management major Arvin Rai to make the score 16-7.
The touchdown pass was the final score for Pace on the day. Stonehill put up 28 points in the second half to effectively put the game out of reach.
Defensively, the Setters had some good statistics. Pace forced Stonehill to turn the ball over three times thanks to an interception and forced fumble by Jimenez as well as an additional forced fumble by graduate psychology major Vincent Romano.
Also, senior biology major David Lopez had 16 total tackles throughout the game. Lopez also leads the NE-10 conference in tackles per game with 11.3. Also, sophomore business management major Tyler Zaro chipped in with 10 total tackles on the day. No Skyhawk player had more than nine tackles on the day.
While the Setters run defense held Stonehill to under 160 yards rushing, they got shredded through the air. Skyhawk quarterback Logan Meyer threw for 385 yards and wide receiver John Gomes had 197 yards receiving on nine catches. Pace also gave up six passing touchdowns on the afternoon. Receivers Gordon McLeod and Zaire Reiph each caught two touchdowns.
The Setters finished the season with a record of 0-9 with a conference record of 0-8.