Pleasantville, N.Y.- Pace Football got back on track at Homecoming on Saturday, beating American International College 45-34.

The game was the crown jewel of Pace University’s Homecoming weekend spanning Friday, October 13 to October 16th.

Kickoff was at 1 p.m., an hour later than usual due to the recognition of the newest inductees to the Pace Athletics Hall of Fame that occurred beforehand.

The first quarter of the game had one score for each team. Pace Quarterback Carlton Aiken dropped a pass for freshman tight end Thoms Fusco, getting the first touchdown of the day; with senior Ben Franchino kicking in the 7th point with 6:42 left before the second. AIC’s response would be on the very next drive. Yellow Jackets Graduate Student Quarterback Brandon Robinson launched a 64-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Jaheim Mcguire and their kicker Josh Hamel, a sophomore, tied the game.

In the second quarter, there was a bad fumble by Aiken which was recovered by AIC’s sophomore defensive back Sidiki Kone and returned for a touchdown. It would be the last time the Yellow Jackets would have the lead in this game. Aiken bounced back and hit fellow graduate student Ramir Tann Davis, a wide receiver for a touchdown. Later in the quarter, senior wide receiver Cerrome Hill caught a touchdown to put the Setters ahead 20-14 before halftime.

Pace would keep it going. A field goal made by Ben Franchino was all that would be put on the board for both teams. Early in the 4th quarter carrying over from the third, Aiken ran into the endzone to make it 31-14 for the Setters. They would put up 22 in this quarter, to AIC’s 20, making Franchino’s field goal all the more important.

On defense, Graduate defensive lineman Nasir Givens was a thorn in AIC’s side; registering 2 sacks, 5 tackles, 3 of them for loss of yards, and plenty of quarterback pressures.

It was the second time that Pace scored 40+ points this season.

The final leg of Pace University’s Homecoming Events was Pace Soccer welcoming Assumption University at Pace Stadium later the same day. The game ended in a 1–1 draw.

Pace Football will look to carry momentum into Rindge, N.H. to play Franklin Pierce University.

Game day is next Saturday, October 22nd, at 1 p.m. Watch live on paceuathletics.com