BY Michael Contento
Staff Writer
On Sept. 15, Sacred Heart Quarterback Logan Marchi was named College Sports Madness NEC Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week. Marchi had a historic day on Sept. 14 against Lafayette. In the 56-40 victory, Marchi completed 22 of his 32 passing attempts for 407 yards and six touchdowns.
Marchi deflected much of the attention away from himself and towards his teammates.
“It just shows how hard those guys are working,” said Marchi. “The offensive line with zero sacks, receivers making plays down field, all the credit goes to those guys because they are what make it happen.”
Sacred Heart’s offensive line has been impressive to begin the season. Through the Pioneers’ first three games, they have dropped back to pass 108 times on the season. Marchi has not been sacked once.
“I had confidence before the zero sacks,” said Marchi. “Practicing all of camp with those guys, with the offensive line working hard week in and week out, I can’t help but be comfortable back there with those guys protecting me.”
Head coach Mark Nofri has also seen the hard work of the offensive line paying off, as they have also broken in two new starters from last year’s unit.
“I thought they have done a good job and gotten better each week,” said Nofri. “Those guys are together all the time, and they have started to build chemistry. I just would like to see them continue to improve weekly.”
Marchi was also awarded College Football Performance Award’s (CFPA) FCS National Performer of the week. According to its website, CFPA gives the weekly award to the performance that increased the overall effectiveness of his team the most.
Marchi’s record day was also enough to tie the school record for touchdowns thrown in one game. Six touchdowns are the most in one game since Dale Fink did so against Duquesne in Nov, 2009. His 407 yards and six touchdowns were also both personal records.
“You can’t dwell on that and you got to move on to the next week,” said Marchi. “You have to prepare and try to stack up those types of weeks to win.”
For as much as he has been able to make an impact on the field, Marchi has only been at Sacred Heart since July, as he is a graduate transfer from East Tennessee State University and Temple University. In that time, he has had to make many adjustments such as learning an entirely new offense, winning the starting role, building chemistry with his new teammates, and starting a new school.
“You have to come in and work really hard,” Marchi said. “You have to show you aren’t here just to talk about it, but you are here to do it. Once you build that rapport, you can start leading with your voice as well.”
What is “it” exactly? Both Marchi and Nofri expressed the same sentiments about what goals they have for the Pioneers for the rest of the season.
“We want to win the conference championship and get to the FCS playoffs,” said Marchi. “To get there, we have to have good weeks of practice every week. We have 12 opportunities to play a game and you have to lock in and do your job for 60 minutes every time.”
After another strong performance by Marchi on Sept. 21 against Long Island University, the Pioneers are winners of three in a row and have their bye week before welcoming Central Connecticut State University to Campus Field on Oct. 5.
