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Staten Island, NY - The Wagner Seahawks completed their dream regular season today, coming from behind to win their eighth consecutive game in dramatic fashion, knocking off Duquesne 23-17 to claim the school's first-ever Northeast Conference Football Championship and a berth in next week's NCAA Division I Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

 
Seahawk fans can find out Wagner's fate as to who and where they will play their first round game when the NCAA Football Championship FCS Playoff Selection show airs Sunday on ESPNU at 1:30 pm. Ticket information for Wagner's first-round game will be posted on wagnerathletics.com on Monday morning.
 
The Seahawks will enter the postseason with an 8-3 record, highlight by a 7-1 mark in the NEC while the Dukes fell to 5-6, 3-5 in league play.

Wagner was picked to finish seventh in the NEC Preseason Poll (out of eight teams) in August and then opened the season by dropping games at Florida Atlantic (7-3), at Georgetown (13-10) and at home to Monmouth (38-17). The Seahawks righted the ship with a 31-13 win at Central Connecticut and never looked back.
 
The eight wins, which has increased head coach Walt Hameline's 32-year career win total to 212, are the most by a Seahawk team since 1993 when Wagner posted a 9-3 mark. The Seahawks, who will be making their first-ever appearance in the FCS Playoffs, last played in a post-season game in 1995 when Wagner played Duquesne in its third consecutive ECAC-IFC Bowl, losing to St. John's in 1994 and defeating Iona in 1993.
 
Wagner's appearance in the FCS Playoffs will mark the first time that the Seahawks will play in an NCAA postseason game since the Green & White dropped a 34-31 overtime decision to Ithaca in the first round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs on Nov. 19, 1988. The previous year, Wagner captured the Division III National Title with a 19-3 victory over Dayton on Dec. 12, 1987.
 
This afternoon, at chilly, breezy and sun-swept Hameline Field, senior quarterback Nick Doscher (Staten Island, NY/ Moore Catholic) ran for a season-high 88 yards and threw for another 106 yards, junior RB Dominique Williams (Bridgeton, NJ/ Milford Academy) ran for 98 yards while senior safety Sidiq Soulemana (Bronx, NY/ DeWitt Clinton/ Hudson Valley CC) paced Wagner defensively with 11 tackles.
 
After Duquesne took an early 3-0 lead on a booming career-tying 51-yeard field goal by Charlie Leventry , the Seahawks answered with 14 straight points to move into a seemingly comfortable 14-3 lead. Wagner's first touchdown drive was a well-executed 15-ply, 70-uard march that consumed 8:37, bridged the first and second quarters and culminated with a one-yard run by Williams which made it 7-3.

The Seahawks' second score was set up by a career-long 43-yard punt return by sophomore Marshyl Rothman (Jupiter, FL/ Jupiter Christian/ Murray St.) that gave Wagner great field position at the Dukes' 31-yard line. Following an incomplete pass on first down, speedy sophomore RB Otis Wright (Fort Lauderdale, Fl/ Dillard) took over from there, bursting up the middle for 10 yards on first down before exploding off left tackle on the next play, breaking loose from several would-be tacklers on an impressive 21-yard TD jaunt that capped the quick three-play, 31-yard drive. Wright's TD run gave the Seahawks a14-3 edge with 10:03 left in the half.
 
Unfazed by the two-score deficit, Duquesne methodically moved the ball on its next drive. With QB Sean Patterson at the controls, the Dukes put together an 11-play, 84-yard drive with senior RB Larry McCoy taking it over from the two with 2:31 to go in the half to make it 14-10 at intermission.
 
Duquesne took the second half kickoff and moved into Wagner territory before senior free safety Patrick O'Connor (Leominster, MA/ Leominster) came up with his first career interception at the Seahawk 35-yard line. Following an exchange of punts, Wagner drove to the Dukes' 20-yard line but the drive ended when Williams was stopped short of the first down marker on fourth-and-one at the Duquesne 20..
 
The defensive-minded, scoreless third quarter ended with the Seahawks clinging to that that same 14-10 lead iheading nto the fourth. But things would change quickly, as Patterson engineered a sharp, eight-play, 83-yard drive, highlighted b a 43-yard completion to Gianni Carter and capped by a six-yard Patteron TD run that put the Dukes on top for the first time at 17-14 with12:39 left to play.
 
On the ensuing drive, Wagner drove to the Duquesne nine when Wright was popped after a four-yard gain and fumbled the ball forward into the end zone. Dukes' DB Serge Kona recovered but Duquesne was whistled for offside on the play, keeping the drive alive. Two plays later, Williams took it in from a yard out to give the Seahawks a 21-17 lead with 6:38 left as the boisterous crowd of 2,692 mostly green-clad fans rose as one, sensing a possible championship at hand.
 
Wagner gained more momentum and the crowd grew louder still when, on the ensuing kickoff,  Soulemana delivered a bone-crushing hit on return man Jason Douglas at the Duquesne 12. Following  an eight-yard sack by blitzing senior LB Theodore Clohessy (Staten Island, NY/ St. Joseph Byt the Sea) and a Duquesne penalty, senior DE Jerome Williams (Burlington Township, NJ/ Holy Cross/ UConn) broke through untouched to sacking Patterson in the end zone for a safety that made it 23-17 with
4:18 left.
 
On the free kick, Duquesne appeared to again regain possession when Zach Richert forced another Wright fumble that was recovered by Chris King at the Wagner 44 but yet another offside penalty nullified the play.
 
After the Duquesne defense kept Wagner in check, the Dukes took over at their own five-yard line with 2:08 to go. With the Dukes facin third-and-21 from their own five, senior cornerback Torian Phillips (Staten Island, NY/ Pot Richmond/ Syracuse) sealed the game with an interception.
 
The Seahawks then went into their victory formation and, following Doscher's third straight kneel-down, the celebration was on as pandemonium ensued on Hameline Field,
 
Wagner outgained Duquesne 333-232. Larry McCoy, DU's all-time leading rusher, was held to 75 yards by the swarming Seahawk defense. He did, however,  become the first player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in three seasons. Patterson completed 16-of-28 passes for 176 yards for the Dukes.
 
NOTES: Wagner's 2012 NEC football title marks the fifth time in school history that the Seahawks have won a conference title, a feat that has been accomplished by five different sports.
 
Wagner All-Time NEC Championships
1989            Women's Basketball
1997            Women's Volleyball
2000            Baseball
2003            Men's Basketball
2012            Football
 
Senior QB Nick Doscher, who finished eight-of-17 passing for 106 yard, today, will enter the FCS Playoffs with 5,880 career passing yards, just 23 yards shy of surpassing John Sciarra (2004-05), who passed for 5,902 career yards. Doscher is second all-time in completions (433), TD passes (42) and is far and away the school's all-time leader in total offense with 8,049 yards. In addition, he moved into eighth place on the Seahawk all-time rushing list vs. Duquesne as he has now amassed 2,169 yards on the ground.

Remarkably, Doscher went through the entire 11-game regular seasin having thrown just oine interception, that coming in the second quarter of the Aug. 31 season opener at Florida Atlantic. Doscher has now thrown 191 consecutive passes without an INT, spanning more than 10.5 games. For the season, the 25-year old former minor league baseball catcher, has thrown 11 TDs and, thanks largely to his 11-1 TD/INT ratiosports an NEC-best 143.1 passing efficiency rating.
 
Junior RB Dominique Williams remains in fifth place on the Seahawk all-time rushing list and is now up to 3,142 career yards, leaving him 15 yards away from passing Kito Lockwood for fourth place. Lockwood ran for 3,156 yards from 1992-1995. Having been held to 98 yards vs. Duquesne, Williams has now rushed for 100 or more yards in a game 19-of-30 times in his career.