Golden Bears outscore Colonels 21-0 in fourth quarter
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 13, 2018) – The Western New England University football team pulled away from Curry College with four unanswered second half touchdowns to earn a 56-21 victory over the Colonels on Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Football action at Golden Bear Stadium.
Top Performers
Western New England was led offensively by junior quarterback Alec Coleman (Arlington, Mass.), who produced over 300 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. Coleman completed 19-of-29 pass attempts for 273 yards and four scores, while also picking up 41 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Sophomore wide receiver Adam Razza (Watertown, Conn.) caught three passes for a career-high 134 yards and one touchdown, while junior Jared Wolfe (Seaford, N.Y.) and senior Evan Cain (Berlin, Mass.) finished with four receptions and one touchdown each.
Defensively, senior linebacker Mike Chirco (Weedsport, N.Y.) totaled a team-high 12 tackles (0.5 sack) with one forced fumble and two quarterback hurries. Freshman linebacker Joshua Salem (Dracut, Mass.) tallied eight stops, while senior cornerback Tommy Ganley (Delmar, N.Y.) made five tackles, broke up two passes and recorded his team-leading sixth interception of the season.
Curry junior quarterback Nick Juvelier (Centereach, N.Y.) went 28-of-45 through the air for 238 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Sophomore running back Zach Levy (Bellingham, Mass.) caught seven passes for 104 yards and one touchdown, while also carrying the ball 15 times for 46 yards and one score.
Sophomore linebacker Marcus Greenidge (Flushing, N.Y.) led the Curry defense with a team-high ten tackles.
Game Review
A fumble on Western New England's opening possession led to the first score of the game, as the Colonels recovered the ball at the Golden Bears' 44-yard line before reaching the end zone 11 plays later on a 15-yard pass from Juvelier to Levy.
The Golden Bears answered on their next possession, tying the contest 7-7 on a five-yard fade from Coleman to Wolfe at the conclusion of an 11-play drive with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Western New England drove all the way to the Curry six-yard line early in the second quarter with the help of a 55-yard connection from Coleman to Razza across the middle of the field, but Coleman was stuffed on a fourth down carry as the Golden Bears turned the ball over on downs.
The Western New England defense forced a quick three-and-out, however, and freshman AJ Hall (Norwalk, Conn.) returned Curry's punt 39 yards to the Colonels' 15-yard line. Three plays later, Cain hauled in a ten-yard touchdown reception from Coleman to put the Golden Bears up 14-7 with 9:38 remaining in the second quarter.
Western New England got the ball back with 6:11 on the clock and marched 80 yards over seven plays to extend its advantage to 21-7. Coleman completed passes to Razza and Wolfe for 15 and 31 yards, respectively, while junior running back Peter Hoff (Shelton, Conn.) capped the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run up the middle.
On Curry's ensuing possession, junior defensive back Deonte Daniels (Springfield, Mass.) intercepted Juvelier near midfield and returned the ball 52 yards for a touchdown to give the Golden Bears a commanding 28-7 cushion at the intermission.
The Colonels got back into the game in the third quarter, as they used a three-yard touchdown run by Levy at the 11:10 mark and a 13-yard touchdown reception by junior Steven Elice (Stoughton, Mass.) with 3:17 left in the period to cut their deficit to seven (28-21).
Western New England restored its two-score cushion (35-21) in the final seconds of the quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by Coleman, and the Golden Bear defense recorded a takeaway on Curry's next possession as freshman Cordel Provilon (South Orange, N.J.) stripped the ball away from Juvelier and sophomore Tony Figueroa (Ridgely, Md.) recovered it at the Western New England 32-yard line.
Two plays later, Coleman found Razza for a 64-yard touchdown to give the Golden Bears a 42-21 advantage. After Curry's next possession ended with another Western New England defense takeaway on an interception by Ganley, Coleman hit DeAndre Russell (Bridgeport, Conn.) for a 14-yard touchdown to make it 49-21 with 8:25 to play.
Late in the fourth quarter, senior running back Ryan Schenck (Farmingdale, N.Y.) punched in a one-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring in the contest.
Notes
• Western New England outscored Curry 42-0 in the second and fourth quarters.
• The Golden Bears were successful on 11-of-15 (73%) third down opportunities, while Curry went just 6-for-14 (43%) on third down.
• Western New England won the turnover battle 4-1 as the Golden Bear defense came away with three picks and a fumble recovery.
Up Next
Western New England (5-1, 2-0 CCC) hosts the University of New England next Saturday in the first ever meeting between the two programs. Curry (2-5, 0-3 CCC) returns home to take on Salve Regina.