BUZZARDS BAY, Mass -- On Saturday afternoon the Buccaneers hosted the Bridgewater State Bears for the 42nd playing of the Cranberry Bowl, presented by A&A Metro Transportation. After the pregame ceremonies of a sophomore cadet march-on and senior day celebration for the 19 senior Buccaneers on the football rosters, the teams played to a 35-7 final in favor of the visitin Bears.

The Basics

Final: Bridgewater 35, Maritime 7

Records: Bridgewater 6-4 (6-2 MASCAC)

            Maritime 4-6 (3-5 MASCAC)

For The Bucs

• Freshman QB Colbe Andrews (Old Lyme, CT) led the Buccaneers in rushing with 61 yards on 19 carries including a 14-yard touchdown run.
• Sophomore wideout Andrew Brightman (Wareham, MA) caught one pass for 32 yards. 
• Defensively, Senior Captain Kyle Rogers (Abington, MA) led all players with 13 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. 
• Sophomore linebacker Nicolas Ford (Jackson, N.J.) Made 10 tackles and had a TFL. 
• Junior safety Andrew Longwater (Tybee Island, GA) tallied nine tackles, a sack and a TFL. 
• Linebacker Cole Keefe (Merrimack, N.H.) totaled nine tackles and a fumble recovery.
• Defensive end Hugh Wells (West Hartford, CT) made six tackles, had a sack, TFL and fumble recovery. 
• The Buccaneers totaled six sacks, 11 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries in the game. 
• On special teams, Graduate Captain George Lampros (Bridgewater, MA) converted his only PAT in the game to remain a perfect 18/18 on the season. He also finished the year 9/9 on field goals. 
• In the punt game, Lampros punted the ball seven times for 275 yards, an average of 39.3 yards per punt with a long of 65 yards, a career-high, and two punts inside the opponents 20 yard line.

For The Bears

• Junior quarterback James Cahoon (Buzzards Bay, MA) completed 26 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns in the win. He was also named the Lee Harrington MVP for the game receiving the Mini Cranberry Scoop MVP Trophy following the conclusion of the game.
• William Pointer led the rushing attack for the Bears with 62 yards on 15 attempts. 
• Wide Receiver T.J. Hairston caught seven passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
• Captain Ryan Verria caught a game-high nine passes for 92 yards.
• Wyatt Shisler caught four passes for 68 yards and a touchdown while also throwing a touchdown pass to Kyle Torres who had five catches for 30 yards and the five-yard TD catch from Shliser.
• Defensively, Brendan Albert made seven tackles in the game to lead the Bears, taking his season total to 110 tackles. He also had two tackles for loss.
• Captain Michael Rosa made six tackles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass.
• Linebacker Steven Silvia made six tackles, recorded the only Bears sack of the game, had a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception.
• On Special teams, kicker Thomas Fay made all five of his extra point attempts and missed his only field goal attempt from 32 yards. He also punted four times for 164 yards, an average of 41.0 yards per punt with two punts inside the 20 yard line. 

How It Happened

Following a march-on by the Maritime sophomore class who did not get the opportunity in 2020, a celebration of the 19 seniors on the Buccaneer football roster and a moment of silence for Bernie Gilmetti, former Academy Director of Athletics who passed away on October 25th, the Buccaneers and Bears kicked off the 42nd playing of the Cranberry Bowl, presented by A&A Metro Transportation. Bridgewater took the opening kickoff and drove 39 yards on seven plays. The buccaneer defense stood strong forcing a fourth down which the Bears chose to go for. Failing to convert, the Buccaneers took over on their own 43 yard line. With great field position the Buccaneers were unable to move the ball going four yards on three plays. Lampros came in to punt and booted the ball 33 yards down field to a waiting Verria. Verria muffed the punt and the Buccaneers fell on it, Wells making the recovery, to pick up a new set of downs at the Bridgewater 22. Andrews had his number called on the next two plays, running for eight yards on the first then 14 yards in to the end zone on the second. Lampros made the extra point and the Bucs took a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the first. Following the score, neither team could move the ball into the red zone and with the wind whipping on the field, neither team ran their kick team on the field. The first quarter reached zeros with the Buccaneers out front, 7-0.

The second began with a Bears drive that was stalled by the Buccaneer defense on their 15 yard line. Bridgewater sent Fay out to attempt a 32-yard field goal which the lefty pushed white left to keep the score 7-0 in favor of Maritime. The following drives by each team ended in punts, and with 6:42 left in the half the Buccaneers took over at their own 39. After a first down on a toss from Andrews to Brightman, the Buccaneers were hit with a penalty then a four yard loss on the ground. On second down and 24 yards to go, the Buccaneers fumbled the football in the backfield. Rosa forced the fumble, Silvia picked it up and ran it back 44 yards for the Bridgewater score. Fay hit the PAT to bring the game even at 7-7. Maritime could only get 11 yards out of their next drive before Andrews fumbled in the backfield with the Bears Dan Cataldo picking up the fumble to give Bridgewater the ball on the Buccaneer 40. In five plays Bridgewater went 29 yards, capping the drive off with a Cahoon to Hairston touchdown from 23 yards out. Fay hit the extra point to put the Bears up 14-7. Maritime got the ball back with 1:17 on the clock and chose to keep the ball on the ground and run out the clock. The teams wen to the break with the Bears leading, 14-7.

The Buccaneers took the ball to open the second half and, as was the theme most of the second half, Maritime could not move the ball offensively as the Bears defense dug their heels in to prevent the Bucs from getting down field. The first three drives of the third ended in punts. The Bears then went 22 yards on 10 plays on their second drive of the half. On a 3rd and 13 play Cahoon fumbled and Keefe recovered the ball on the Bridgewater 41. The Bucs went three and out on the next drive and gave the ball back to Bridgewater on their own 38. The Bears proceeded to drive 62 yards on five plays, ending the drive with a Cahoon to Shisler 12-yard touchdown. Fay converted to make the score 21-7. On the Bucs next drive, Curtis Cann (Easton, MA) threw an interception to Silvia and the Bears took over in Maritime territory at the Bucs 26. Bridgewater ran six plays before the end of the quarter and the teams went to the final quarter of play in the Cranberry Bowl with the score 21-7 Bears.

Continuing their drive from the end of the third, Bridgwater ran two plays and finished their eight-play, 26-yard drive with a touchdown pass from Shisler to Hairston from five yards out. Fay made the extra point and the Bears took a 28-7 lead. The following three drives ended in two interceptions for the Bucs and a turnover on downs for the Bears. After the third Buccaneer interception of the game, Bridgewater took over at the Maritime 35. Cahoon went on to throw his third touchdown pass of the game on a nine-yard toss to Torres. Fay made his fifth extra point of the game and the score went to 35-7 Bears. Maritime had a handful of drives in the remaining nine minutes but could not get the ball in scoring distance. After another Bridgewater fumble with just over two minutes to play, the Bucs recovered and ran the ball three times running out the clock to end the 42nd Cranberry Bowl with the Bears taking the win, 35-7.

The Buccaneers finished the season 4-6 overall and 3-5 in the MASCAC.