MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME FOOTBALL

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Westside Athletic Complex, Danbury, Conn.

FINAL:              WESTERN CONNECTICUT 46, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 39

DANBURY, Conn. --  Junior Michael Nicol’s (Wolcott, Conn.) three-yard touchdown run with nine seconds remaining lifted Western Connecticut to a wild 46-39 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference football victory over Massachusetts Maritime Saturday afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.

A game that featured a combined 192 plays from scrimmage and nearly 1,200 yards of total offense also saw the two teams exchange leads on nine occasions, including twice in the final 62 seconds of play.  Trailing by one (39-38) with a 1:02 remaining, the host Colonials (3-3, 2-2 MASCAC) drove 63 yards in six plays, as senior quarterback Will Arndt (Sandy Hook, Conn.) completed a pair of key passes to senior Jason Piontkowski (New London, Conn.) of 28 yards as well as to senior Alex Altermatt (Branford, Conn.) of 20 yards, the latter which gave Western Connecticut possession inside the seven-yard line and led to the deciding score.  The dramatic finish came shortly after the visiting Buccaneers (2-3, 1-2 MASCAC) had rallied from a seven-point deficit (38-31) with just 1:44 remaining, as after stopping the hosts on their own 28-yard line, Massachusetts Maritime drove 72 yards in just four plays to take the lead on sophomore Kenny Pierce’s (Beverly, Mass.) 14-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion pass from senior quarterback Brad Skeffington (Salem, Mass.) to junior Jonathan Furtado (Swansea, Mass.), setting up Nicol’s heroics.  The visitors had one final possession in the closing seconds, but a fumble recovery by Colonial senior Raheem Williams (Amityville, N.Y.) iced the hosts’ triumph.

The Buccaneers took the game’s opening kickoff and took an early 7-0 lead when Skeffington found Pierce on a 29-yard scoring strike, but Arndt answered for the Colonials on a 19-yard touchdown hook-up with senior Connor Falaguerra (Milford, Conn.).  Freshman Mitch Miskell’s (Tewksbury, Mass.) first career field goal from 23 yards out gave Massachusetts Maritime a 10-7 cushion after the first 15 minutes of play, but Western Connecticut struck for a pair of second quarter scores on touchdown passes from Arndt to Falaguerra (11 yards) and sophomore Dimitrios Tsesmetzis (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) of 23 yards to take a 21-10 advantage with 3:21 remaining in the half.  The Buccaneers struck for 13 unanswered points in a 44 second span to grab a 23-21 lead at the break, as Skeffington connected with Furtado on a 14-yrd strike with 1:13 to play in the second quarter, and after a Colonial punt, junior Shane Haggerty (Cohasset, Mass.) hauled in Skeffington’s third touchdown pass of the half from 39 yards out just 29 seconds before intermission.

Nicol’s five yard touchdown run just 1:49 into the second half enabled Western Connecticut to regain a 28-23 lead, but Massachusetts Maritime used a 17-play, 67-yard drive that consumed over five minutes of action late in the third stanza and took a 31-28 advantage on Skeffington’s second connection of the afternoon with Furtado from three yards out.  The Colonials responded with a 10-play, 62-yard drive that was capped by an Arndt-to-Piontkowski 16-yard touchdown pass with just over 11 minutes remaining that gave the hosts a 35-31 edge, and junior Michael Killoran (West Hartford, Conn.) extended that margin to seven with a 34-yard field goal that came with 4:29 remaining, setting up the frantic finish in the closing seconds of action.

Arndt completed 27-of-47 passing attempts for 430 yards and four touchdowns in the triumph for Western Connecticut, including eight hook-ups with Falaguerra for 100 yards and two scores as well as a combined 12 connections for 196 yards with Altermatt and Piontkowski.  Nicol rushed for 166 yards on 37 carries to go with his two visits to the end zone for the Colonials, who amassed 658 yards of total offense on 97 plays.  Skeffington amassed 374 yards of total offense in the setback for Massachusetts Maritime, as he completed 18-of-47 passing attempts for 279 yards and four touchdowns (one shy of his school single-game record) while rushing for a team-best 95 yards on 24 carries.  Furtado hauled in eight catches for 95 yards to go with his two scores and two-point conversion for the Buccaneers, who also received a 100-yard receiving day from Haggerty.  Pierce was a yard shy of reaching the 100-yard mark in all-purpose yards (including 70 on the ground) for the visitors, who also received 67 rushing yards from sophomore Richie Phillips (Onset, Mass.) in collecting 511 total yards on 95 plays.

Williams paced Western Connecticut defensively with 10 total tackles (nine solo) and a sack to go with his forced fumble and recovery, while junior Kareem Patterson (Milton, Mass.) added eight solo stops for the Colonials.  Sophomore Bobby Gross (Tampa, Fla.) registered 12 total tackles (nine solo) in the setback for Massachusetts Maritime, which also received a career-high 11 solo stops from senior Matthew Anson (Braintree, Mass.) as well as 11 total tackles (10 solo) from junior Marshall McCarthy (Duxbury, Mass.).  Sophomore Liam Corkery (Merrimac, Mass.) recorded his second interception of the season while adding four pass break-ups for the Buccaneers, who have dropped two straight to the hosts in the final 3:26 of action combined.

Massachusetts Maritime travels to Westfield, Mass. next Saturday afternoon to take on Westfield State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference outing that kicks off at 2:00 p.m., while Western Connecticut hosts Fitchburg State next Saturday evening in a MASCAC clash at the Westside Athletic Complex that kicks off at 6:00 p.m.