CASTINE, Maine – The Buccaneers and Maine Maritime Mariners met in Castine, Maine on Saturday afternoon to play for the 47^th Admiral's Cup. In a slow starting game, the Buccaneers sailed through the final three quarters, winning the Cup and their second game of the season, 42-21.

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 42, Mariners 21

Records: Mass Maritime 2-0

               Maine Maritime 0-3

For The Bucs

·       Senior Matt Long (Weymouth, Mass) had his second big game of the season. He passed for 120 yards on seven completions, two of which were caught for touchdowns. He also ran the ball 17 times for 138 yards and three scores. His second three touchdown effort on the ground this season. Long also punted the ball twice, totaling 86 yards, pinning the Mariners inside their own 20 on one of the attempts.

·       Sophomore Connor Reynolds (Norton, Mass) had a career-high 90 yards on the ground on 12 carries.

·       Senior quarterback Ty Ebdon (Gales Ferry, Conn) scored his first touchdown of the season on a four yard rush.

·       Sophomore Dane Campbell (Peru, Mass) led all Buccaneer receivers with 41 yards on two receptions.

·       Junior tight end Cam Witman (Bridgewater, Mass) and senior wide receiver Ryan McNally (Sandwich, Mass) each hauled in a touchdown pass in the game. Witman's touchdown came on his only catch of the day from 22-yard out. McNally caught two passes for 14 yards and the score.

·       Junior Jack Fontana (Grafton, Mass) led the Bucs with seven total tackles, four solo, three assists and a tackle for loss.

·       Senior Kyle Johnston (Raynham, Mass) had four tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss.

·       Austin Stahmer (Wareham, Mass) had two tackles while also recording his team leading third interception of the season.

·       Kicker George Lampros (Bridgewater, Mass) converted all six of his extra point attempts on the day. Lampros also punted the ball three times for 129 yards and a touchback.

For The Mariners

·       Mariner quarterback Nikolas Moquin went 14-for-20 through the air for 130 yards and a touchdown. Moquin also ran the ball eight times for 14 yards and a score.

·       Cooper Chaisson led all Maine rushers with 22 yards on 11 attempts.

·       Reed Hopkins led all receivers with seven catches for 89 yards.

·       Dominic Casale also caught seven passes, for 65 yards and a touchdown.

·       Defensively, the Mariners scored on an interception returned 48 yards to the house by Cam Lantagne. Lantagne also led the Mariners, along with Aren Dickman and Devin Weir, with seven tackles.

·       Kicker Maxwell Horton was three-for-three on his extra points.

·       Punter Jed Astbury punted the ball eight times for 280 yards, pinning the Buccaneers inside their own 20 on one occasion.

How It Happened

In the first quarter, the teams traded possession with neither leaving the middle of the field. The longest drive of the quarter was a three-minute Buccaneer drive which went eight plays for 34 yards. The teams remained scoreless after 15 minutes of play.

Mass Maritime scored to break the scoreless tie five minutes into the second on a Long to McNally connection from 10-yards out on a drive that went 63 yards in six plays. A quick three and out for the Mariners saw the Bucs get the ball back just a minute later at their own 37. On third down, Long took the ball up the left side of the field in front of his own bench and took it to the house to extend the Buccaneers lead to 14-0 after a Lampros extra point. Mass Maritime threatened against in the second, unable to open up their lead. They got the ball back with 13 second left in the half and kneeled down to take their 14-0 lead to the break.

The Third quarter was the biggest for the Bucs in terms of scoring as they scored 21 points. The first touchdown was a Long pass to Witman for a 22-yard score, less than three minutes into the second half of play. On the ensuing kickoff, the Buccaneers attempted an onside kick. Thanks to a Maine penalty and a recovery on the onside attempt, the Bucs took over at the Maine 38, up 21-0. The Bucs quickly capped of a 38-yard drive with a one-yard run by Long to go up 28-0 just before the midway point of the third quarter. The Mariners went three-and-out on the next drive, punted to the Bucs and on second down for Mass, Long threw an interception to Lantagne which was brought to the endzone to get the Mariners on the board. Now up 28-7, The Buccaneers rounded out their highest scoring quarter of the season with another Matt Long touchdown on the ground from three yards out with just under six minutes left in the third. As eventful as the first nine minutes of the second half were, neither team put any points on the board in the third. The Bucs took a 35-7 lead to the final 15 minutes of the game.

The Mariners outscored the Buccaneers in the fourth quarter, 14-7. Maine opened the scoring in the quarter on Moquin's rushing touchdown from two-yards out. That finished off a 17 play, 77 yard, 6:03 drive, the longest drive in terms of plays, yards and time elapsed in the game. Mass Maritime scored their final points of the game on Ebdon's four-yard rushing touchdown with 8:30 remaining in the game. On their next drive, Maine Maritime scored on Moquin's touchdown pass to Casale from nine yards. Following the score there would be three drives between the two teams. The Buccaneers had the final drive, kneeling on the ball to run the final minutes of the game off the clock. When the clock hit 00:00, the Buccaneers had claimed the Admiral's Cup for the third year in a row with a 42-21 win over Maine Maritime.

Up Next

The Buccaneers are back on the road next weekend in Westfield to take on the 0-3 Westfield State Owls in the Bucs first Conference game of the season. Kickoff is set for 2pm.