Box Score Springfield, Mass. - September 5, 2014 - Despite a furious second-half comeback of their own, the Springfield College football team let an 11-point fourth-quarter lead slip away as Western New England rallied for a 38-34 victory in the Pynchon SAW Game on Friday evening in front of 4,067 at Stagg Field.
Louis Fenaroli (Newtown, Conn.) picked up 149 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown. Springfield College quarterback Jonathan Marrero (Brighton, Mass.) finished the contest with 175 total yards of offense, including 101 yards in the air and 74 yards on the ground.
Kevin Cook (Hamburg, N.J.) finished the game with 109 yards on 28 carries for the Golden Bears, while quarterback Tyler Ward (Wyckoff, N.J.) went 18-for-25 for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Golden Bears.
The second installment of the rivalry was newly named the Pynchon SAW Game, and is derived from city founder William Pynchon and the acronym of "SAW" is for the first initial of both schools, Springfield And Western New England.
With 3:36 left in the first quarter, Marrero connected with Cam Cooper (Buxton, Maine) from 22-yards out on a 4th-and-6 to give the Pride a 6-0 edge over the Golden Bears.
Just 2:28 later, after a 62-yard drive from Western New England, Cook punched in a Golden Bear touchdown from the 1-yard line to even the score at six points apiece.
At the end of the first quarter, a 52-yard rush by Fenaroli set up a 9-yard touchdown run from
Franco Bianchi (Poughquag, N.Y.) to give the Pride a 12-6 lead.
After a 20-yard connection from Western New England quarterback Tyler Ward (Wyckoff, N.J.) to Nick Deternova (Bellmore, N.Y.) put the Golden Bears on the goal line, the Springfield College defense held tough at the 1-yard line, with
Pat Tuths (Rochester, N.Y.) and
Joey Racciopi (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.) making a tackle for loss on Cook to give the Golden Bears the ball on the 5-yard line, resulting in a field goal to cut their deficit to just three.
With 4:39 left in the first half, Ward found senior Tucker Schumitz (Milford, Conn.) from the 9-yard line to give Western New England a 16-12 late in the first half.
Springfield fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and the Golden Bears made the most of it. Cook took the ball at the 4-yard line and crossed the goal line to give Western New England a 23-12 lead heading into the half.
After taking over possession as Western New England was forced to punt out of their end zone, it only took the Pride three plays in 42 seconds for Fenaroli to break loose for a 10-yard score, bringing the score to 23-18 in favor of the Golden Bears with 8:31 to play in the third.
With just 7:02 left in the contest Marrero went up-and over the pile on the goal line to put the Pride up 24-23, and then broke free to convert the two-point conversion to give the Pride a three-point cushion.
Following the ensuing drive,
Max Nacewicz (Sandy Hook, Conn.) snagged a fumble out of mid-air at the Western New England 40-yard line and rumbled to the back to the endzone. Marrero scampered for yet another two-point conversion, and the Pride seemingly owned the momentum with a 34-23 lead with 6:21 on the clock. Nacewicz finished the contest with a team-leading 14 tackles, while
Nick Welsh (Middletown, Conn.) finished with 10 of his own, including a tackle for a loss.
Showing their resilience, the Golden Bears drove down the field and 59 seconds later, and Ward found Schumitz over the middle for a 26-yard score. Following a two-point conversion from Western New England, the Pride found themselves only up 34-31.
Western New England then recovered a well-executed onside kick, and marched right back down the field, capping 11-play drive with a touchdown from Cook to give them a 38-34 lead with 1:22 remaining in the contest.
The Pride got as close as the WNE 37 on the final drive of the game but were unable to rally for the win.
Springfield finished the night with 327 yards on the ground and outgained the Golden Bears, 428-425. WNE owned the time of possession, 31:05-28:47 while going a perfect 5-for-5 on fourth down conversions.
Springfield will play again next Friday night under the lights at UMass Dartmouth for a 7:00 pm kickoff.
