Springfield, Mass. - September 5, 2015 - The Springfield College football team suffered a 34-14 setback at Western New England in the 2015 season opener on Saturday afternoon at Golden Bear Stadium.

Today's game proved to be the third installment of the rivalry of the Pynchon SAW Game, which 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.

Springfield senior quarterback Tim O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) rushed for a team-best 70 yards and a touchdown and went 4-for-10 for 110 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown strike to classmate Drew Brown (Barrington, R.I.).

Max Nacewicz (Newtown, Conn.) led all players with 13 tackles, while Kenny Calaj (Everett, Mass.) made 10 stops and forced a fumble.

WNE was led the strong play of quarterback Tyler Ward, who ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns while also completing 13-of-20 passes for 145 yards and a score.

Springfield, perenially one of the top rushing attacks in all of college football, was limited to 152 yards on the ground in the contest.  Despite Springfield for having the ball for over 10 minutes longer in the game, Western New England owned a 385-271 edge in total offense.

After holding Western New England to just three points in the first quarter, Springfield took its only lead of the game just 1:14 into the second quarter.  O'Brien plunged in from two yards out, capping off a 14-play, 43 yard drive that lasted over six minutes.  Blake Heller (North Bellmore, N.Y.) tacked on the extra point for the Pride.

The host Golden Bears 24 unanswered points over the next 30-plus minutes to take a 27-7 lead into the fourth quarter.  A 21-yard field goal from Kevin Patterson with 8:39 left in the first half kickstarted the scoring burst for WNE before Ward hit Mark Dietrich with a six-yard scoring pass at the 5:25 mark.  Ward then scampered in from 17 yards out with 12 seconds left in the first half, as the Golden Bears headed into the locker room with a 20-7 lead after going 98 yards in 2:12, needing just eight plays.

Nick Connell scored from a yard out for the only score of the third quarter before Springfield got back back on the scoreboard as O'Brien hit Brown for a 68-yard catch and run to make it a 27-14 ball game.  However, Ward sealed the win with his second-rushing touchdown of the game, this time from 13 yards out with 5:53 left in regulation.

The Pride will play its home opener on Friday, September 11 at 7:00 pm under the lights at Stagg Field.