Box Score Springfield, Mass. - November 16, 2019 - The Springfield College football team had its 2019 season come to a close after MIT rallied for a 43-40 win in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday at Stagg Field.
The Engineers improved to 7-2, 5-1 in conference play, while the Pride's season comes to a close with a 6-4, 4-2 mark.
For the game, Springfield had 401 yards of total offense, including 319 on the ground. Chad Shade (Pittsfield, Mass.) went 4-for-7 for 82 yards and three touchdowns, while Nick Rajotte (North Attleboro, Mass.) ran for a team-best 92 yards and Ryan Deguire (Schenectady, N.Y.) had two touchdowns and 124 yards of total offense. Defensively, AJ Smith (Rahway, N.J.) had eight tackles as Springfield owned the time of possession, 39:25 to 20:35.
MIT ran just 50 offensive plays on the day, with Chris Mauck going 14-for-27 for 247 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Ben Dwyer scored twice on the ground and rushed for 77 yards. Ben Wolz made a game-high 14 stops for MIT in the win.
MIT marched down the field on the opening drive, needing just four plays to deliver the first score of the game as Mauck connected with Eric Bradford for a 24-yard strike just 2:12 into the contest. Springfield answered back with a 10-play drive that was capped off when Isaiah Cashwell-Doe (Woburn, Mass.) found the right edge for a six-yard score on fourth down to even the game up at the 8:31 mark.
On the first play of MIT's next drive, Kyle Niehr (Bay Shore, N.Y.) forced a fumble which Smith was able to recover, giving the Pride the ball back on the Engineer 33-yard line. Nine plays later, Shade rolled out and found David Mikos (North Haven, Conn.) alone in the back of the end zone for a score to push the hosts lead to 14-7 with 4:25 left.
MIT would get a 32-yard field goal from Mark Wright at 1:22 to pull within 14-10. However, Springfield would find the end zone again with 6:44 remaining in the half as a tremendous block from Rajotte sprung Deguire for a 32-yard score down the sidelines. The Engineers answered right back just over two minutes later, when Dennis Gastel hauled in an incredible one-handed catch and snuck inside the pylon for a 24-yard touchdown. Dwyer would then rush up the middle for the two-point conversation to make it a one score game at 21-18.
Springfied would go three and out and MIT would take over on their own 17 yard line with 2:31 to play, only to have C.J. Lavery (Verona, N.J.) pop the ball out on a Keithen Shepard reception, which Mark Montano (North Haven, Conn.) recovered to give the hosts the ball back with 2:21 to play. Springfield's ensuing seven-play drive chewed up 2:05 off the clock, and was kept alive by an 11-yard run by Shade on 4th and 10, before in Ian Porter (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.) elevated over his defender for a tremendous touchdown snag with 16 ticks, making it a 28-18 contest.
To begin the second half, MIT took advantage of a Springfield fumble inside their own 10 yard line, and AJ Iversen fell on the ball in the end zone to once again make it a three-point game just 1:11 into frame. The Pride responded with a 13-play drive in which Christian Hutra (Holmes, N.Y.) cashed in a 25-yard field goal at 6:42. After forcing MIT into a three-and-out, Porter came up huge on special teams, blocking the Engineers punt which resulted in a safety for the Pride. After Springfield came up empty on its next possession, Dwyer took a pair of direct snaps, racing 21 yards before plowing his way up the middle for a 31-yard score and a Shepard two-point conversion on the ground evened the game up with 4:05 on the clock. Springfield answered through the air again, as Deguire got behind the MIT defense and found the end zone for a 55-yard catch-and-score from Shade with 2:21 remaining in the quarter.
The Engineers would tie the game up again with 6:54 on another Dwyer run up the middle, capping off a seven-play drive which was highlighted by a 22-yard snag by Shepard on 3rd and 6. Springfield was manufacturing what would have been its game-winning drive before it coughed up a fumble at midfield, which MIT's Sam Gozelski recovered. Facing another key third down, Dwyer broke free for a 21-yard run, which set up Wright's field goal bid from 36 yards. Despite Springfield getting a hand on the kick, the attempt just snuck over the cross bar to give the Engineers their first lead since the 12:48 mark of the first quarter. Springfield was unable to muster a rally as it took over with 24 second remaining as the season came to a close.
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