Springfield, Mass. - September 28, 2019 - The Springfield College football team was defeated by visiting WPI, 35-21, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday afternoon on Stagg Field Field.

The Engineers improved to 4-0, 1-0 in conference play, while the Pride dropped its second-straight outing to slip to 1-3, 0-1.

WPI had 404 yards of total offense in the game and converted on 8-of-15 third-down conversions to maintain drives throughout the contest.  Conor Field total 116 yards on the ground on 30 carries while scoring twice, while Julian Nyland threw for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Billy Mitchell pulled in five catches for 104 yards and a score, and defensively, Sam Casey had 10 tackles and an interception.

For the Pride, Isaiah Cashwell-Doe (Woburn, Mass.) recorded 93 yards and a touchdown as Springfield totaled 305 rushing yards in the loss.  AJ Smith (Rahway, N.J.) was tremendous on defense, notching a game-high 11 tackles to go along with two interceptions.   The Pride was just 3-of-14 on third downs on the day.

WPI had tremendous field position on their second possession of the game after Casey picked off Chad Shade (Pittsfield, Mass.) and returned it to the Springfield three-yard line.  However, three plays later, Smith would come up with a huge stop, stuffing Sean McAllen on the one-yard line as the Engineers turned the ball over on downs. 

The visitors would later benefit from an electric punt return by Austin Pesce, as he took the ball down to the one-yard line, with just under five minutes on the clock. On the first play of the following drive, Field took a direct snap and plunged in to give WPI a 7-0 lead with 4:48 left in the opening quarter. The Engineers lead grew to 14-0 with 10:44 remaining in the second quarter when Mitchell got behind the Pride defense for a 29-yard strike as he capped off a 10-play, 72-yard drive that chewed up 5:19 off the clock.

Springfield answered right back, needing just two plays to go 82 yards as Patrick Ladas (Middlefield, Conn.) broke free down the left sideline before Shade manuevered his way 23 yards through the WPI defense to pull the hosts with 14-7 only 40 seconds later.

Smith came up with another huge defensive stop to thwart a promising WPI drive as the junior linebacker elevated for an interception at the Springfield five-yard line and returned it 25 yards.  Cashwell-Doe would them take a pitch 60 yards to put the Pride in tremendous field position, and the sophomore would dive inside the pylon from four yards out to even the game at 14 with 56 seconds remaining.

However, WPI would strike quickly, going 71 yards in just 35 seconds, as they would head into halftime with a 21-14 lead following a 39-yard touchdown from Nyland to Nic Rossi. 

The visitors lead would again reach 14 points as Field plowed his way in from two yards out, finishing off an 11-play drive that lasted nearly five minutes, to make it a 28-14 game with 7:38 to play.  The fans in attendance would then witness history as Kejuan Farquharson (Hyde Park, Mass.) took the next kickoff 100 yards for the score, setting a new Springfield College record and marking just the 93rd time in NCAA Division III history that a kickoff has been returned for a touchdown from 100 yards outs.

Springfield's offense could not build off the momentum of the kick return, as it managed just 67 yards of offense in the second half.  WPI's Phillip Durgin muscled his way in for the game's final touchdown with 8:41 following another five-plus minute drive by the Engineers. 

Springfield will continue conference play on Saturday when it hosts Norwich at 12 pm.

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