Springfield, Mass. – October 19, 2024 – The Springfield College football team produced its first shutout since 2021 as it blanked MIT, 48-0, on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) on Saturday at Stagg Field.
 
Springfield, which broke in the AFCA Division III National Coaches Poll at No. 25 this week, improved to 6-0, including 3-0 in conference play while MIT dipped to 2-4, 0-4. 

The Pride entered the game as the top rushing offense in all of college football and racked up 516 yards and rushed four seven touchdowns as it cleared the 500-yard rushing mark for the third-straight game.  Arsen Shtefan (West Hartford, Conn.) tallied 86 yards and two scores and Blane Hart (East Lyme, Conn.) added 83 yards and two touchdowns of his own.  Defensively, Nick Gonzalez (Parsippany, N.J.) notched seven tackles and snagged an interception to highlight a Springfield defense which held the visitors to just 42 yards of offense. The shutout for Springfield marked its first since it blanked Coast Guard, 60-0, on October 9, 2021. Springfield held MIT to just five first downs, compared to Springfield's 32 first downs as the Pride went 8-of-11 on third down. 
 
After forcing the a three-and-out, Springfield needed just three plays to find the end zone as Hart carved through the Engineers defense before muscling over the end line for a 43-yard score at the 11:46 mark.
 
Springfield would have two promising drives come up empty on a fumble and missed field goal, but would double its lead on another Hart touchdown, this time from 16 yards out with 6:40 left in the half.  A bad snap on the Engineers next drive would force them to punt from their end zone, and Springfield would respond with a six-play drive that ended in Joseph Cannizzaro's (Lincoln Park, N.J.) one-yard scoring run with 1:57 remaining in the half.  The Pride would take a 21-0 advantage into the break as MIT was held to -19 yards of total offense as Springfield held the ball for over 18 minutes.

The Pride opened up the second half with possession and would find the end zone four plays into the frame as Shtefan made a great cutback before tip-toeing down the sideline for a 29-yard score at the 13:06 mark.  Shtefan would make it a 34-0 game on as he went up-and-over the line from a yard out to cap off a 10-play drive that took 6:10 off the clock with 5:25 left in the third. 

Springfield's next drive would be extended thanks to an MIT personal foul, and Thomas Tini (East Northport, N.Y) would turn the corner from three yards for the touchdown out with 13:16 left in regulation. The hosts final score of the game came less than two minutes later when Johnell Fillippini (Plymouth, Mass.) took his only carry of the game 61 yards to the house as he plowed through the Engineer defense before finding daylight to make it a 48-0 ballgame. 

Next Saturday, Springfield travels to Rhode Island to square off with Salve Regina for a 12 pm meeting.

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